Spotlight on South Africa

English Is Our Mother Tongue

Demographics
The Republic of South Africa, located at the southern tip of the African continent, has approximately 48 million inhabitants. English is one of the eleven official languages spoken here and is the mother tongue of about half the population.

Native English speakers make up 40% of the white population and are generally descendants of British immigrants. Other native speakers are black Africans, “coloured” (of mixed race) and of Asian ancestry. The remaining 60% of the white population is mostly of Dutch ancestry, their mother tongue being Afrikaans.

History
The Portuguese were the first Europeans to arrive, circa 1487. During the next two centuries they established several small fishing settlements along the coast. In 1652 the Dutch arrived and for most of the 17th and 18th centuries the new-found settlements were in Dutch hands.

Great Britain took over in 1795 and officially annexed “the colony” in 1806. Since then, Britain’s presence and legacy have been constant and highly controversial.

Dialect
South African English is related to other southern hemisphere dialects of English like Australian and New Zealand, which supposedly have their origins in the English of South Eastern England.
South African English is very heterogeneous as it is rich in words borrowed from Afrikaans, Greek, Portuguese, the Indian languages and various indigenous African languages.

Words and expressions
Curiously they use the North American “cell phone” and “freeway/highway” instead of the British “mobile” and “motorway.” For “football” they differentiate between “Soccer” (N. Amer.) and “Rugby Union” (Brit.) Instead of the “yeah” used by most English speakers around the world, they use a very Scandinavian sounding “Ja.”

Some South African words which have entered the vocabulary of International English include:
Trek (from Afrikaans): A long, hard journey. This is where the term “trekking” comes from.
Apartheid (from Afrikaans): Apartness; cognate to English apart and hood.
Commando (from Portuguese): An individual, a military unit, or a raiding style of military operation.

Some idioms, South African style:
Just now: Sometime in the future/probably today sometime. (Similar to “ahorita” in many Spanish speaking countries!)
Now now: Right now, immediately.

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