Does it irritate you when South Africans living abroad change the pronunctiation of their names?

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poepies

HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!! IT DRIVES ME CRAZY!!!!! And I am glad I am not the only one that doesn't like her. I think she is a lousy actress!!!!

It is a good question, I'm working with two British women and the one has been living in South Africa for 19 years, and she still has her British accent.... she can speak Afrikaans but with such an accent that you don't really understand either!

I think people like Charlise Theron or as you would call her Charlise Fe-ron, are fakes!

Pronunciation - It does irritate me. I keep pronouncing them the way I am used to. I don't care if they get irritated or not!

As for accent - I studied in England for 2 years. I don't like their accent. Sometimes I don't even hear what they are saying. I still like the South African English speakers' accent.

But I honestly get irritated by South Africans ( mostly Blacks) who go on a two week conference/course in US and come back with this fake American accent and mannerism. I always tell them that we'd rather speak African language as their fake accents polute my ear drums!!!!

Reb Da Rebel

A man who hates SOuth Africa defending being South African... Hmmm?

Maybe I did hug the Grinch out of you (",)

You know what the worst part is? The younger generation of SOuth Africans who have never even been out of the country and act American. Speaking with a twang, living like Paris Bimbotin and wearing pants that defy gravity (hanging under their @ss etc)...
Charlize scared me when she tried pronouncing an Afrikaans word in an American accent... yikes! Have you ever? I'm Tswana and my pronounciation of Afrikaans words is quite good (though I cant drag my "r" in any language)...

She's a good actress, yes, but not when she's idolised by young African girls who think its okay to forget you're Afrikaans when you're rich and famous...

roxxybean

its irritating. a friend of mine went to work as an au pair in the us for six months and came back with the most annoying accent. and she couldnt speak afrikaans anymore (her mother tongue).

Angelpaws

My sister's been in London for two years now, and she refuses to pick up their accent. She still sounds exactly the same as she did the day she left - and I like that.

jovvijo

I think that if a person is that desperate to be rid of their South African heritage then good riddance to them!

Let them do what they like, they're the only ones who end up looking like goofs.

bean

I used to hate the accent that people picked up from uk/usa after a short visit, but my husband went to the states recently and tried to ask for a straw ... they didnt know what he was talking about ... so he tried some hand gestures ... nothing ... eventually he used a fake accent and the guy was like "oh a strAAAA" he said the guy wasnt offended by his fake accent or anything. So I suppose its just easier to conform when you get there

-One Love-

yes! i mean hey, which south african's gonna go and pronounce 'theron' the way charlize does!? some people can lose their accents really quick, others don't! i for one would NOT like to lose mine. this one friend of my mom's, she lived in south africa pretty much her whole life, lived in america for a few more years and has now been in australia for about 2,5 years. she still has her scottish accent!

General Proud

oy vey. yes, it gets to me as well. in charlize's defence, i suppose the american accent helps with her movie career. however, i suppose it depends on the person and the situation.

Alf Garnett 8

You are correct about Charlize Theron but that dumb blonde developed her accent on the transatlantic flight from SA and she is just a shallow of piece of excrement who is South African when she feels like it. Against that you have Retief Goosen who speaks pretty good English with no accent and Ernie Els who still sounds like a raw Dutchie. In reality when you move to a different Country you do over a period of time start to pronounce words the way they do and pick up expressions that are common to them and foreign to South Africa. I mean when Ronald McDonald in Germany gets back to Cape Town he will be pulling on his liederhosen instead of his shorts.

Ibanez

Yes, Like Charlize Theron... Seems like she can't even pronounce her own surname right

london.oval

The American accent is the easiest to get your ear around in the world. I used to pick it up after listening to visitors for just a week when I was still living in SA.

The British accents are less necessary to try and copy and the European ones even less easy.

the only reason a person should need to change there name is for the convenience of the people they are living amongst. If their name is difficult to pronounce, then change.

andy

I HATE SOUTH AFRICANS WHO MOVE TO ANOTHER COUNTRY AND COMPLETELY LOSE THEIR CULTURE, BELIEFS AND EVEN ACCENTS(THE ONE THING THAT IDENTIFIES YOU TO WHAT YOU ARE)

g_its

No, it doesn't bother me. Living overseas and having to spel your name by C for Charlie, P for Peter etc. gets really irritating after the seveth or eight millionth time.
And as for loosing your accent, depends on your age when you left the country. My sister has no South African accent and I do - I am seven years older than her though. My accent has changed somewhat, as I only speak Afrikaans when I see my family, and that is not very often. You just pick up little bits and pieces, and it makes conversation, wheter face to face or over the phones much easier.

I guess it also depends what kind of name you have. Loads of people here change their names back to the origins, like most men named Pieter change to Peter, Kobus to Jacob.

One of my friends son's name was Freke (from Frederik) and imagine how he would have been teased in school, they call him Fred now.

A little understanding is all that is required.

sins

It is a bit irritating, but to be honest, if I could do it, it'd have made my life that bit easier, because every da*n time I give my name to someone verbally I have got to spell it! And it really is not that difficult!! (Ilze)

As far as the accent goes, I've been living in the UK for 6 years, and still have a rather strong accent, (people here always ask me where I'm from) but according to my family I sound like a Brit, so that very much depends on personal opinion.

Oh, and about Charlize, I completely disagree with your opinion, I think she is brilliant.

Douw S

Maybe you should all stop your @@@@@@ then you will realize that is not Charlise that changed but the poor Americans. The poor things can't talk you know. Oh never mind. Get out of your little box and go out in the world then you will know. After all when in Rome do as the Romans....

Marrs Attack

yours would change from Hofmeir to Stofsuier.

Brad Morris 9

Ultimately, folks, is any of this going to make a difference in your lives?

don n

I can understand it in some instances. If your name is such that everyone mispronounces it or its meaning as pronounced means something bad in the country you are in then I can understand it.
As to picking up an accent from speaking a different language it is probably they are trying to be understood by adapting the new language to their own.

dances with unicorns

Why would you care? I don't.

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