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

[surface]

I do. I've tried Southern Sotho, French and Latin, all failed spectacularly.

Dude, you scored 40% in Afrikaans and tried French & Latin? Delusions of grandeur.

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

languages are hard to learn unless your immersed in it,
I can barely understand a few words of Afrikaans, because I dont speak to people all the time in Afrikaans.

so it also depends on your environment, if I had to go live in Paris, Id imagine Id learn some French quite quickly.

 

[TelkomUseless]

Get rid of ANC , then we can talk.

I can speaketh Afrikaans and bearly English lol. I sucked at languages in school....

 

[TheChamp]

languages are hard to learn unless your immersed in it,
I can barely understand a few words of Afrikaans, because I dont speak to people all the time in Afrikaans.

so it also depends on your environment, if I had to go live in Paris, Id imagine Id learn some French quite quickly.

Just watch the shows on TV, 7de laan for Afrikaans or the various lifestyle shows, they are even enjoyable viewing.

 

[wingnut771]

Dude, you scored 40% in Afrikaans and tried French & Latin? Delusions of grandeur.

This was in primary school (std 3) in 1988. S Sotho was a third language compulsory subject, French, also around std 3 was an after hours thing because my mom wanted me to learn, and Latin was one year in std 7 which was compulsory also.

 

[TheChamp]

Get rid of ANC , then we can talk.

Sure, I can't help but marvel at all the people who learnt multiple languages before the ANC, I personally spoke 4 languages before 94.

 

[PrimeSteak]

Just watch the shows on TV, 7de laan for Afrikaans or the various lifestyle shows, they are even enjoyable viewing.

Watch KykNet or the shows on Showmax as well. There's also Ludik on Netflix.

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

Get rid of ANC , then we can talk.

I can speaketh Afrikaans and bearly English lol. I sucked at languages in school....

this, ANC must go, and take their idiotic and incompetent ideas with them,

 

[Polymathic]

Very important point. This is how we all learned it as a kid, by active listening all the time & then only practicing. Being adults, we just try to get into too much of grammar and crap. At least I always go with this approach and it retards the progress. I am pretty sure now that one just learns to listen a lot, take notes and practice (even by your own as getting other adult to practice with is really not going to happen, at least not free)

p.s. Of course, I understand that as a adult, no one is going to correct your language every flipping day (like our parents/family did) when we were growing up.


LOL - I tried speaking perfectly fluent (in my mind) and people were like 'WTAF'? I tried some elementary sentences in Afrikaans and isiZulu with native speakers of those languages. Now, I give people warning.

I know enough Afrikaans that with context I know what somebody is saying despite not knowing a lot of the words. I can't seem to read it anymore.

I can understand basic Dutch, depending on the accent

I was a 40%er most of the Gr11 and matric but somehow got over 50% in my final results

 

[Polymathic]

Afrikaans can help you understand other Germanic Languages though. That's on advantage it has over Zulu

 

[Thor]

Nope.

Rather speak a global language

 

[TelkomUseless]

Sure, I can't help but marvel at all the people who learnt multiple languages before the ANC, I personally spoke 4 languages before 94.

Some people are good at languages.. other not. Such is life. We all got our awesome and less then stellar skills/talents.

 

[Jet-Fighter7700]

Nope.

Rather speak a global language

like what? Mandarin? French? Spanish?

 

[wizardofid]

Well they've become such, not so much during WW2, but it was an odd time. Watch the Wind Rises about the designer of the AM6 Zero, really odd to see Japan from another perspective during WW2.
I've watched a lot of anime as well, used to be involved a bit with events back in the early naughts, stopped watching as it got harder to find when animeworx, anime direct and such closed.

Talking about WW2, seriously this is bone chilling....from their perspective, stuff of nightmares.

 

[wingnut771]

Nope.

Rather speak a global language

Spanish would be the only one I would attempt.

 

[surface]

Sure, I can't help but marvel at all the people who learnt multiple languages before the ANC, I personally spoke 4 languages before 94.

Vrot & co are gonna claim credit for good old days.

 

[Lupus]

like what? Mandarin? French? Spanish?

It's actually English, Mandarin, Hindi, Spanish and then French.

 

[porchrat]

It's actually English, Mandarin, Hindi, Spanish and then French.

I'd love to know something like Mandarin. A bloody useful language outside of SA. Hell it's hard for an English speaker though. All those weird characters man.

 

[wizardofid]

Yeah I was 50 on the dot

I was a lazy bastid in school got around 65% for afrikaans as a first language, some how got higher marks for english as a second language, not that it was any easier at the time (days when model C was a thing). ugh Shakespeare, did that in standard 4 already I think, and again in standard 6 and 8, we perhaps did a little less essays and such. Weird afrikaans people in general did better with english compared to english first language speakers with afrikaans. It isn't like our household was bilingual either. The only thing that annoys me about english is being dis-conjunctive.Afrikaans and their double negatives. I love that high english is rarely spoken, but you are seen by afrikaans people to be common if you don't speak "hoogs afrikaans".

 

[dj_jyno]

Sy could mean "she" or "his". Afrikaaners pioneered the binary gender...

Of course we did... just look at the Apartheid-era ministers.