South Africans should learn to speak each other's languages, says KZN artist

Lupus

Lupus

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porchrat said:
English has a boatload of exceptions and strange pronunciations thanks to centuries of nicking grammar and words from other languages.

It's definitely not an easy language to learn.

Afrikaans on the other hand is far more straightforward and consistent. I imagine most folks could learn Afrikaans more easily than English if they hadn't been exposed before to either language.

In Afrikaans you put a car into a motorhuis. A house for your car. Motor and huis are always pronounced the same in all circumstances. In English you put it in the garage... which is pronounced entirely differently to "rage" because the roots of the words are from different languages.

For example: Imagine what the terms flammable and inflammable must look like to the average non-native speaker after you've just explained dependent and independent.

I'm a native English speaker and I can readily admit the language is a total dumpster fire. I'm glad I was born into an English speaking home, because I can barely handle Afrikaans as a second language. I can't imagine having to learn this abortion of a language as a second language.


EDIT: having said that the language isn't all bad. The billion synonyms for everything, and the large variations in sentence structures allowing for trillions of ways to say the same thing, allows for an incredible variety when it comes to artistic expression.
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The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.

James D. Nicoll
 
Lupus

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porchrat said:
English has a boatload of exceptions and strange pronunciations thanks to centuries of nicking grammar and words from other languages.

It's definitely not an easy language to learn.

Afrikaans on the other hand is far more straightforward and consistent. I imagine most folks could learn Afrikaans more easily than English if they hadn't been exposed before to either language.

In Afrikaans you put a car into a motorhuis. A house for your car. Motor and huis are always pronounced the same in all circumstances. In English you put it in the garage... which is pronounced entirely differently to "rage" because the roots of the words are from different languages.

For example: Imagine what the terms flammable and inflammable must look like to the average non-native speaker after you've just explained dependent and independent.

I'm a native English speaker and I can readily admit the language is a total dumpster fire. I'm glad I was born into an English speaking home, because I can barely handle Afrikaans as a second language. I can't imagine having to learn this abortion of a language as a second language.


EDIT: having said that the language isn't all bad. The billion synonyms for everything, and the large variations in sentence structures allowing for trillions of ways to say the same thing, allows for an incredible variety when it comes to artistic expression.
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Then and than still throw me
 
Lupus

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porchrat said:
I've never heard of someone struggling with those, but I get it.

Native Afrikaans speakers also seem to struggle with "is" and "are".
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A few people do, cause of when speaking most times they are pronounced the same, they shouldn't be, but a lot of the time they are, so then you put than.
 
porchrat

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Lupus said:
The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary.

James D. Nicoll
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There's another potentially confusing word. "rifle". As a noun it's a long-barreled firearm with grooves in the barrel. As a verb it's either to propel something with extreme accuracy ("he rifled the rugby ball between the posts") or to ransack.

What a mess.
 
porchrat

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Lupus said:
A few people do, cause of when speaking most times they are pronounced the same, they shouldn't be, but a lot of the time they are, so then you put than.
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Indeed the moment you mentioned the confusion I completely understood why. You can also use them in confusingly similar sentences.

Then we should rather go left.

Rather than going right, they decided to go left.
 
Lupus

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porchrat said:
There's another potentially confusing word. "rifle". As a noun it's a long-barreled firearm with grooves in the barrel. As a verb it's either to propel something with extreme accuracy ("he rifled the rugby ball between the posts") or to ransack.

What a mess.
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There are a lot of homonyms, oxymorons and other colloquialism in English that makes it an interesting but hard to master language.
 
Lupus

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porchrat said:
Indeed the moment you mentioned the confusion I completely understood why. You can also use them in confusingly similar sentences.

Then we should rather go left.

Rather than going right, they decided to go left.
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Yup same as the other day my son in grade 4 had active and passive voice, he asked for examples.
I was like son I did this 30 years ago, I can tell you some history facts, TV shows or some other stuff but school work is long gone.
 
surface

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ForceFate said:
Speak for yourself mate. Many South Africans can communicate in 3 or more languages, and many more are willing to learn. If you think Afrikaans and English languages are adequate for you, fine.

Learning a language can be very challenging so salute to anyone who tries, whether it's sign language, xiTsonga or English.
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Problem is (and it is great for outsider actually) that due to general English literacy, I can get by anywhere without having to learn any SA language. In certain countries, you face hostility (or at best noncooperation) if you don't speak country's main native languages. Here it is not so.

I am trying isiZulu now (restarting again for 5th time but serious now) and it is rather tough even if I am not too shabby in picking up basics. In my opinion, concord system makes it difficult. Like in german, there is der, die and das and french has noun with gender but isiZulu makes it rather hard for a beginner to have 17 noun classes and their subjectival concords etc. Plus locatives - eish.. life is tough at the moment but I hope to get there in next 2 years.
 
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ForceFate

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surface said:
Problem is (and it is great for outsider actually) that due to general English literacy, I can get by anywhere without having to learn any SA language. In certain countries, you face hostility (or at best noncooperation) if you don't speak country's main native languages. Here it is not so.

I am trying isiZulu now (restarting again for 5th time but serious now) and it is rather tough even if I am not too shabby in picking up basics. In my opinion, concord system makes it difficult. Like in german, there is der, die and das and french has noun with gender but isiZulu makes it rather hard for a beginner to have 17 noun classes and their subjectival concords etc. Plus locatives - eish.. life is tough at the moment but I hope to get there in next 2 years.
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Salute. It's worth it.

It's a good language to learn but it's quite a challenge if you don't have regular contact with native speakers. It's easier on the tongue compared to its cousin isiXhosa.
 
Cosmik Debris

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Mike Hoxbig said:
English is one of the easier languages to learn. Which is why it's easier to pick up as a second or third language.

Doesn't work the other way though. If English is your home language, it's difficult to learn another. Because you will always try and "think" in terms of English...
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You always think in your home language. I think in English and Afrikaans despite being an Afrikaner because of using English professionally for my entire working life. I speak German but cannot think in German.
 
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