South African
Info

South Africa has experienced a significantly different evolution than other nations in Africa arising primarily from two facts: immigration from Europe reached levels not experienced in other African communities and a level of mineralogical wealth that made the country extremely important to Western interests particularly during the Cold War. As a result of the former, South Africa is a very racially diverse nation. It has the largest population of people of Coloured (i.e., mixed racial background), European, and Indian communities in Africa. Black South Africans account for roughly 75% of the population.

Racial strife between the white minority and the black majority have played a large part in the country's history and politics, culminating in apartheid which was instituted in 1948 by the National Party. The laws that defined apartheid began to be repealed or abolished in 1990 after a long and violent struggle by the black majority, as well as some White, Coloured, and Indian South Africans.

The country is one of the few in Africa never to have had a coup d'état, and regular elections have been held for almost a century; black South Africans were only enfranchised in 1994. The economy of South Africa is the largest and best developed on the continent, with modern infrastructure common throughout the country.

South Africa is often referred to as The Rainbow Nation - a term coined by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and later elaborated upon by then-President Nelson Mandela as a metaphor to describe the country's newly-developing multicultural diversity in the wake of separatist apartheid ideology.

Basic Culture
It may be argued that there is no "single" culture in South Africa because of its ethnic diversity. Today, the diversity in foods from many cultures are enjoyed by all and especially marketed to tourists who wish to sample the large variety of South African cuisine. In addition to food, music and dance feature prominently.

South African cuisine is heavily meat-based and has spawned the distinctively South African social gathering known as a braai. South Africa has also developed into a major wine producer, with some of the best vineyards in the world lying in valleys around Stellenbosch, Franschoek, Paarl and Barrydale.

There is great diversity in music from South Africa. Many black musicians who sang in Afrikaans or English during apartheid have since begun to sing in traditional African languages, and have developed a unique style called Kwaito. Of note is Brenda Fassie, who launched to fame with her song "Weekend Special", which was sung in English. More famous traditional musicians include Ladysmith Black Mambazo, while the Soweto String Quartet performs classic music with an African flavour. White and Coloured South African singers tend to avoid traditional African musical themes, instead preferring more European musical styles including such western metal bands such as Seether. There is a thriving market for Afrikaans music, covering all the genres of Western music.

The country's black majority still has a substantial number of rural inhabitants who lead largely impoverished lives. It is among these people, however, that traditional dance and music survive; as blacks have become increasingly urbanised and westernised, aspects of traditional culture have declined. Urban blacks usually speak English or Afrikaans in addition to their native tongue. There are smaller but still significant groups of speakers of Khoisan languages which are not official languages, but are one of the eight officially recognised languages. There are small groups of speakers of endangered languages, most of which are from the Khoi-San family, that receive no official status; however, some groups within South Africa are attempting to promote their use and revival.

The white minority lead lifestyles similar in many respects to whites found in Western Europe, North America and Australasia.

Despite considerable discrimination under apartheid, Coloureds tend to relate more to white South African culture rather than black South African culture, especially Afrikaans-speaking Coloured people whose language and religious beliefs are similar or identical to white Afrikaners. A small minority of Coloureds, known as Cape Malays, are Muslim.

Asians, predominantly of Indian origin, preserve their own cultural heritage, languages and religious beliefs, being either Hindu or Sunni Muslim, and speaking English, with Indian languages like Tamil or Gujarati being spoken less frequently. Most Indians arrived on the famous Truro ship as indentured labourers in Natal to work the Sugar Cane Fields. There is a much smaller Chinese community in South Africa, although its numbers have increased due to immigration from Taiwan. Since the Taiwanese were classified as White, rather than Asian, under apartheid, they tend to be more culturally similar to whites in many ways than they are to other Asians.

Languages
South Africa has 11 official languages: English, Afrikaans, Zulu, Swati, Ndebele, Southern Sotho, Northern Sotho, Tsonga, Tswana, Venda and Xhosa. In this regard it is second only to India in number. As a result, there are many official names for the country.

The country also recognises eight non-official languages: Fanagalo, Lobedu, Northern Ndebele, Phuthi, South African Sign Language, Khoe, Nama and San. These non-official languages may be used in certain official uses in limited areas where it has been determined that these languages are prevalent. Nevertheless, their populations are not such that they require nationwide recognition.

Many of the "unofficial languages" of the San and Khoikhoi people contain regional dialects stretching northward into Namibia and Botswana, and elsewhere. These people, who are a physically distinct population from other Africans, have their own cultural identity based on their hunter-gatherer societies. They have been marginalised to a great extent, and many of their languages are in danger of becoming extinct.

Many white South Africans also speak other European languages, such as Portuguese, German, and Greek, while many Asians and Indians in South Africa speak South Asian languages, such as Hindi, Gujarati and Tamil.

There are 11 official names for South Africa, one for each of the official national languages. While each language is technically equal to every other, English has emerged recently as the chief-among-peers as it is the most widely spoken language across racial barriers as well as globally, even though it is not the most widely spoken language by population. Afrikaans has been downgraded in order to accommodate other official languages. The South African passport currently has only French and English on the front cover and lists the other official names of South Africa on an inner page.

SA Phrases
Arvie - short for 'afternoon'
Baai - Afrikaans for 'Bay', as in Gansbaai (Goose Bay)
Bakkie - A pick up truck with an open back or canopy.
Berg - Mountain
Bergie -A vagrant that lives on the slopes of Table Mountain
Biltong - Very tasty sun-dried strips of spiced meat available in beef, kudu, springbok, ostrich etc
Boerekos - Describes Afrikaans farm food which typically cosists of meat and vegetables cooked using large quantities of sugar and butter, not good for a diet!
Boerewors - Spicy coils of coarse sausage, common fare at most braais!
Braai - A South African BBQ, and probably more central to South African culture than the BBQ is to Australians!
Dagga - Marijuana
Dankie - Afrikaans for 'Thank you'
Dassie - The Hyrax, a rabbit sized rodent common on Table Mountain which is the closest living relative of the elephant!
Dof - A derogatory term that describes someone who is a little dim-witted
Dorp - A small town or village
Drankwinkel - A liquor shop
Egoli - The Zulu name for Johannesburg hich means 'city of gold'
Fynbos - Meaning 'fine-leaved bush' and refers to the unique variety of Proteas, ericas and grasses found in the Cape Peninsula's Floral Kingdom
Gevaar - Danger
Howzit! - A common greeting which can mean 'How are you?'. 'How are things?', 'What's up!' and so on!
Is it? - Confusing for non-South Africans as this is a common reply to many sentences which means 'really!?'
Jol - A party or a good time on the town!
Just now - If someone tells you they will be with you 'just now', they actually mean 'in a while'!
Koeksister - A very syrupy deep-fried plaited doughnut, delicious!
Koppie - A small hill
Kraal - An enclosure of huts
Lekker - Great, really good, as in 'thanks for a lekker braai!'
Mealie - Maize
Naartjie - A tangarine
Nkosi Sikelel 'i Afrika - 'God bless Africa' The national anthem of South Africa
Now now - When someone tells you they will be with you 'now now', they do mean to be with you as soon as they can! See Just now above
Plakkies - Flip-flops
Robot - A traffic light
Rondavel - A circular building based on traditional African huts
Rooibos - 'Red bush', an indigenous herbal tea that is low in tannins and is reputed to have medicinal properties
Snoek - Large white-fleshed fish common in local waters and recipes
Stad - City, as in Kaap Stad (Cape Town)
Stoep - A verandah
Straat - Street
Strand - Beach
Tackies - Training shoes, sneakers or plimsoll