I think I’ve always taken language for granted, living in a country and a community where pretty much everyone I’ve ever needed to communicate with speaks English. I studied French in junior high and high school, but the possibility of ever needing to use French to communicate seemed so distant. In South Africa, though, the language you speak is so important.
I took this picture because I thought the sign was funny, but it’s a good example of the multilingual nature of South African society. The languages on the sign are English, Afrikaans, and Xhosa.
South Africa has 11 official languages, which I have trouble wrapping my mind around. Even more amazing is that most people speak between two and five of these languages relatively fluently. Luckily, everyone I’ve met so far is pretty fluent in English, so communicating hasn’t been difficult. However, language drives many of the problems in healthcare and education that South Africa is currently facing, and that’s been interesting to learn about.
One of the craziest things I’ve learned: In South Africa, mother tongue education is available in all 11 official languages. So a kid can be going to school taught in English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Xhosa, etc. But then to complete high school and be eligible to go to college, students have to pass the matric exam, which is only offered in English and Afrikaans. Most students study one or both of these languages at some point, but aren’t necessarily taught in these languages for other subjects. So basically, imagine taking the ACT or SAT in the language you studied in high school – it would be impossible! I can’t imagine taking those tests in French instead of English. The inequality this must create for young South Africans is astonishing.
In terms of my experience with language here so far, I’ve tried to learn a few words in Afrikaans, which is the first language of many people at Stellenbosch. We’ve also learned some Xhosa (another common language in our province) in our Culture, Language, and Identity class.
We’re having fun too! Here’s a group of us who took a surfing lesson — mid-lesson the shark alarm went off (meaning a shark had been spotted in the water) and we had to get out and wait for half an hour. Luckily, no one was harmed.
One small language-related blunder: during our first week here, I was at the grocery store with another Northwestern student waiting in line at the check out counter. The cashier put up a sign on the counter that had some Afrikaans written on it, but we obviously had no clue what it meant. Then she started kind of glaring at us and eventually gestured angrily at the sign, so we left the line, super confused. It turns out the sign said, “This lane closed,” so that explains her reaction. But hey, it’s cool that we were mistaken for natives!
The most useful Afrikaans word I’ve learned so far is “jammer” (pronounced ya-muhr), which means “sorry.” This is for when I forget that I’m supposed to be walking on the left side of the sidewalk and accidentally bump into people. At least in this regard, I’m still working on blending into this new culture, but stay tuned for updates!
(If it was not clear, the title of this post is “hello” in Afrikaans, Xhosa, and English)