Growing up, I was severely mocked because of my Afrikaans accent. Why? Well, I grew up in an Afrikaans home, and an Afrikaans church, with Afrikaans parents. A lot of the TV viewing was in Afrikaans and the people that surrounded me were all Afrikaans. I grew up in Pretoria, in Wonderboom suid, Tzaneen (see picture below), Nelspruit, Kempton Park, Springs (etc.), in South Africa in the early 1990s (explains the afrikaans). When I was about 8, our church service changed to English. It was quite a learning curve. When I was in 5th grade, my parents decided to send me to an English school, and for the first time, I was completely out of my linguistic comfort zone.
English schools were nothing short of cruel! Being called a Dutchman, low life, lower class, and all sorts of names (with kids mimicking a retarded voice as the call me these names). I was treated differently, excluded from the cliques and never invited to gatherings. Sure this might have been unintentional, and thought of as light hearted and joking, but it did affect me and my self confidence quite a lot. What made it worse, is that my first week in my new english school, I had no school shoes, and went to school barefoot, because in Afrikaans schools we did not wear shoes, like ever! You can just imagine how I was mocked!
As time went by, I got better and better at the English language, and eventually, I served a 2 year mission for my church in Australia, surrounded by Americans and Australians. By this time, I had lost most of my Afrikaans accent when speaking English. When I was there, however, I was treated like a celebrity because of my accent, people couldn't get over the rolling r's and the way we pronounce our a's. For the first time, I was proud to speak up! When I returned, the strangest thing happened. Other than grammar, and severe rolling of r's, I could not tell the English and the Afrikaans South African accents apart. Soon after I returned, some guy said to me: "at least you lost your Afrikaans accent". It was so funny, because I could not tell if he was Afrikaans or English (he is English). Since then, I have not been ashamed to speak, and sound Afrikaans.
The other day I stumbled upon an article that I found amusing. How general this feeling is, I am not 100 % sure, but one thing is for sure, a lot of foreigners think our accent is pretty cool, especially the Afrikaans twist. This is directly from the article I found, so that you can hear it from the horse's mouth. From 50, down to 1, with the commentary:
50 Welsh
Little Britain ruined this.
49 Romanian
Dracula? Meh.
48 Belgian
If you've ever heard Flemmish spoken, you'll agree.
47 Indian
Sorry.
46 Finnish
Make it stop.
45 Japanese
Very cute, but sexy? Nope. Unless they're a Samurai warier.
44 New York
New YAAAAAHK. Nah.
43 Swiss
Too serious.
42 Mauritian
An... Interesting one.
41 Croatian
Croats just sound so harsh. Meh.
40 Nigerian
Midday Nigerian soaps on TV have us turned off.
39 Russian
Scary.
38 Pakistani
Way too fast.
37 Latvian
See 'Russian'
36 Polish
Not the worst, not the best.
35 Somalian
Trust us.
34 Canadian
Are you American or are you not? Stop talking so politely.
33 Glaswegian
Take your Iron-Bru and get out.
32 Malaysian
Pretty. But naaat sexay.
31 Chinese
Sigh
30 Austrian
Brings back traumatising Sound of Music memories.
29 Estonian
Sliiiightly better.
28 Norwegian
It sounds like smoked fish. Let's be honest.
27 London English
Alri Bruv.
26 Argentine
Preferably spoken while salsa dancing.
25 Thai
Surprisingly adorable.
24 Czech
Suave.
23 Libyan
Those Arab delights. Mm.
22 Dutch
Tall, blonde, and handsomely spoken.
21 Chilean
Wine might be to blame for this.
20 Greek
Mamma Mia!
19 Zimbabwean
So strong.
18 American
Debatable.
17 Mexican
Oh, sí.
16 Portuguese
Bringing hotness to Ireland since 1999. Or whenever.
15 Scottish
Aye.
14 New Zealand
Bonus points for being more chill than Ozzies.
13 Danish
Vikings. Hello?
12 German
Guten morgen to you...
11 Brazilian
The new sound of sexiness.
10 Southern American
That slow Texan drawl.
9 Jamaican
YAHHHH.
8 Israeli
We can't explain it. It's just hot.
7 Spanish
Because obviously.
6 Irish
A global favourite, to be sure to be sure.
5 French
The language of love.
4 Australian
V sexy, hey?
3 Northern Irish
Jamie Dornan. Enough said.
2 Italian
If only Dolmio day was every day.
1 South African
Afrikaans is the key to our hearts.
There were a few websites that agreed with this, and there were a few where South African is amongst the top. Here are a few proudly South African words to practise if you want to pick up a good looking lady :P
