Adventures WorldRace SethBarnes Sponsorship Giving

| by archiveworldraceblogs

It’s actually “dankie,” and means thank you.  Afrikaans is the worlds youngest language.  Unlike some would imagine, Afrikaans doesn’t include a lot of clicking or sound like gibberish.  It is actually derived from German, Dutch and English.  At first it shocked me for the primary language in an African nation to be my home language.  However, I got over it real quick the first day we arrived. 



Because we rode overnight on a bus, we arrived very early in the morning and without groceries.  That afternoon our lodging contact come over for an orientation and led us on a walk to food.  Most of the group wanted to try the Gatsby’s, a large sub sandwich with all the fixings: lettuce, onions, mayo, sauce of choice (curry), pickles, tomatoes and fries.  That’s right, the sub doesn’t come with a side of fries, the fries are literally included!  While that was fun to see people try to eat, I opted to order at the bakery.  I said hello and order in English.  I was similarly greeted and my order was received with ease… Thank you for the linguistic commonality 🙂

 

                 

I’m not someone who thinks the entire world should speak English; I am a traditionalist and love the idea of preserving local even tribal languages.  The idea of everyone speaking my own language seems to take a great deal of wonder** out of traveling.  So this month, though I can English everywhere and hear English everywhere, I wanted to learn the language of Africa- afrikaans.  Afrikaans is spoken throughout South Africa as national language (there are approx 11 prominant lang).  It has dialects and pronunciations so varied that people speaking the language to one another cannot understand each other!  It’s like someone from Boston  and a Virginian both speaking english but not understanding a dern thing that was said. 

 

                             

Afrikaans is a home language in South Africa; people speak in fluently along side English.  The balance of the two is admirable and makes me all the more zealous to learn another language.  Here school workbooks might be in Afrikaans and the class taught in English or vice versa.  Magazines, menus, and ingredients are printed in Afrikaans.  Readers, waiters and chefs speak english.  It is a completely bilingual country.  So….my host family conversed freely in Afrikaans amongst themselves and included me with English.


I set out to do more than marvel at the unique language.  It he youngest sister asked me to do something for her, so I cut a deal trading favor for language lessons.  It worked out perfect.  I made her milo, a hot malt drink, and she helped me with vocabulary.  As with most of the languages I’ve learned this year, Afrikaans is phonetic for the most part.  The two difficult things are the guttural  sound made be the “g” and the pronunciation of the “j” as “y.”


                                  



To give you an example, here are the few words and phrases Paula thought necessary for me to learn:


 Goeie amore: good morning.                                 Quie amore-a


Goeie nag: good night.                                         Quie a knocgh


Goeie middig: good afternoon.                             Quie a middough


Goeie dag:  hello.                                                 Quie a docgh


Ek: I.          Jy: you.   


Numbers:

1.  Een (E-n)   2- Twee (Twee-r)     3-Drie  (Drier)   4-Vier (Veer)       5-Vyf (Fyfe)    6-Ses  (Sis)   7-Swewe (Se-ev-a)   8-Ag (A-ag)  9-Nege (Ne-gh   10-Tien (Tin)



Hou op:  stop it                                                                How op


Dankie:thank you                                                             dankey


Asseblief: please.                                                              Aszableef


Pleaser: pleasure.                                                             Pless-er


Did is koud buite: it’s cold outside.                                    Dit~es koat batter


Kan Ek n koppie koffie kry asseblief:                                 caan  Ek ahi kope coffee cray asseblief


Die here seen jou: god bless you.                                    De-huere-a sien yo


Dit lyk smaaklik:   Its delicious                                          Didt lake smack-luck


Hoe laat is dit? :  what time is it?                                     Hoo laat ees didt


War kom Jy vandaan: where do you come from?             Va com ya vandaan


Gemeng de sous:  Hot sauce.                                           Ha Ming d’sauwce


Dit is al/ Ek is Klaar:  that’s is /I’m done.                           Ek es clat 



** this definition was perfetly worded to sum up my feelings and thoughts: ” a feeling of surprise mingled with admiration caused by something beautiful, unexpected, unfamiliar, or inexplicable”