Speaking South African: Some Notes on the Culture

I thought that I would compile a list of some of the things in South Africa that are different from the U.S. that I found to be particularly interesting. First of all, they have different words for some things than we do in the U.S. Some of these are the same as the U.K. and other European countries, but others are distinctly South African.

• students = learners
• cookies = biscuits
• elevator = lift
• line (as in waiting in line) = queue
• car horn = hooter
• traffic light = robot (Also the lights, or robots, are also on posts on the side of the road at each intersection instead of hanging on wires overhead.)
• carry out (as in restaurants) = take away
• napkin = serviette
• diaper = napkin (This one is pretty funny. If you ask someone for a napkin here you get some pretty weird looks.)
• silverware = cutlery
• gasoline = petrol
• ketchup = tomato sauce
• tennis shoes/sneakers = tekkies
• restroom/bathroom = toilet
• text message = SMS

Some of the most popular foods here are lamb (served on the bone or minced and seasoned), curry (usually either lamb or chicken), squash vegetables (although they tend to call all squashes “pumpkins”), meat pies, calamari, citrus fruits, apples, and fish and chips (the fish is usually snook or hake, indigenous South African coastal fish). Barbecuing is also very popular here and South Africans have their own distinct style of barbecuing called “braai.” Braai is usually done over a wood fire and usually lamb, chicken, or fish is cooked.

Some other things I’ve noticed: Service in restaurants and stores is much slower here than in the U.S. (But then again everything moves quickly in the U.S., so this might just be the normal speed for the rest of the world.) Going to a sit-down restaurant here when you’re ravenously hungry is a bad idea. Also, when ordering water in a restaurant you have to specify “still” water to get normal water. But even then, you’ll get bottled water and have to pay for it. You have to specifically ask for “tap water” if you want water that’s free.

Most people don’t have prepaid or monthly cell phone plans like we do in the U.S. Most phones are pay-as-you-go, and you have to periodically buy more minutes or “airtime” when it runs out. Airtime doesn’t always correspond directly to minutes either. For example, buying airtime for 100 rand will last less than 15 minutes when calling the U.S., but will last at least an hour when calling within South Africa. Airtime can be bought at all cell phone stores and at most gas station stores, drug stores, and grocery stores too.

South African cities have a lot of problems with people breaking in to houses, schools, and businesses so a lot of places have electric fences, barbed wire, spiked fence posts, or some combination of these. It’s a little disturbing sometimes to see schools surrounded by barbed wire or houses with heavy duty electric fences or spikes. Some of the spiked fences are actually very decorative and you don’t realize they’re spikes unless you look closely.

All gas stations have attendants and most public parking lots have attendants too. I’m not sure if these parking lot attendants are hired by companies or if they just come on their own and make all their money from tips. There might be some of both.

Coffee is not brewed in a coffee pot like we’re used to in the U.S. Instead they have powdered or ground instant coffee that you mix into hot water like hot cocoa. Like many other countries they drive on the left side of road and the steering wheel is on the right side of the car. When walking in a hallway, mall, or on the sidewalk you’re also expected to walk on the left side, unlike the U.S. where you pass people on the right. This caused our group a few problems at first, since we would try to walk on the right and end up almost bumping into people. Oops! Also like most other countries, South Africa also uses the metric system for measurement. I’ve had to get used to interpreting things in centimeters, meters, kilometers, kilograms, and liters.

Even though it’s technically winter here it feels like fall in the U.S. However, buildings do not have central heating so it’s just as cold indoors as it is outdoors. If the weather is nice, it can get as warm as 60° outdoors in the middle of the day when the sun is right overhead, but it’ll still be cold indoors. In that case you have to put on a jacket to go inside. (It’s a little backwards, I know.) You would think we’d be used to it since we’ve all put up with the frigid Michigan winters, but you don’t realize just how nice central heating is until you have to go without it in 40° weather.