South Africa's National Anthem

The Anthem includes five of South Africa's 11 official languages. The first stanza is in isiXhosa and isiZulu; the second stanza, Sesotho; the third stanza is in Afrikaans and then the last in English.

Greetings from The Rainbow Nation

Culture in South Africa is about as diverse as it comes and S.A. is one of the most multi-cultural countries in the world - no wonder it is often called "The Rainbow Nation"!
To begin to try and describe these cultures is almost impossible! Most of the cultures are also interwoven with each other - in a little or a large way. There are many more cultures and languages here besides the main cultural groups and 11 official languages that I mentioned in my post on language and population. Also over the last ten years or so, S.A. has been flooded with immigrants and refugees - legal and illegal- from many other African countries. We read on the net the other day that the illegal immigrants now make up almost a 3rd of the total population in S.A.! A lot of the central and north African countries have French as a main language so we are hearing more and more of it here in the country.

We were looking up S.A. customs and etiquette on the net and came across some interesting (sometimes very amusing) sites for foreign tourists. :D We even wondered if some of the advise was true! As I said, it's impossible to describe all the cultures, but I suppose (I think!) there is some sort of standard for greetings and etiquette in South Africa when you are having to deal with people across different cultures. Anyway, if you are ever visiting South Africa, here is what some of the tourism agents suggest: :)

"It is extremely difficult to generalise at all on South African etiquette and culture due to the diversity. There are many different races and these races behave quite differently in how they greet each other. However the standard form of greeting is a handshake." (this can be a normal handshake or one where there's a whole lot of 'up and down, this way-that way'!)

 . "When dealing with foreigners, most South Africans shake hands while maintaining eye contact and smiling.
. Some women do not shake hands and merely nod their head, so it is best to wait for a woman to extend her hand.
. Women may sometimes kiss each other on the cheek. (or both cheeks if they are like our Lebanese/Greek grandmother)  :)
. Greetings are leisurely and include time for social discussion and exchanging pleasantries."
 
Besides the usual English greetings used all over the world, here are a few of the common greetings you will hear in S.A...

Haai-daar - (Hi-dar) - Hi there!  
Hello/Hallo - used by everyone.
Yello (pronounced: 'yeah-lo') - Hello
Howzit -  A traditional South African greeting that translates roughly as "How are you?", "How are things?" or simply "Hello".Goeie Dag - (G-oi-er Du-g) Afrikaans for "Good Day"
Sawubona - (sour-born-na) "Hello" in Zulu.
Unjani? (Oon-j-are-knee)-Zulu for "How are you?" 
Cheers - Goodbye/So long.                                                   .
Totsiens (totseens) - "Goodbye/Till we meet again" in Afrikaans.
Hamba Kahle (Hum-bah kashle) "Goodbye-go well" - Zulu greeting.
Sala Kahle (Sah-lah kashle)- "Goodbye-stay well" - Zulu greeting.
Mooi Bly - (Moi Blay) in Afrikaans it is a farewell greeting like "keep well".

Of course besides the culture differences there are also the religious differences which will also be a part of how people greet each other. Anyway, we hope you enjoyed the post and for now we will say, "Totsiens and Hamba Kahle"! :-h

A Little Bit of Geography, History and, um..."English"

 It's a long post today and you're also going to get a bit of a "history" and "geography" and, um..."English" lesson. :P

My family and I are classified as "English South Africans" as English is our home language, although like many people living here, naturally-speaking Rachel and I are a real mixture of nationalities - Greek, English, Irish, Scottish, and Lebanese! We were born in S.A. and are 2nd generation S. Africans on our dad's side and 3rd on our mom's. Our great-grandparents were born in New Zealand and Sudan and our grandparents (Dad's side) were born and raised in Egypt and later immigrated to S.A.
(History lesson finished, now for the geography.)

There are about 47 million people living in South Africa. They come from many different cultures, backgrounds and origins. (You can read more about South Africa's population by clicking here). So you can imagine that there are many different languages spoken in the country. Actually S.A. has 11 official languages and then lots of others besides. (Click here for more info). Of course all these different languages have an effect on one another and are often mixed-in to each other.

English is understood by most people and is used as the official language for business and by the media, etc. But as a home language it ranks only 5th out of the 11. Although South Africans speak English it's not always easy to understand them as there are many words and phrases that are only used here. As one writer puts it: "SA English has a flavour all its own, borrowing freely from Afrikaans - which is similar to Dutch and Flemish - as well as from the country's many African languages, with some words coming from colonial-era Malay and Portuguese immigrants."

We thought it would be fun to do some posts about some S.A. words and phrases, so keep a look out for up-coming ones on S.A. English. :)