h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

With that word in your homepage there had to be a Sowfaffrican connection! Hope he makes you happy!

Did you know that the San bushman believe that the Baobab tree was cursed by god and punished forever by having to grow upside down?

Hi there Yes, he makes me very happy - he happens to be from Pretoria as well Must be a great city, hey? Hopefully I'll get to find out for myself soon. Plan on making a visit there one of these days - maybe early next year. That will give me plenty of time to brush up on my Afrikaans. Those guttural Gs are very hard for an American to pronounce, let me tell you. I laugh hysterically at the mere thought of saying something like Helukkige Verjaarsdag (sp?) because I invariably end up sounding like I am hacking up a hairball. But I'm getting better! I can count to twenty and I can say the basic greetings so... hooray for progress

The baobab tree is a fascinating thing - I can't wait for the opportunity to see one up close. That, and I hear that I have to try some South African barbecue, as apparently whatever it is that I am eating over here and calling barbecue does not qualify. Vryvleis, yes? If I got that one right, then I am definitely proud of myself. According to Gil, Beer, Biltong and Barbecue are the 3 most important things in an Afrikaner's life... Oh, and his... bukkie (sp?)...

If you've ever the urge to help a poor, misguided American with an astounding knack for butchering the guttural G learn some Afrikaans, I can use all the help I can get He goes off to the bush again soon so I'd love to wow and amaze him with all that I've learned upon his return.

*lays out a piece of biltong by way of welcome*

Great VR biltong!

If you're having trouble with your 'g' sounds, think of them as 'gh' as in 'YUGH' (or do Americans say 'YUCH'?) The J in Afrikaans is prounounced like a Y in English, the V is like an F, I see you're confused already.

Barbeque = braaivleis (say 'bry' as in 'dry' together with 'flace' as in 'face'. Now once more...'bry-flace' There you are - perfect! Your man's love is for his 'bakkie' ('pickup' in USA and 'ute' in Oz) and pronounced 'bucky'.

Afrikaans pronounciation 101 continues whenever you'd care to.

Argh... I see your post is awaiting moderation...

Hopefully they fix it soon Eager to see your reply

How are you this fine day?

All I said was how to pronounce the word 'braaivleis' ! It's even in the Oxford Dictionary dammit!

It would seem that the morals police are on patrol regarding foreign languages! Now how would they like me to say 'trek' as in 'Startrek' - it means 'pull' and also the movement of Afrikaners away from English rule to the Boer Republics in the 19th Century - hence the connotation in space...

If you want to have him over the moon you could learn to say 'back' without a b = 'ack' (means 'I'), hat with an 'e' instead of 'a' is 'het' (means have) 'yo' as in the African American parlance and the word 'leaf'.
'I love you' = 'Ek het jou lief' (pr: ack-het-yo-leaf)


Moderators, this is a serious attempt at communication and pronunciation across the globe - there is nothing devious or undesirable hidden in the text or pronounced words. Give us a break -English is riddled with French and Latin and words from other languages!

Hoe gaan dit? (How goes it, for the mods)

Argh... what confuses me is the plentitude of Afrikaans I included in my first post, which didn't get moderated.

Gil told me a good deal of South African history today - it was extremely enlightening. Amazing (and unnerving) just how little I knew...

He says I'm improving vastly with my accent - guttural Gs are becoming less of an issue for me and I'm getting better at rolling my Rs. We discussed names for relatives, basic food items and I can pretty reliably count to one million now, I think

I'm determined to become fluent, which of course is no small undertaking. Of course, this forum is certainly a difficult place to get any pointers or add words to my vocabulary - if you're interested in delving into the subject in more detail, you can email me at [email protected] and we can pick up from there, in the land where any language goes

I'll do that!

Hey WR -

Just wondering how that flu is treating you. Hopefully you're feeling better?

I'm back at work, but not yet better

1 year, 4 months later, hopefully that flu is better by now I see that post of yours up above was FINALLY unmoderated.

Will wonders never cease

And I thought it was last week!
What happened to last year - own up whoever pinched it!


*waits in vain for response*

Good to hear from you - I believe I just dumped your e-addy from a bunch I haven't used in yonks

Bumpety bump. I left you a message on your personal space but I don't know if you saw it, so here's hoping you're still subscribed to this one so I can say hello! Living in Wonderboom South now, and trying to prepare myself for all this warm weather when my body is telling me it should be winter soon.

Only got your message today (Sunday 5th)...!
I've been distracted through going overseas for a BMW Club Council and changed jobs - I'm working in Pretoria again after ten years of commuting to Johannesburg.
Where are you working - out Rosslyn way?

My turn to take forever in replying! Haven't been on in a while.

I'm at 082 555 1317, feel free to give me a call sometime.