I’ve been struggling for a while trying to understand why i seem to have such a hard time talking to some people.
Really!
But, I don’t mean talking in the essence that i’m too shy or don’t have anything to say, but more in the sense that with some people i just can NOT find the right words OR put the right words after each other. Everything i say either comes out half way or the words get mixed up in a weird order that makes no sense what so fucking ever..
Annoying. Frustrating. So insanely confusing. So incredibly true.
I didn’t get it. I was lost.
Until a few nights ago while I was contemplating my last conversation which had ended in complete disaster and I had not been able to get my point through at all. It was so confusing because at this point I would definitely say my English is fluent (with some flaws of course) and I should be able to have a normal conversation about normal stuff to a normal person without any difficulties.
But no.
Apparently I can’t.
Anyways. The conversation in itself is not important – since it never developed to anything anyways, thanks to my lack of whatever it is – but I later came to the realization that it all depends on the person I’m talking to. And what accent that person is using.
Since English is not my first language I learn all the time and I seem to adapt quite easily to the different accents of people I met. E.g. I’m talking to someone that’s from England I tend to pronounce my words more brittish like, Americans will bring out the slang of an American and so forth..
But. Some south African accents I can not grasp. I can not adapt to it and when I try I fail miserably.
It really is as strange as it sounds, but I’m pretty sure this is the problem. I can not speak South African english. Period. Period. Period.
Still, it’s just some people. Just some accents and some situations it seems like. Still sounds very strange in my ears too..it does.
Nevertheless, it’s trying and I am really struggling now to come over this stupid mindset/flaw/handicap/retardness/stupity that has come over me.
I mean, this is something that has to be fixed.
I need to be fixed. Cured. Sorted and develop my skills.
I need to be and do all that so I can say what I want to who I want whenever I want no matter who they are.
Come on now Ms. Myself – it can’t be that hard..
Right??
If English isn’t your first language, then YES, it CAN be hard. So don’t be hard on yourself, hmm? Perhaps you need to try to find and stick to your own accent and try not to adapt to the other person’s way of speaking and then you won’t get yourself confused while speaking to someone with a South-African accent?
By: slightlyignorant on February 18, 2009
at 12:36 pm
Don’t feel too bad. I can’t even pick up a South African accent and English is my first language (here in America…). Irish? Canadian? American? Cockney? No problem. But I have no idea with SAE. I can follow you with my German learning too, I tend to mimic native speakers around me. And I’m completely lost when someone has a Swiss accent. It makes zero sense. A substitute teacher had a Swiss accent once and tried to teach our class and NO-ONE understood him at all.
By: Ian C. on June 5, 2009
at 4:59 am
Fantastic! thank you, then i know i’m not the only one struggling with this.. so strange though, i can’t see why. I mean, it’s still freakin’ english and should be a lot easier then e.g. some of the accents from the UK.
Oh well
Thanks for coming by! all the best.
By: Lotta on June 12, 2009
at 2:15 pm
Hi, it is so nice of you to want to learn an African language. I live in South Africa and I also want to learn. English is also my second language. We have 9 official languages here! Yes you heard correct! So you must first familiarize yourself with the languages and then decide wich one you are going to study. Good luck!
By: Blertus on July 7, 2009
at 1:08 pm
Uhm…Dude, you’re totally misleading people.We have 11 official languages and 9 provinces,, Yes you heard correct;)
By: the coorector on April 19, 2011
at 6:07 pm
The English spoken by native English speakers in SA is quite different from the English spoken by those whose first language is Afrikaans. The Afrikaaners speak English quite fluently in most cases, but they have a much different accent. Then there’s the English of those who speak one of the African language natively. Some native, non-SA English speakers have trouble understanding Afrikaaner English and the English of native Zulu and Xhosa speakers.
By: tambocha on October 27, 2009
at 3:43 am
Yup. That is very correct.. Luckily I’m giving it another shot and moving back to cape town
Will make myself understand!! thx for dropping by!
By: Lotta on October 28, 2009
at 6:14 pm
Lekker bru… Show me your tolli just now!
Here is a video of pro surfers doing their best SA accent!
Enjoy!
By: Lebon PY on October 27, 2009
at 10:10 am
Hahahaha. Fantastic! Thanks bru
By: Lotta on October 28, 2009
at 6:14 pm
We don’t have 9 official languages, we have 11.
We also have many types of SA accents. There is the Afrikaaner accent. The English South African accent.
There is the way black people speak which is totally different. The way the indians speak which is again totally different.
I dont understand why it is hard for you to understand, especially an English South African accent.
By: nat on November 3, 2010
at 11:36 pm
You do have 11 different languages and that is amazing..
I read a statement earlier but can’t remeber it in its correct words but it went somewhat like this; “don’t make fun of a person with an accent. remember that he does speak another language” and even though my memory might fail me right now, if you look deeper you might see what i mean.
You have 11 different languages, with it coming a mass amount of dialects.. Please don’t judge a me as a foreigner trying, or any foreigner, struggling with this. I find it very fasicnating with accents, dialects and languages so this blog post was not an offence of any kind. When i wrote it i was simply trying to understand the dialect of the country i was in.
By: Lotta on November 4, 2010
at 2:15 am