Congratulations to Reza for passing the C2 exam in Valencian. Absolutely lekker news! Apologies for the delay in replying to your voice messages, but we’re back and ready to go.
Today we’ve got a message from Rocío from Cádiz and then we’re heading all the way to South Africa to explore South African English. Twelve official languages, rolling R’s, and words like howzit, braai, and aikona – it’s going to be kiff! What do those words mean? You’ll find out in this week’s episode.
Voice message from Rocio from Cádiz
Vowel Sounds in English – Monophthongs & Diphthongs
https://inglespodcast.com/611
Some South African facts
South Africa has three capital cities. Pretoria is the administrative capital, Cape Town is the legislative capital, and Bloemfontein is the judicial capital.
The Constitutional Court, the highest court in South Africa, is in Johannesburg, which is also the country’s largest city and economic center.
The world’s largest diamond ever found came from South Africa, the Cullinan Diamond, discovered in 1905, weighed about 3,106 carats in its rough form (That’s about 0.62 kg. Roughly the weight of a large apple!)
South Africa has won the Rugby World Cup four times, making it the first team to win four men’s Rugby World Cup titles.
South Africa is home to the famous Big Five: lion, leopard, elephant, rhinoceros, and buffalo.
South African English
South Africa has 12 official languages. The most common is isiZulu (25%)
One language is Afrikaans, which has its roots in Dutch, but it’s a separate language despite many similarities.
One feature of Afrikaans pronunciation is the rolling R:
“Robert’s red racing car races rapidly around the rocky road.”
Another is the emphasis on the /t/ sound at the beginning of words:
“Tom took ten tiny turtles to the tall tent in the town.”
Vocabulary
How are you? – Howzit?
Yes – yebo
Barbecue – Braai
Pick-up truck – backie (afrikaans)
Traffic light – robot
Dried meat/beef jerky – biltong
Nice, great, enjoyable – lekker (Dutch/Afrikaans) “Reza’s a lekker guy.”
Great, cool, excellent – kiff “These podcasts are really kiff.”
Cannabis – dagga
Trainers/running shoes – takkies
Soon, but not immediately – just now. Dictionary definition: “an indefinite time in the near future or the recent past”
In a little bit/while, very shortly – now, now “I’ll meet you at the car now now.”
pub/bar – shebeen (from Irish Gaelic)
Hangover – babbelas or babalas – “Ngine-babbelas” – “I’ve got a hangover.”
Mate, bro, buddy, pal – boet Afrikaans for brother), chommie (friend)
No way! Come on! / You can’t be serious! – Aikona! (isiZulu and isiNguni), or Ag, man! (Afrikaans)
To express shock – Jislaaik! (from Afrikaans)
“You’re paying 1200 euros rent per month?” – “Aikona!” ”
“I’m going to walk there.” – “Aikona, it’s too far!”
Hello/Goodbye/Yes/Cool – Awe/Aweh – very versatile township slang word
…and now it’s your turn to practise your English.
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Pipo
In next week’s episode: Dance vocabulary and expressions
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The music in this podcast is by Pitx. The track is called ‘See You Later’