Where are you from?

[Charmain]

Gauteng

[Lu]

Welcome you 3!

[Carys]

Born and lived in PE for most of my life - been living in Cape Town for about 10 years. Miss PE! Even if some people think it is the armpit of Africa :)

[Rowan]

Beautiful Cape Town - Atlantic Seaboard

[Lerize]

Local from the Jacaranda City (Pretoria for those who don't know)

[Ashley]

born in Zimbabwe - grew up in Empangeni - now living in the dreaded Gauteng - Heidelberg to be exact!!! YUCK!!!

[Lu]

hehe welcome!

[Suzan]

grew up in Polokwane, now in Jozi...

[Rinya]

I am from Johannesburg.

[Lu]

Welcome Suzan and Rinya!

[Sonette]

Living in Centurion! Love it!

[Redbear]

East London for the past 12 years or so. Lovely place. Grew up in Sasolburg - small mining town. Went to a brilliant school there. Sasolburg High.

[Bella]

I live in New Zealand but I lived in Panorama,Cape town for 10 out of 13 years.Reeaallyy miss finding the odd puff adder in my yard.

[Bella]

Does any1 have any thing that you found around the house?

[Lu]

We constantly have moles, you see movement out of the corner of your eye, and there it is! We have to save them from the cats the whole time!

[Bella]

I caught 1 too once... I had to put it back,though.

[[deleted user]]

Hey Bella! Well well, this is cool, I lived in Panorama for 10 years! Moved when I was ten, to Paarl...
Where did you live? How old are you? Where did you go to school? I lived in Panorama and Welgelegen. Went to Panorama Laerskool, and my mother had a florist in the Delmar Centre...

[Bella]

I went to panorama primary, then moved to edgemead after about six years @ kleine panorama,primary while my mum worked @ the hospital up the hill

[Bella]

CAN ANY1 UNDERSTAND AFRIKAANS?

[[deleted user]]

Yes I do!!!!
So hoe oud is jy nou Bella?
Wat is die hospitaal se naam waar jou ma gewerk het?
Ah, toe ons trek was ek so hartseer, ek wou nooit trek nie, maar ons moes, my broer was in die koshuis in die Paarl, en toe gaan ons almal Paarl toe

[Lauren]

Wat is 'n "koshuis" Niecole? My afrikaans is nie baie goed nie...

[[deleted user]]

Its a hostal... My brother was in the hostal in std 6 in Paarl Gymnasium, but he didnt do so well with his studies... so we moved to Paarl, as my mother is originally from there, and all her family lives there

[Lauren]

Ah, thanks :) Another word for my rather small vocabulary.

[[deleted user]]

Hehe you can ask me about any words you dont know...

Do you know what Trifle is called in Afrikaans?
Or a Marshmallow?

[Lauren]

Ooh, no idea I'm afraid! I got really good marks for Afrikaans in high school (not that it counts for much), but living in Cape Town I almost never had to speak it if I didn't really want to, so it degraded.

Now I'm living in Pretoria and most people speak Afrikaans. I can understand most of it, but I'm so uncomfortable with speaking it I always reply in English.

[[deleted user]]

Well a Trifle in Afrikaans is called a Koekstryf (not so sure about the spelling) and a Marshmallow is a Malfa Lekker...

I know what you mean, in some jobs I've had I only had to speak English, and then my Afrikaans gets bad, but I enjoy the English language much more. I do love Afrikaans, (also I'm living of the so called birth place of the language) but I hate reading Afrikaans books etc

[Bella]

Haha...in New Zealand, its all english, only a few SA accents here and there,so I try to speak afrikaans with my mum & dad. My sisters forgot most of it so its like a secret language for the "grownups". My mum worked in panorama hospital.To be honest, I really ont know where my afrikaans came from... I just grew up in the middle of the city of Cape town.Often travelling up 2 Durbs for about 2 days then driving back.Really exhausting.

[[deleted user]]

Hi Bella...

That is so weird. I lived just beneith Panorama Hospital, and my mother usually knew everyone there. She use to bring the flowers for them, as everyone knew her and bought their flowers from her...

[Sonette]

I know what you guys mean. I suppose its wrong but I am proudly Afrikaans but I absolutely HATE reading Afrikaans books or watching Afrikaans movies. I suppose I'm a disgrace to my language. Hehe!

[[deleted user]]

Nope you are absolutely not, I hate Afrikaans movies and books to. I dont know, its like they can never make a good one! All Afrikaans movies are always so corny or unoriginal, you know what I mean?
And Afrikaans books are all mostly the same, romance with girl loves boy, boy hurts girl, girl goes away finds new boy, old boy comes back dum dum dum... Its so boring, and if there is an Afrikaans book with a new plot they use words I've NEVER heard from before!

[Lu]

Only Afrikaans book i like is Kring in die Bos, movies.... ja i donno :P

[Lauren]

I only read Afrikaans books at school, but there was one I really liked. I can't remember what it was called, but it was about a surfer and the story was made up of letters he wrote to his best friend, who you eventually find out died in a surfing accident some time ago. Good story :)

What about writers like Andre P. Brink, Dalene Matthee, or Marlene van Niekerk? Aren't they supposed to be quite good?

I'll be starting a new job that involves editing and translating Afrikaans soon, so I'll have to work on my language skills and start reading some Afrikaans novels!

[Lu]

Lauren wrote: "I only read Afrikaans books at school, but there was one I really liked. I can't remember what it was called, but it was about a surfer and the story was made up of letters he wrote to his best fri..."

OMG i remember this, i have been trying to find the name for a long time, and my friend eventually remembered. Its called: Die Pro! Loved it

[Bella]

Havent seen that... but I love the mcdonalds song!

[Bella]

stupid time difference...i miss all the action!

[[deleted user]]

Lauren, those writers are suppose to be good, but I would never classify them with English authors... dont know why.
Andre P. Brink is one of the guy (well to me) that writes in this Afrikaans language that you need a dictionary for to understand.
Dalene Matthee is a wonderful writer... she wrote Kringe in 'n bos, Fila se kind, Moerbeibos, Toorbos... al very beautifull, she has a better style of writing, but I still would not go sit and actually read any on purpose. (I read these at school). But then you get an unexpected author that writes really well. Like Die Uurwerk kantel by Marié Heese to me that was a beautiful story, it plays off in Paarl and Cape Town (Thats probably why I like it). But I've never read any other books of hers.

A book you can try out is by P.G. Du Plessis in English its Feast of the uninvited, it was made into a TV series and it was rather good. I want to read it very very badly.
PG du Plessis writing style is a bit more normal, I like it.

The one thing in Afrikaans that I do like are the poems... there are some wonderful poems in Afrikaans

[Bella]

Has any1 read city of glass by cassandra clare? I finished it in under 10 hours!

[Sonette]

Yes Bella, have read all of the City Books and patiently awaiting City of Fallen Angels. I am assuming by how quickly you read City of Glass that you loved it?? The series is one of my ultimate favourites and has a special place on my bookshelf!

[Bella]

I absolutely love the series! Second to Twilight, of course

[Nicky]

I am from Kimberley, but currently in Pretoria

[Craig]

Just outside Paarl.
But also lived in Gauteng and the UK

[Bella]

I used to love goimg to the cape star fort in capetown. So much history in one place.

[Craig]

Bella wrote: "I used to love goimg to the cape star fort in capetown. So much history in one place."

I still haven't been there! You live too far away now?

[Bella]

Yeah- basically on the other side of the world, New zealand. 'Known for its beautiful green forests and colourful birds'

[Craig]

How is life there? Always wanted to visit sometime :)

[Teepee]

Johannesburg- Boksburg to be exact...

[Craig]

Went to Boksburg High School for almost a year

[Heather]

I'm from the USA (California and Texas mostly), but have been living in Pretoria for the past 3 years.

[Rebecca]

Hey I was born in the Hillbrow area but i now stay in Alberton

[Lu]

Welcome!