• Expressions used for HIV/AIDS
• Discussion: Sex, Mental Illness

• Expressions used to describe dwellings
• Discussion: Cars, Clothes, etc...

• Discussion: Speaking African Languages

PART ONE

Expressions used for beauty

• Zulu
  • Awumuhle - ulilanga liphuma
    You are not (more than) beautiful - you are the sun coming out
  • Muhle lo mntwana, ugezile
    That child is beautiful, she is washed

• Xhosa
  • Iguzberi iphuma ekhasini!
    A gooseberry coming out of its shell!
  • Umanz' eendonga
    She is the water of the banks of a river

• Xhosa Slang
  
  • Uyimaths
    She is curvy
  • V16
    a virgin
  • Unekaraven
    She has a caravan (nice behind)
  • Amareverse akhe mahle
    Her behind is beautiful

• Sotho
  
  • Utswana lipalisa
    She is like a flower
    
  • Okgabane!
    She is outstandingly beautiful!
    
  • Seponono
    Beautiful one
    

Expressions used as condolences

• Zulu
  • Lala ngenxeba
    Lie on the wound - in other words Don't avoid the pain - live with it, and the pus and what makes it sore will eventually come out

• Xhosa
  • Akuhlanga lungehlanga
    What has happened always happens - it is something common, not unexpected
  • Ubhodile
    S/he has crossed the border

• Sotho
  
  • O rahile lebota
    S/he has kicked the wall
    

Expressions used for hunger

• Xhosa
  • Inxele likaKhetsekile liyakatsa
    which means The left hand of Khetsekile is beating hard.
    There was this guy during the time of Van Riebeek who would always take from the Dutch and say he was going to give them something, but never came with anything - so his left hand was always empty - and when you are hungry it is Khetsekile's empty hand that is beating in your stomach!

• Sotho
  
  • Ketswere ketlala
    I am being held by famine
    

PART TWO

Expressions used for HIV/AIDS

• Xhosa/Zulu
  
  • Unamagama
    S/he has words (referring to the words HIV/Aids)
    
  • Unamagama amane
    S/he has four words (referring to the four words represented by Aids)
    
  • Unamagama amakhulu
    S/he has big words (referring to the long words represented by HIV/Aids)
    

• Xhosa/Zulu slang
  
  • Udlala ilotto
    S/he is playing the lotto (for someone suspected of having Aids)
    
  • Ubambe ilotto
    S/he has caught the lotto (S/he has HIV/Aids)
    
  • Uyimemba yeTKZ
    S/he is a member of TKZ (TKZ is a famous kwaito music group, but because there are only 3 letters in TKZ and there are only three letters in HIV, anything with only 3 letters in it can be thought to stand for HIV)
    

• Xhosa
  
  • Unxiba isikafu esibomvu
    S/he is wearing the red scarf (S/he has HIV/Aids because the symbol for HIV/AIDS is the red ribbon)
    

• Zulu
  
  • Ukhwela isitimela saseZola
    S/he is on the Zola train (because the train to/from Zola is always packed and Aids is seen as being very widespread, almost popular)
    

Discussion: Sex, Mental Illness

AIDS is related to sex and we don't like to talk about sex directly ... even our private parts, we don't name them straight. For example, a man will give his penis a clan name and then refer to it with this name if anything is wrong with it... like UDebeza (that may be his clan name) uyagula - Debeza is sick ... then we know what he is talking about. And a woman talks about that area of her body as Usisi - Sister - and then she can talk much more freely about it ...

• Tessa: And what about mental illness now ... I know pyschologists often have big problems getting to the heart of what is making someone mentally ill ... I know Lesley Swartz has written a book on this ...
• Nthuseng: The thing is Tessa, what you people call mentally ill may not be mentally ill to us - maybe the person is being called by the ancestors to become a healer ... then they will seem to be acting strangely but really something wonderful is happening to them ...
• Zolani: But really if we think someone is mentally ill, we do have our ways of talking about it, like we might say Icasette iqhawukile - His casette is broken or they will say the wick doesn't reach the paraffin.
• Nthuseng: Or in Sotho Hadiare malome - She is not rested, even at uncle's house. That is the one place you should feel rested because one's uncles and aunts always spoil one, so if you can't be relaxed there you must be mad.

PART THREE

Expressions used to describe dwellings

• Xhosa/Zulu - RDP houses
  
  • Kwavez' unyawo
    There where the foot sticks out, because they are so small you won't be able to squeeze your whole body in!
    
• Xhosa/Zulu - Shack
  
  • Kwalahl' umlenze
    There where the leg was too freely opened, because there are so many kids there must have been quite a bit of sex!
    

Discussion: Cars, Clothes, etc...

• Thandi: But you know, people also talk about cars very creatively, like they will call a Mercedes 4x4 a TY because that is what Tony Yengeni had. I have also heard people describe the spare tyre at the back of a Pajero as the car's baby - it is like when a woman carries a baby on her back - ukubeleka!
• Nthuseng: And BMWs are sometimes called G-Strings because they have beautiful behinds.
• Thandi: And those old taxis that look like cars, they are called Amapela - cockcroaches because they are so filthy.
• Tessa: And we all know that I drive a skorokoro - which is a really beaten up old car! But even if you have to drive a skorokoro then at least your clothes can be stylish, hey!
• Zolani: Oh yes, you must wear clothes with labels if you are a young township person, if you don't people will say, Ah that one, unxiba fongkong - He wears fongkong (from Hong Kong) which I think refers to the kind of cheap clothes that are made in Hong Kong!
• Thandi: And you know those shirts those sexy young girls wear, they are called Uvez umbona - Shows the belly button, but I wouldn't wear them because I have too many tayara - layers of fat! And in Cape Town, platform shoes are called platform 24s because if you go to Cape Town station you will see that platform 24 is higher than the other platforms.
• Nthuseng: And beach shoes, like flip-flops are called meqhatatso because they go qhat, qhat.
• Tessa: And what about slippers?
• Nthuseng: Slippers are mokatapeyi - Mokata - guard, peyi - the pay, so slippers are always keeping watch over your money because they usually don't last long and are always needing to be replaced!
• Zolani: But I like the word for those glasses that are worn by academics or very educated people, with that thick brown frame, they are called Amaday-and-night because you can wear them in the day and at night.
• Tessa: Have any of you ever heard of a John 14.
• Zolani: That is what you use to describe something that is boring, so a cabbage can be called a John 14, because if you are poor you must eat cabbage every day, and it is quite boring.
• Thandi: You see John 14 is that part of the bible with all those very well known phrases, like "In my father's house there are many mansions" and you can go from church to church on a Sunday and every preacher will be using those phrases from John 14, even the illiterate ones, so it gets a bit boring, so now John 14 stands for something not very original!
• Tessa: And finally, what about cell phones, do people give cell phones special names?
• Thandi: Oh yes, in Xhosa we call them oonomyayi - crows because they are black and make a noise, but you never know where they are. They are also called Ntamani which comes from the verb ukuntama - to reveal, because they are like tracking devices because someone can always get hold of you!

PART FOUR

Discussion: Speaking African Languages

• Tessa: After telling people how wonderful African languages are, there will probably be lots of people who would love to start learning them now.
• Thandi: And I am sure many of the African language speaking listeners are also excited and hoping that they will start to learn, or maybe even they themselves would like to learn another African language. I get such a loving feeling when I hear someone speak my language, even if they are battling.
• Nthuseng: The sad thing is, Tessa, that while African language speakers all learnt how to speak English at school and just through their own efforts, the same is not happening with African languages. I mean I can speak Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho, Tswana, English and Afrikaans but I don't know how many English speakers can do the same and I know they are intelligent enough!
• Zolani: But you know what Nthuseng, it is getting quite sad these days, even African language speakers can't read and write their own languages. They can speak them, but they can't read or write them.
• Tessa: I know the problem is huge, because really everyone knows that it is English that will get them ahead in the world - but what would really help us all become more tolerant of each other, more sympathetic, would be if we made an effort to learn each other's languages, but many people think they are too difficult. So what would your advice be, Zolani, as an Afican language teacher?
• Zolani: I would say first of all: Congratulations! Halala! for even deciding to start learning an African language. You are going to make a lot of people happy! Then I would say, decide who you are going to speak your new language with. Do you have friends, colleagues, people you see everyday that you can speak to? It is really hard to learn a language without having people to talk to, some people can do it, but only with discipline.
• Nthuseng: Yes, and as a publisher, I of course would say, research the best teaching materials available, make sure you buy a course that suits the way you want to learn. There are excellent phrase books, textbooks, tapes, CD-ROMS. Most publishers are happy to tell you about the content of these.
• Tessa: So have someone to talk to, and get hold of a good book or course - Thandi I know you are a very successful teacher of Xhosa at Wynberg school, what are your tips?
• Thandi: I would say understand a few simple grammar rules and then develop your vocabulary. For example, I am afraid to say lots of English speakers like to boss people around, [laughs], so you must definitely learn the imperative mood which is easy: everything just ends in an -a. For example Hamba! - Go!, Yiza! - Come, Phendula! - Answer!. So get a good dictionary and then look up those words, they will normally be given to you in the imperative anyway.
• Zolani: And you know a lot of people who want to speak an African language need to do research, so they need to ask questions like: Do you have .... ?, for example, Do you have a matric? and do you have is une- so you can ask: Unematriki? - Do you have a matric?, Unefowuni? - Do you have a phone?, Unelayisensi? - Do you have a licence?
• Nthuseng: Yes and in Sotho that is O na le-, so O na le matrik, etc.
• Tessa: Thandi, you mentioned developing your vocabulary.
• Thandi: Definitely! You should have your own little book into which you enter your new words. Lots of words are taken from English or Afrikaans and those ones you can learn fast - ifriji - fridge, ikhabathi - cupboard, itafile - table, ifestile - window and they normally start with i- and they are normally nouns. Then the other words, which are more difficult to learn, you must find ways of remembering them - like I told my students what winter is ubusika now my students know that sika is cut, so I remind them that the cold cuts into them in winter and that is how they remember ubusika and they know lala is sleep so bulala - murder is when you make someone lala - sleep forever! But really the best way to remember new words is to learn say 5 new words a day and use them that whole day.
• Zolani: So for example if you learn that thanda means like or love you must spend the whole day saying to people: Heyi, ndithanda ibelt yakho - I like your belt, Ndithanda ibhegi yakho - I like your bag, they will like the compliments and you will be getting good practise.
• Thandi: And then they might say to you Ndiyakuthanda which means I love you which is very romantic.
• Nthuseng: That is Ke a o rata in Sotho and the Sothos are even more romantic.
• Tessa: So what should we teach the listeners just before we go, a phrase they will hear a lot in African music.
• Thandi: Ndiyakuthanda - I love you - that is Xhosa.
• Zolani: Ngiyakuthanda - I love you - that is Zulu.
• Tessa: So the only thing that changes is the Ndi- changes to Ngi-.
• Nthuseng: And in Sotho, we say: Ke a o rata.