South African ACCENT?

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NotSoSure...

As an Ex-South African (lived there for 22 years) I can tell you that with 11 official languages, there are a multitude of different accents. There are so many factors, such as race, location, and language that I think it is fair to say THERE IS NO 1 OFFICIAL SOUTH AFRICAN ACCENT. But if I had to generalize and explain it to a foreigner, the typical South African accent is a blend of a Dutch accent, with some British nuances and a healthy helping of indiginous African words.

When people try guess where I'm from, the first attempt is usually Australia, then the UK, then sometimes NZ.

Although, if you were to take Charlize Theron, one of the most famous ex-South African's accent as an indicator of how we all sound, you would think we came from Los Angeles!

Hope this helps.

confused

There are a lot of accents within SA, so no one type of accent, just like there are many different accents in the UK, USA and Australia.
Roughest accent..? well, I guess it depends on the one who is listening, quite frankly I think if people can speak more than one language (often three or more), who cares about the accent???

It is very hard to define an accent in print.

A lot of English folk get confused between South African & Australian and NZ, so try listening to them, to get an idea.

Accents from different parts of South Africa are different, but someone who's first langage is Africaans will have a much harsher accent than an English South African.

rabbit

We have many accents is South Africa. Afrikaans people have theirs, Black people , indian, couloured, even english speaking people have accents. Then it also depends on where in the country the people were born and raised in!!

RSA

Most clear accent i believe.

whoisizzy

Moved away from SA, loosing the accent :(
listen to BBC Radio1's Chris Moyle's Breakfast Show, Its great to hear Chris and Comedy Dave do there impressions of South Africans. The best is when they use lines from Lethal Weapon Movies With Patsy Kensit.... 'White Bread or Brown Bread'

Raven

My boyfriend was in the UK for 7years and he says while he was there they used to tease him about his South African accent...I also didn't realise we had an accent until he started mocking me and the way I pronounce everyday words (He's got a pommy accent now, lost his flavour, although I couln't imagine him with a South African 'accent' again...I'd laugh at him...its really weird)

gazellegirl1988

Just depends on where you're from or your ancestry...

Me, I'm a mutt, English father, Afrikaans mother. To listen to me you'd know I was English, but when I bust out the Afrikaans, you wouldn't know I was English! We're often misrepresented by Americans as being Aussies because of the broad vowels. But our vocabulary sets us apart...I still say robot instead of traffic light!

c-rayz

The only time you ever know you have an accent is when you hear other people from other countries tell you..when i was NY ,everyone kept telling me how different i sound (chicks thought it was sexy though)

Porgie

I agree with Versace. It's your mother tongue that influences your accent. I am from an English family, but we spoke Afrikaans as well. My wife however is from an Afrikaans family and spoke only Afrikaans. Most of my foreigner friends agree that we have different accents. She speaks more harsh than me.

I don't know much about this, so I am not gonna say anything I dunno. But, I was told this by Americans, Canadians and Koreans. So, I guess it's gotta be true.

Oh and by the way, good to know we have something in common. Even if some have a more harsher accent, it's all the same. And it's good to know that people can pinpoint South Africans by listening to their accent.

Versace

its depends on your mother tounge

David T

You say

Blick instead of black
Blaad instead of blood
Bas instead of boss.

It's not a rough accent but it can be harsh.

I lived in south Africa when a teenager. Now in the UK.

girly

I have the same problem. I am working at a call centre in England and they seem to realy struggle to understand me at times. It depresses me and I wish I could loose it

FridayNighter

Hey

Hahahaha, I was told the same thing here in Oz...and I was also like 'REALLY?!?!?!'....but you can hear it after a while. When I speak to a bunch of aussies, I can hear how different our accent is to theirs...but of course ours sounds much better!! And my one geography teacher said that afrikaans sounds off and really harsh compared to dutch...what a loser!! Anywho, we do have a GREAT accent and I LOVE it!!

tay_jen1

i think that there are many south african accents.

and i also think that they can sound terrible, especially the mispronunciations... listen to the news to hear it.

Comrade Tony

There is a company in Sandton who will train you on how to lose your South African accent or do a Charlize Theron and get a fake American accent developed on the Aeroplane on the long haul flight.

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