The Merits of Listening to South Africans

I just made some small changes to make it flow more naturally but on the whole, this is a really good standard of wrting, well done :)  I'm glad you have overcome your problems with listening to the South African accent.  Check out http://elllo.org/english/site-map.htm - it has recordings of all kinds of English accents, along with transcripts.  In particular, here is the section that you might be interested in the most http://www.elllo.org/english/accent-new-zealand.htm

The Merit of Listening to South Africans

Four years ago I was at a gathering for a group of South Africans in Doha/ Qatar. There were a few events and we finished that day with a dinner together. Even though I usually enjoy meeting new people from different backgrounds, but I still remember that I didn’t enjoy that gathering so much, and I couldn’t wait to go home, simply because I didn’t understand their accent. So I was able to feel their kindness, but my inability to grasp to their way of pronunciation made me feel lost and out of the loop that day.

This year was different; I had a chance to live with South Africans for two months, and when I was invited to the same gathering, I hesitated to go because it’s never fun to ask people to repeat what they said every two minutes. I wasn’t exposed to South African media much in my life and their accent wasn’t what I got used to listening to, but for some reason I had to go, and I thought to myself that it’s just a few hours and I’ll manage, as long as I keep a friendly smile and keep my conversations short.

What surprised me the most that day was the fact that I enjoyed myself so much and I understood everything they said. Not only that, but I was also able to hold long conversations with the hostess and her visitors. I honestly didn’t know that listening to South Africans on a daily basis for two months in the same household would make a difference, but it did, and my ears were adapted to the new sounds.

That day I realized that humans tend to avoid and dislike what they don’t understand, and this is why I didn’t want to go in the first place, yet that gathering turned out to be so interesting and successful that I was no longer bothered by the way South Africans abbreviate their words ;) You would hear the word “university” abbreviated to “versity” for example, besides a new vocabulary word that I never heard of before, like “Braai” instead of grill or barbecue, and "Takkies" instead of sneakers.

I wish I could have the same experience with New Zealanders, because I still can’t get over the meeting I had once with two New Zealanders, and the problem is that they were talking fast, as if I would understand them if they were talking slower ;) Miracles happen, so one day I might understand what they say without embarrassing myself and boring them to death by asking them to repeat their words.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that once you get used to the difference, you’re going to like it. Thank you South Africans!

Ag man! Very well-written and interesting :)

The Merit of Listening to South Africans