A discourse on accents
South Africa is a place of many different accents. Much like the US, several different cultural and ethnic groups are coming together in one place, not all of them speaking English as their first language. Though virtually everyone here has the ability to communicate in English in some manner, their version of my native tongue can vary widely
Let’s break it down:
There are three major language groups here: English, Afrikaans (pronounced Aw-free-cons) and Native Languages.
The people who speak English as their first language generally have what you might consider a traditional South Africa. It’s not too different from the Brits or Aussies, and it’s really quite easy to understand. Leo does a pretty solid job of capturing it in Blood Diamond. Here’s the trailer:
Afrikaans is Dutch-lite. Like Dutch and German, it has a lot of throaty Gs and other harsh sounds. I can’t understand much more than some simple pleasantries and greetings. Those who’s first language is Afrikaans speak English tend to blend that more classic English-South African accent with one that’s more Germanesque. The more familiar with English they are, the more it sounds like the classic accent. The less familiar, the more they sound like they just came from wearing clogs and riding bicycles through fields of windmills. It can be fairly difficult to understand if they are more used to speaking Afrikaans than English.
There are 11 national languages of South Africa. One is English, one is Afrikaans, and the other 9 are native languages of the different ethnic groups that compose the area, including Xhosa, Sotho (pronounced sue-two) and Zulu. Native language speakers have different accents depending on their mother tongue. It’s hard to describe in words what they specifically sound like, but when you think of a more traditional, stereotypical African accent, that’s more along the lines of what these English speakers sound like.
All this being said, I’m no expert on the subject as there are many variations of every accent. Part of the beauty of coming to such a richly diverse country is getting to hear the wonderous blend of language that some times gets lost in the shuffle in the States.
