A for Afrikaans

If you can speak three languages you're trilingual.  If you can speak two languages you're bilingual.  If you can speak only one language you're an American

 ~ Author Unknown ~

Ek hou van katte! No, I’m not typing gibberish! That’s “I like cats” in Afrikaans. I have a pretty 8 year old teacher, I kid you not. She’s fluent in Afrikaans and English. Sometimes in return I teach her a bit of Malay (sometimes because I don’t really speak a lot of Malay). It’s amazing how kids pick up languages easily nowadays. Zuné seems to enjoy her role as my teacher. I’m just happy that she doesn’t have a cane with her whenever she’s over for the weekend!

I love learning new languages. Dawie speaks fluent English and obviously Afrikaans as it’s his mother tongue. For most part of this country, English isn’t the first language therefore, Afrikaans (Afrikaans is just one of many languages spoken in South Africa) is something I should and want to learn. I learned Spanish and French which are a bit rusty now, although I’d like to believe that my French is still pretty alright. That’s what happens when you learn a language and not practise it!

English is my first language – I was brought up that way and hardly speak Malay. I prefer to write and speak in English anytime, any day. I had an idea that most of the locals speak English as their first language, oh boy was I wrong! It’s not that they don’t speak English but Afrikaans being their first language; it’s only natural for them to speak it. There were a couple of times when I was out with Dawie and friends, they’d speak in English to accommodate me and all of a sudden, I couldn’t follow the conversation due to the switch of English to Afrikaans – hilarious! I don’t take offense in it at all because I feel that I should respect the fact that Afrikaans is the language they are more comfortable with. At the same time, I see it as a way for me to learn the language.

Besides, Afrikaans isn’t that far from Malay as most of the words derived from Malay. You see, in the early years of South Africa – there were slaves that came from Malaysia and Indonesia here in Cape Town. If spoken slowly, I think I can understand what they are talking about.

During one of the outings with Dawie’s parents, his father said there are expats/foreigners which have been here for more than 5 years that are not bothered to learn the language at all. Personally, I think that’s just plain disrespectful. You should make an effort to learn the native language of whichever country you’ve moved to; after all, you are living in the country.