why is the South African accent so bad?

Question

Hello, I work with a few people from South Africa. Their accent sounds like they have diahorrea coming from their mouths everytime they speak. Why is the South African accent so bad and nasty?

Answer 1

Well see that depends. What country are you from? I'm South African and I think that the British have the worst accents ever. Some of them try so hard to sound pompous that the fall over their own tongues while others are so damn plain common it sounds as if talking clearly is a monumental effort. South Africans on the other hand with American accents drive me up the wall. You'd need chest hair to cope with that and I'm a girl.
Are these South Africans you mention black or white? That would explain alot.

EDIT: Okay, see I was being very diplomatic till I read some of the other replies. Oh and BTW its Boers not bores moegoe. And the oke who asked this question is 'n soutie met kak tanne en 'n kak persoonlikheid en stink pote. Skies ek praat nie graag so nie maar ek hoop elke Suid Afrikaner wat die poepol teekom moer hom dik stukke.

EDIT ALWEER: Sies ons Suid Afrikaners kan darem vieslik wees. Hehehe

Answer 2

You must not go to South Africa to find a bad accent. Go to East End or Scotland, Texas, ... . Every people has a certain accent, so what, if we understand each other, that's the most important.
And beside the South African people have always been very friendly when I was there. What I could not always say from "English speakers without accent".

By the way I'm Flemish (Belgian) and we can understand the Afrikaans (spoken by the Boers or Afrikaners) very well. Love their language which is in fact old Dutch that as evoluated less than our Dutch.

To the Afrikaners : Goed gezegd en laat u niet doen.
ps don't be too rude with your "poes" its not very polite ;-)

Answer 3

I had an British bloke at my work yesterday. Didn't understand a word he said, so it works both ways!

Also, it depends whereabouts in South Africa they came from. Just like the UK has different regional accents, so South Africans have regional accents. Also, English may be their second language.

I've been told many times that people love the South African accent, so it is a subjective topic.

By the way, Afrikaans and Dutch are two different languages. Afrikaans is a mixture of languages, though it does share some similarities with Dutch. Flemish is more like Afrikaans than Dutch is. Also it is Boers, not Bores!

I say, you are quite a BORE! What? :)

Answer 4

South African accents vary, depending on first language, location & social status. I would imagine that the accent of an Afrikaans speaking South African that is speaking english would be harder to understand than a english speaking South African.

Answer 5

The South African accent is lovely as it derives from Dutch. If your backside speaks with a dutch accent everytime you have diahorrea then I would suggest you contact Eurotrash, I am sure you will be able to earn some money from that and buy yourself a nice set of earplugs ;0)

Answer 6

Because a lot of Saffas first language is Afrikaans, and when they speak English that strong accent comes through naturally and is difficult to hide, you will find this accent particularly from people coming from traditional Afrikaans areas like the Orange Free State, Gauteng and old Transvaal provinces. Traditional english speaking areas like Natal, where a place like Pietermaritzburg is known as the 'last outpost of the British empire', their accent is far less strong and often people mix us up with English or Aussies, how I don't know because I don't think I sound an Aussie.

Answer 7

that's quite difficult to define an accessory in print. diverse English individuals get puzzled between South African & Australian and NZ, so try listening to them, to get an theory. Accents from distinctive aspects of South Africa are distinctive, yet somebody who's first langage is Africaans could have a lots harsher accessory than an English South African.

Answer 8

First of all there are several south african accents as there are 11 official languages in the Republic of South Africa which no longer is only a white colony since 1994.

Secondly, the dutch influenced Afrikaner accent of many English speakers has its special flavour. You gotta love it to like it, and if you'd ever go to Cape Town or Durban you'd get the gist of it!

Answer 9

i love the suid africaner language maybe because I can understand it ( I speak Flemish )
About accents in every nation and culture there different accents, when I look at the BBC and there is a real cockney talking then it doesn't sounds like the English language

for the south african people " mooie land en hoop dat ik het eens kan bezoeken "

Answer 10

Beauty lies, in this case, in the ear of the listener.
I myself like the South African accent and hate the Texan and London accents. What can you do? Just bear it.