Comments on: Saying “drukker” Sounded Stupid

By: GrahamJ

GrahamJ — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 14:34:22 +0000

“…Saying ‘drukker’ instead of printer… ”

You mean one that connected to a ‘rekenautomat’?

It is not only English that evolves.

Great article.

By: Diva

Diva — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 09:11:25 +0000

@Chatsube: Afrikaans and Computers just REALLY do not make a good match do they?
I remember once I had to go and give some lessons to the head of the ATKV-something-or-other in PE. For those who do not know, ATKV is an Afrikaans organisation, so perfect Afrikaans was called for. Although I could hold my own in a conversation, those were the toughest 3 days of teaching I ever had to do in my whole life. Even after the gentleman told me that it would be ok to speak english, I was constantly stammering through what I had to teach him and keeping my afrikaans ’suiwer’.

By: Chatsubo

Chatsubo — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 07:54:21 +0000

I could program pretty well before I ever saw a high-school, and fixing computers as a kid provided a nice income. Thus when the time came that I wrote my first computer science theory test in std. 8, I was so confident I didn’t study at all. This would be a piece of pie, surely. I started reading the test, and suddenly my home-tongue sounded like Russian. I had no idea what the questions were. If I did, I could’ve answered them, but I didn’t. It was one of the most epically failed tests I’ve ever written. A solid “pluk”. I learn my lesson and went about studying up on Afrikaans computer terminology. It turns out a SVE was a CPU after all.

By: Diva

Diva — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 09:00:23 +0000

Sarah: it is something I regret greatly now too. It was just easier back then to have him speaking english as his first language; english-speaking neighborhood, most of his friends were english, pre-school was english and I was well on my way to becoming english first language. Looking back I actually think it would have been easier for him to learn english as an afrikaans speaker than the other way around.

FlipSide: I was standing behind two young people in a queue recently and they were talking to each other in Afrikaans. Suffice to say that I had NO idea what they were talking about as the greatest part of the conversation sounded as if it was made up out of made-up words! The accent is fine…its the other words that are thrown into the mix that leave me confused.

By: theFlipSide

theFlipSide — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 08:09:21 +0000

I had a computer science lecturer who insisted on translating everything into Afrikaans. Most of the time none of us understood him, but the moment we did we had a good laugh.

The Cape Coloured accent is unique and beautiful and something I enjoy very much. I could never understand how my friends could speak perfect English, but the moment they spoke to their family they switched to the most wonderful Afrikaans.
theFlipSide´s last blog ..THE iPHONE AND OTHER REMARKABLE GADGETS

By: sarah

sarah — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 08:04:27 +0000

Lovely piece, but it saddens me that you didn’t raise your son in Afrikaans.

I have a friend who is married to a “Fransman” and who lives in France and her two sons both speak perfect Afrikaans. Teaching your children the language you grew up with, even if they don’t use it outside of home is very special for me.

By: Colleen

Colleen — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 07:52:08 +0000

Your mother did good, as they say Deevs. I would also have liked to bring my children up bilingual only I was not so enlightened back then

By: Diva

Diva — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 07:14:38 +0000

Cloudy – you do not mess with Riaan Cruywagen. If you have ever watched the afrikaans news and he was on and you understood (even if only in parts), then you know you are South African!
Like I said – the man is an Institution!
Thanx Saint – as mentioned, my mother made a point of teaching us english. Once a week we would talk only english (I think it was a Wednesday) and my love of english books helped as well. I still spell like a moron though (thank God for spell checker).
Charlie – it is always good to have your thoughts challenged!

By: Good Charlie

Good Charlie — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 07:10:50 +0000

Well, wouldn’t you know…

That was very informative, Diva. I will certainly have to reprogramme my understanding of who an “afrikaner” is…
Good Charlie´s last blog ..Thank God For Men’s Fashion Designers

By: Colleen

Colleen — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 07:06:08 +0000

Very interesting Diva, you speak English very well for an Afrikaner might I say. This was a well written piece!