Blogging for the Locals

Most of my blog readers are non-South African. It may seem strange, but I have to watch what I say as a result! I'm not talking sticky politics, or insults to certain groups or whatever, but rather the HOW of what I say.

For instance, if I were talking to a South African, I might say:

"We had such a lekker weekend. It was a total jol. We had a braai and checked out the boere at the aandmark. The weather was a bit vrot on Sunday, but the motreen didn't spoil the party. The manne did though."

However, I'd need to rephrase it for the internationals to say:

"We had an awesome weekend. It was a blast. We had a barbecue and saw a couple of farmer-types at the evening market. The weather was a bit bad on Sunday, but the misty rain didn't spoil the party. The guys that thought too much of themselves did though."

There's words like "gatvol" and "skop" that I can't NOT use in everyday language. Us South Africans mix our languages completely when we talk. We switch between English and Afrikaans constantly, or between one of the other 11 official languages, if we know them well enough.

When I was in the USA it was a real struggle to converse at first. Same thing when we visited Australia - though after 2 weeks there my son came back saying "yeah" instead of "ya". You just sorta slip into the way folk talk - if for nothing else, than for them to understand what you're saying!

I remember eating at a Mexican restaurant in the USA. We had what has to be the world's worst waiter (or is it "waitron" these days?). He constantly mixed things up, and my South African accent didn't help. I wanted milk to drink - he heard it "Millers". No, not Millers - MILK. Oh, Millers light? No.... Eventually I adopted the American accent and said "meelk". Then he got it. Geez...

Anyway, blogging for the locals. That's what I started this post on. So.. oh yeah, here's what I wanted to say:

If you ever meet me face to face, don't expect to understand what I'm saying. I don't talk like I blog. Not many bloggers do. But for your sake I'll slow down and use small words! :)