Whatever claims our fearless liberators may make, it is just the way it is - ours is a bilingual country, with both languages having nothing to do with most residents of our country and having everything to do with just getting along for peace's sake.
This is of course strange some 16 years or so after calling truce and apparently changing the rules such that the woman on a wheelchair could also have a fair chance of being CEO. Don't get me wrong, I could not give a shit what language the conversation at the water cooler is conducted in. I mean, one of the two languages of course. For my sins I got an A in matric Afrikaans and spent most of my formative years in the Afrikaans heartland,so met respek, fok u, I say. You have by now noticed that I keep using the uppercase everytime I refer to Afrikaans. So, whenever there is a switch between the (pronounced "thee") South African business language to the other South African business language, I'm still smoking (pronounced smoooken'). That however, is hardly ever the point.
The point is a lot more subtle as most points generally tend to be.
What does a non-Afrikaans speaker do when he gets to the water cooler smack bham in the middle of an Afrikaans conversation? No problem, she must just go find a water cooler with isiZulu speaking colleagues and problems' solved.
Of course if you were to raise any of these issues at work you would promptly be told to relax a little, be more like . . . Nelson Mandela, be accommodating. Not to have such a chip on your shoulder, the war is over now. The joke is on us though because such are the things that cause wars, not the chip on anyone’s shoulder. I apologise for digressing.
The question on my mind is why our country is bilingual while our fearless leaders proclaim multilingualism and 11 official languages etc. Frankly, the last time I checked, Setswana was only ever an official language back in the day when Bophuthatswana was a republic and Tautona was its president. Granted, on the pages of the constitution of our country there are 11 official languages. The big idea is that within reason, one can be served in her own language, especially when it comes to government services.
In practice though, there are only 2 official languages, English and Afrikaans. This, for the same reason “die stem” sits snuggly in the middle of the national anthem. It is hard being a South African with a memory and a chip on your shoulder. It is not easy to be all fuzzy and warm inside about what it means to be South African. Maybe it is because I am not a “forgive and forget” kinda guy. I am more of a “don’t do it again” kinda guy. It is however done to me again and again. The only change is of course the perpetrators. Sipho made a point of making an appointment for us to meet after work only to tell me that it is not nice of me to keep yapping in vernacular in front of our colleagues who only speak English and Afrikaans. This is absolute bull because this is Marthinus and his mates that Syfo (as he is affectionately known to us) is talking about. These okes sit in the coffee room and yap in Afrikaans all the time, even when Syfo, myself and hottie from Zambia are in the room. Syfo, as far as I know has not taken the issue of inclusiveness up with them.
All institutions (public and private) that matter in this country conduct their business in English and Afrikaans. I was part of a debate about this once where I was told that it would cost a fortune to produce materials in all 11 languages. I conceded that point. I also asked the guys to concede that it would be even cheaper if we only printed the materials in English, which seems to be a generally accepted business language anyways. My request was politely declined on the basis that the business has a large number of Afrikaans customers. This is shortly after a powerpoint showing how black people have become the biggest customer base was shoved up my ass by Marthinus himself.
This is why I advised the hottie from Zambia to invest in a “tweetalige woordeboek” and to start watching 7de Laan. This here is a bilingual country with 11 official languages.
This is of course strange some 16 years or so after calling truce and apparently changing the rules such that the woman on a wheelchair could also have a fair chance of being CEO. Don't get me wrong, I could not give a shit what language the conversation at the water cooler is conducted in. I mean, one of the two languages of course. For my sins I got an A in matric Afrikaans and spent most of my formative years in the Afrikaans heartland,so met respek, fok u, I say. You have by now noticed that I keep using the uppercase everytime I refer to Afrikaans. So, whenever there is a switch between the (pronounced "thee") South African business language to the other South African business language, I'm still smoking (pronounced smoooken'). That however, is hardly ever the point.
The point is a lot more subtle as most points generally tend to be.
What does a non-Afrikaans speaker do when he gets to the water cooler smack bham in the middle of an Afrikaans conversation? No problem, she must just go find a water cooler with isiZulu speaking colleagues and problems' solved.
Of course if you were to raise any of these issues at work you would promptly be told to relax a little, be more like . . . Nelson Mandela, be accommodating. Not to have such a chip on your shoulder, the war is over now. The joke is on us though because such are the things that cause wars, not the chip on anyone’s shoulder. I apologise for digressing.
The question on my mind is why our country is bilingual while our fearless leaders proclaim multilingualism and 11 official languages etc. Frankly, the last time I checked, Setswana was only ever an official language back in the day when Bophuthatswana was a republic and Tautona was its president. Granted, on the pages of the constitution of our country there are 11 official languages. The big idea is that within reason, one can be served in her own language, especially when it comes to government services.
In practice though, there are only 2 official languages, English and Afrikaans. This, for the same reason “die stem” sits snuggly in the middle of the national anthem. It is hard being a South African with a memory and a chip on your shoulder. It is not easy to be all fuzzy and warm inside about what it means to be South African. Maybe it is because I am not a “forgive and forget” kinda guy. I am more of a “don’t do it again” kinda guy. It is however done to me again and again. The only change is of course the perpetrators. Sipho made a point of making an appointment for us to meet after work only to tell me that it is not nice of me to keep yapping in vernacular in front of our colleagues who only speak English and Afrikaans. This is absolute bull because this is Marthinus and his mates that Syfo (as he is affectionately known to us) is talking about. These okes sit in the coffee room and yap in Afrikaans all the time, even when Syfo, myself and hottie from Zambia are in the room. Syfo, as far as I know has not taken the issue of inclusiveness up with them.
All institutions (public and private) that matter in this country conduct their business in English and Afrikaans. I was part of a debate about this once where I was told that it would cost a fortune to produce materials in all 11 languages. I conceded that point. I also asked the guys to concede that it would be even cheaper if we only printed the materials in English, which seems to be a generally accepted business language anyways. My request was politely declined on the basis that the business has a large number of Afrikaans customers. This is shortly after a powerpoint showing how black people have become the biggest customer base was shoved up my ass by Marthinus himself.
This is why I advised the hottie from Zambia to invest in a “tweetalige woordeboek” and to start watching 7de Laan. This here is a bilingual country with 11 official languages.
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absolutely perfect, man!
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