Perpetual Change

Global Pathways IV

South Africa: Language: Now write to describe your experience in speaking the local language and the other ways you communicated

The country has a number of official languages, many of them Bantu-based [Bantu is a language family that arrived in southern Africa from western Africa in a series of migrations and conquerings], along with Afrikaans and English. However, most South Africans seem to mostly speak English. Interestingly, there is a group of people who call themselves 'colored' and in the Western Cape Province, this group represents the largest speakers of Afrikaans. Also, Durban, in KwaZulu-Natal Province, has the largest representation of Indians outside India, plus a British and Portuguese influence.

I learned a few words, which I always do, and also how to do the Bantu click-sounds. I was glad to have an American accent, not Afrikaans. It surprised some people that I was white and did not speak Afrikaans. However, in general, I learned little language because of how prevalent English was, and how fragmented the other languages were. For example, I was on a train from Johannesburg going west, which is a major train corridor passing through many regions. I was in a lower class car, and the train stopped. Eventually, someone came in and announced in a local language that the train was broken and why. Many of the passengers, who were all black, asked him to repeat it in English; which he disregarded. Some of the fellow passengers translated into English or another language after the train worker left the car. In another instance, a guy came through the car singing, and many of the passengers sang with him, but not everyone knew or understood what they were singing. Finally, there was a group in the middle of the car that chatted and chastised loudly in a local language. At one point while I was waiting for the bathroom between cars, one of this group came up and talked to me in English. We were equally surprised - he at who I was, and I at how easily he switched to English.

One other interesting story, was that I walked around Durban a good bit with a black American friend. She is dark skinned and was often mistaken for a Bantu-speaker. One time, we were on a train, and an older white woman poked into our compartment and said something in Afrikaans. I apologized and said that I did not understand, could she repeat in English? She looked at my friend, and asked, in English, "did you understand?" When she replied that she did not, the woman walked away!

Music would often be in Afrikaans, and the bar tender when we went for karaoke was surprised that we did not understand or know the songs.

posted by jjs @ 9:42 PM