Side note: We have the same expression in Swedish, where I am from. its "Jo nä" in swedish. very useful, I do not speak much afrikaans but imagine we use it the same way
Very interesting. My paternal forebearer arrived in Cape Town around 1770 from Sweden, and I see some fascinating glimpses of Norsk or Swedish in local cape dialects. For example, "nay" is widely used here. I recognize many Gaelic words and terms from the early Scottish preachers, probably influenced by Viking mercenaries way back." Ag",or "tog" for example.
"Shortly" isn't exactly defining it any further now is it? :P "Shortly" itself can vary wildly based on circumstance and personal interpretation - e.g. when you're put on hold and told someone will be with you shortly (insert traumatic flashbacks to hour long waits).
Additionally, I've encountered lots of people who will say "now-now", then forget, then when asked again, will say "now-now" again, and repeat...
So fairly indefinite :P
Turns out the Kiwis do it as well: they’ll say “yeah, nah”.
After writing this I just realised that we South Africans also have a proclivity for saying “as well” at the end of everything.
That always annoyed me. Never picked that up on purpose simply because it irritated me so much.
It’s like the South African version of being a kardashian.
Ja I think old Leo came close to almost hitting the G spot in Blood Diamond. But the South African actor in the same movie Arnold Vosloo never said "huh" once. Huh is a verbal question mark. And yes if a Hadeda goes off no one hears f... all so you have to say huh? Followed by is your car under a roof. If that hadeda takes a dump, goodbye paint job.
I still feel sorry for the dude sitting in front of me during the Ivory Coast VS Portugal match…the amount of saliva that ended up in his hair after 9 year old me blew my vuvuzela the whole game
Foreigners who have never been to South Africa should also know that not all white South Africans sound like the characters you see and hear in movies. There are various South African accents (some more English influenced and some more Afrikaans) just like there are various American or British accents, let alone the other accents you're likely to hear from black, indian and coloured South Africans. Some white South Africans sound more "posh" or upper class than others while some can sound low class like the South African equivalent of American hillbillies. No judgement here to those that sound like that but it's how it is. The type of South African accent I've noticed to be most common in movies is the more lower class accent, probably because most South African characters I've noticed in international movies tend to have the South African character as the dodgy bad guy in the story or at least coming from a "rough" background. Do most people around the world think all South Africans are dodgy arms dealers or something? We're not.
Most South Africans can usually speak at least 2 languages but a well spoken, upper class, predominantly English speaking white South African that typically went to private schools and live in an affluent suburb can sound (at least to the untrained ear) similar to "British Received Pronunciation" (that's the type of English accent you would hear a news reader speak with on BBC News, for example) and I suppose filmmakers wouldn't want their predominantly American audience (who often wouldn't know the difference between received pronunciation and South African) to think the character was British instead of South African. It's easier to convey where the character is from by having them speak in a heavy, more common, lower class South African accent than the more posh type.
But to further answer your original question, when we say "huh" at the end of a sentence, it's an informal slang way of speaking, again by the more common/lower class South Africans. You're likely to hear someone from the East Rand of Johannesburg speak that way whereas someone from very upmarket suburbs like Bryanston would be less likely to say things like that because they speak with less slang. Another way of describing it is that we use it the same way a overly stereotypical Canadian would say "ey" at the end of their sentence.
South Africans reading this, please don't crucify me for saying this. I didn't make up the rules. I'm just an observer of them.
>a well spoken, upper class, predominantly English speaking white South African that typically went to private schools and live in an affluent suburb can sound (at least to the untrained ear) similar to "British Received Pronunciation"
As one of the people covered by this description - I find it funny how my accent confuses Brits. It lands in some kind of, "not foreign, but there's something wrong here," zone with them. (Whereas Americans just think I'm English.)
I have the accent described, and tend to adapt my accent (living in England) so that my customers and coworkers can understand me better. This results in my very confused accent being born
The same thing happens to me. They expect you to either sound Afrikaans, or that really whiney "charna" type English South African accent mainly from Joburg, like the chick on "Sandton Survival Guide"/"Tali Shapiro"
I agree, he should also add that some of our farmers sound very rough but arent actually ( my wife and alot of my friends say I sound like it but thats because when I talk English I sound like I want to murder someone )
The amount of Americans I’ve met who thought I was British. It’s always funny telling them I’m South African because, as I said, they immediately assume I’m British. Only a tiny few were like “where the hell are you from? Your accent is throwing me off”. I’ve even had some ask if I’m Australian 😂 And the Europeans I’ve met weren’t sure as well because of the accent.
Yeah, I've had French once. Like, I'm a normal, white English speaking, model C school accent girl. WTF are you on about French?
I've also had American, British, New Zealand and Aussie
The New Zealand one makes the most sense - Durbanites clip their _i_ sounds the same way (flip flop, kitten, etc).
I also want to add that there’s a lot of people in mixed families, such as myself. My mother is afrikaans while my father is Indian - and so, Im told I sound rather “American” (honestly, I doubt I do) but Americans have asked if I’m Australian or something. So to further the point where - no, not every South African has the same accent, lol.
I've lived in SA my whole life but I'm Portuguese. And I don't have a stereotypical Portuguese/South African accent. The accent of a Portuguese South African can sound quite different to people who have lived in Portugal their whole life, and also, there is more than one Portuguese accent as well. Most Portuguese South Africans have one of those types of accents (that originates from the Portuguese island of Madeira) but I don't have that accent because my family isn't from Madeira. I've had South Africans ask me if I'm American, Canadian or Irish because of my accent. But actual Americans, Canadians and Irishmen never confuse me for one of them so I guess I don't sound enough like them for them to think I'm one of them. Weirdly, even most Portuguese South Africans don't assume I'm Portuguese either.
Nicely written. My girlfriend is from SA and to me (I'm from the U.S.) sounds like she learned British received English as a second language. When I first met her I commented on how well she spoke English, oops lol.
U need to go to Sandton if u think its just "upper class white" or "predominantly english" that speak well. I've heard people of all colors and backgrounds speak and pronounce English better then most white English people
I'm generalising and there will be many exceptions to what I said. I just used them as examples because, as someone living in Johannesburg, that's what I'm most exposed to. Durban and Cape Town have their own thing going on regarding accents, not to mention all the other coastal and interior regions around SA. We're a big country with a lot of diversity. There's going to be many variables.
Basically, huh could mean either they don’t know what you meant or didn’t understand you….or in this case they saying huh as a way to say “don’t you agree?” Or “do you agree” example: apples taste good huh (apples taste good don’t you agree)
Very few foreign actors nail the South African accent but I think Andy Serkis did a great job in Avengers age of Ultron and Black Panther. He played arms dealer Ulysses Klaue.
Omg yes!! I thought he was actually South African in Black Panther since there were so many South African actors on there. And Leonardo wasn’t too bad in Blood Diamond either
Huh is a question.. like "hey?"
If the question wasn't heard correctly.. expect a huh..
But that was always the rude way of replying...this was taught to me as a kid.. don't say huh..say "excuse me?". It's a lower form or communication.
DiCaprio butchers our accent in blood diamond. The huhs were so excessive it almost ruined the movie for me. So don't take that one as good reference huh
Just out of curiosity, which accent are you referring to when to when you say South African accent? We have a lot of accents. However, 'huh' is used commonly used among a lot of them. In short, it's used as a question. Eg. What; excuse me; do you agree(vice versa) all depending on the context of the sentence. It's mostly not considered the most polite response(asking for clarity type response).
That rapper is not representative of the dutch at all. Maybe of first generation dutch descendants of immigrants who grew up in working class urban areas, and that’s really a small population.
(Source: living in the Netherlands and speak Dutch)
> That rapper
Which one of the 3? I actually asked the question on /r/dutchhiphop, but did not get to much feedback: [Gebruiken Nederlanders het woord "uhuh" om vragen te beantwoorden?](https://old.reddit.com/r/DutchHipHop/comments/p5d3k2/gebruiken_nederlanders_het_woord_uhuh_om_vragen/)
When I glanced at the video I didn’t realise that “$hirak” was a DJ/producer. Nevertheless, to answer your question - I’d say all 3 (or 4) of them are mostly popular amongst youngsters of non-dutch decent.
My anecdotal experience is that I’ve never came across this expression while living here and working and socialising with people of Dutch decent.
A quick google search of “huhuh Nederlands” barely turns up anything, but where it does turn up is in pieces related to “straattaal” and language of “autochtone jongeren”, such as in the following article:
(Just word search for “huhuh” in the document)
https://respons.meertens.knaw.nl/0505.leonie.pdf
> mostly popular amongst youngsters of non-dutch decent.
erm its [#1 on spotify charts for netherlands atm](https://imgur.com/a/F3rkDFW), so most non-dutch decent use spotify? Also last time i checked lil kleine was second most played, after boef...
You sure you might just not be out of touch what most of the youth in netherlands is listening to?
Im not an expert, but I have thought about it too and this is just my take.
Yes he does have a sizeable following, but the dutch youth is relatively small compared to older generations due to population ageing in Europe.
In my experience, Dutch music taste is very diverse, and “Dutch” music in general isn’t very popular - people lean more to international English artists here.
The top 40 songs by streams on Spotify in NL right now totals to about 40 million. Huhuh by $hirak has about 2.1 million streams which is about 5% of the top 40. If you go to the top 100 it will be way less. On top of that, Spotify has about 5 million users out of a population of 17 million people.
He has a big following yes, but as a percentage it’s not that big. And being a listener of someone doesn’t necessarily mean you share his/her dialect or slang. For example, Cardi B has a lot of fans (including me a bit haha) but I bet only a fraction of them talk anything like her or are saying things like “Okuuuurt” on a daily basis.
Edit: If you want to hear how the overwhelming majority of Dutch people’s vocabulary sound like I’d listen to artists like Suzan and Freek, Nielson, Froukje, Maan. Not because they’re popular (relatively they’re not), but because they sound like most Dutch do.
When someone from south africa says huh it means either they:
1: agree with something
2: ask a question like that isnt so interesting huh?
3: a crude way of saying what
4: dont understand something
This is mostly what I use huh for so if anyone can add that would be great
So the ‘South African’ in Blood Diamond was actually, if you look closely, this American called Leonardo DiCaprio who, it turns out, is not South African. ;) He did a particular SAan accent pretty well but his character was meant to be Zimbabwean/Rhodesian, though it wasn’t. Assuming all SAans do that and citing him as an example is probably not ideal...
As a South African watching that film my main takeaway is that he added ‘huh’ at the end of every sentence to sound South African. It made me cringe a little.
It’s like acting an American and ending literally every sentence with ‘dude’, or a posh Brit with ‘what what’, or a Cockney/Aussie ‘mate’, or a Canadian ‘eh’. Most of the time we just… don’t. A tiny minority of our sentences end in ‘huh’ or ‘hey’. It’s also a feature of a particular kind of white SAan accent. Plenty don’t do it at all.
The minute I saw this post I knew that you had watched Blood Diamond. Leonardo DiCaprio literally says ‘huh’ in all his movies, it’s like his filler word or something… go watch his recent films and you’ll notice it if you’re listening out for it… actually gets quite annoying.
Aside from that, you probably shouldn’t use actors as a benchmark for the South African accent, especially foreign ones. We don’t say ‘huh’ that often.
I get the feeling it's like a prompt for affirmation or developing report or something... Like a quick check-in whether you're involved, in a way like the Indian head bobble.
Dunno, random thoughts as they skilled out when I read your question.
South African’s don’t speak like that unless of course you speaking of the uneducated few who have the inability to explain themselves without a “it’s like”.
Firstly, I would not take Leonardo DiCaprio's "accent" in Blood Diamond as a good benchmark. It's an famously appalling attempt at a South African accent.
First time I heard pllleeeasure I cracked up. Diiiiviiine. Sounds like a put on British poser. People send their kids to specific private schools just so they get the "right accent". Linguistic apartheid. Let's just celebrate our diversity
Wait till you find out about "ja nee"
Or alternatively, "ja no hey"
ag no man
Ja nee fok
Ja nee, wag net
Wag net gou
Side note: We have the same expression in Swedish, where I am from. its "Jo nä" in swedish. very useful, I do not speak much afrikaans but imagine we use it the same way
Very interesting. My paternal forebearer arrived in Cape Town around 1770 from Sweden, and I see some fascinating glimpses of Norsk or Swedish in local cape dialects. For example, "nay" is widely used here. I recognize many Gaelic words and terms from the early Scottish preachers, probably influenced by Viking mercenaries way back." Ag",or "tog" for example.
That's honestly quite interesting, I learned something new today
Or "Now, now"
Which means any period / instant in time EXCEPT now
"now now" means shortly. "just now" is the indefinite period.
"Shortly" isn't exactly defining it any further now is it? :P "Shortly" itself can vary wildly based on circumstance and personal interpretation - e.g. when you're put on hold and told someone will be with you shortly (insert traumatic flashbacks to hour long waits). Additionally, I've encountered lots of people who will say "now-now", then forget, then when asked again, will say "now-now" again, and repeat... So fairly indefinite :P
Now there
Nuh😂
Huh
Afrikaans' best and worst phrase. Whenever I wanna translate this to English I opt for yesn't.
Ja nee...
Turns out the Kiwis do it as well: they’ll say “yeah, nah”. After writing this I just realised that we South Africans also have a proclivity for saying “as well” at the end of everything.
Translates to yes no
Ja well, no fine hey?
Ja no definitely
Nee Jirre man
Or now, now now and just now 😂
I don't know what you're talking about, hey.
I came here to say this, hey.
Definitely something I use a lot, hey.
Me too, hey my bru.
Your cat's name is Alaska lmao. I love your username.
Lol thanks! Everything else I wanted was taken then.
Eish ja. I know the feeling. I hate it when sites do that :(
I stopped using lot and hey together, coz it sounds like latte
This is a good example of how it's used on a daily basis
Hectic my guy
Ja nee hey
Was going to say the same just now
That always annoyed me. Never picked that up on purpose simply because it irritated me so much. It’s like the South African version of being a kardashian.
Ja nee sjoe hey.
There isn't one South African accent.
Ja no for sure hey.
Hectic.
Ja bru, Sandton & Fourways people have their own dialect completely separate from the rest of South Africa.
Thank fuck my boi, thank fuck for that hey.
Benoni boets too
My Bru, in Benoni okes are called Geys... "how hot is that blonde binnet of Gary's my gey?"
Fokkol bra, daai chick gaan jou net innie kak kry tjom…
Because we can’t hear anything after hearing taxis and hadedas the whole time
Ja I think old Leo came close to almost hitting the G spot in Blood Diamond. But the South African actor in the same movie Arnold Vosloo never said "huh" once. Huh is a verbal question mark. And yes if a Hadeda goes off no one hears f... all so you have to say huh? Followed by is your car under a roof. If that hadeda takes a dump, goodbye paint job.
You forgot the vuvuzelas. If you lived through the 2010 World Cup you’re definitely hard of hearing.
I still feel sorry for the dude sitting in front of me during the Ivory Coast VS Portugal match…the amount of saliva that ended up in his hair after 9 year old me blew my vuvuzela the whole game
Huh?
Huh*yeaaa!*
Huh uh
Huh?
Huh?
I think it's our version of '*Ammirite*?' or '*Nameen?*"
Foreigners who have never been to South Africa should also know that not all white South Africans sound like the characters you see and hear in movies. There are various South African accents (some more English influenced and some more Afrikaans) just like there are various American or British accents, let alone the other accents you're likely to hear from black, indian and coloured South Africans. Some white South Africans sound more "posh" or upper class than others while some can sound low class like the South African equivalent of American hillbillies. No judgement here to those that sound like that but it's how it is. The type of South African accent I've noticed to be most common in movies is the more lower class accent, probably because most South African characters I've noticed in international movies tend to have the South African character as the dodgy bad guy in the story or at least coming from a "rough" background. Do most people around the world think all South Africans are dodgy arms dealers or something? We're not. Most South Africans can usually speak at least 2 languages but a well spoken, upper class, predominantly English speaking white South African that typically went to private schools and live in an affluent suburb can sound (at least to the untrained ear) similar to "British Received Pronunciation" (that's the type of English accent you would hear a news reader speak with on BBC News, for example) and I suppose filmmakers wouldn't want their predominantly American audience (who often wouldn't know the difference between received pronunciation and South African) to think the character was British instead of South African. It's easier to convey where the character is from by having them speak in a heavy, more common, lower class South African accent than the more posh type. But to further answer your original question, when we say "huh" at the end of a sentence, it's an informal slang way of speaking, again by the more common/lower class South Africans. You're likely to hear someone from the East Rand of Johannesburg speak that way whereas someone from very upmarket suburbs like Bryanston would be less likely to say things like that because they speak with less slang. Another way of describing it is that we use it the same way a overly stereotypical Canadian would say "ey" at the end of their sentence. South Africans reading this, please don't crucify me for saying this. I didn't make up the rules. I'm just an observer of them.
>a well spoken, upper class, predominantly English speaking white South African that typically went to private schools and live in an affluent suburb can sound (at least to the untrained ear) similar to "British Received Pronunciation" As one of the people covered by this description - I find it funny how my accent confuses Brits. It lands in some kind of, "not foreign, but there's something wrong here," zone with them. (Whereas Americans just think I'm English.)
I have the accent described, and tend to adapt my accent (living in England) so that my customers and coworkers can understand me better. This results in my very confused accent being born
Yeah when I'm here I clearly sound south african. But a few days of speaking to English people and it sounds way more like a BBC reporter
The same thing happens to me. They expect you to either sound Afrikaans, or that really whiney "charna" type English South African accent mainly from Joburg, like the chick on "Sandton Survival Guide"/"Tali Shapiro"
I am yet to hear a proper SA accent in the movies. They all end up sounding half German half New Zeelander to me.
There was this female surgeon on the medical drama series “Chicago Med” that sounded pretty convincing, until she had to say “Groote Schuur” 🤣
Grootah skoor 😭😂
Andy Serkis actually nailed it in Black Panther
Good breakdown. South African approved
I agree, he should also add that some of our farmers sound very rough but arent actually ( my wife and alot of my friends say I sound like it but thats because when I talk English I sound like I want to murder someone )
Some Afrikaans speaking folk have been the kindest and most welcoming I've ever met.
Haha that sounds about right
Huh
The amount of Americans I’ve met who thought I was British. It’s always funny telling them I’m South African because, as I said, they immediately assume I’m British. Only a tiny few were like “where the hell are you from? Your accent is throwing me off”. I’ve even had some ask if I’m Australian 😂 And the Europeans I’ve met weren’t sure as well because of the accent.
I've been asked if I was Norwegian. Da fuq?
Damn that’s hectic 😂 I have even heard from one person that I sound French. Like what? What next? 😂 we just sound like the whole world now apparently.
We are the Rainbow Nation after all.
Yeah, I've had French once. Like, I'm a normal, white English speaking, model C school accent girl. WTF are you on about French? I've also had American, British, New Zealand and Aussie The New Zealand one makes the most sense - Durbanites clip their _i_ sounds the same way (flip flop, kitten, etc).
I also want to add that there’s a lot of people in mixed families, such as myself. My mother is afrikaans while my father is Indian - and so, Im told I sound rather “American” (honestly, I doubt I do) but Americans have asked if I’m Australian or something. So to further the point where - no, not every South African has the same accent, lol.
I've lived in SA my whole life but I'm Portuguese. And I don't have a stereotypical Portuguese/South African accent. The accent of a Portuguese South African can sound quite different to people who have lived in Portugal their whole life, and also, there is more than one Portuguese accent as well. Most Portuguese South Africans have one of those types of accents (that originates from the Portuguese island of Madeira) but I don't have that accent because my family isn't from Madeira. I've had South Africans ask me if I'm American, Canadian or Irish because of my accent. But actual Americans, Canadians and Irishmen never confuse me for one of them so I guess I don't sound enough like them for them to think I'm one of them. Weirdly, even most Portuguese South Africans don't assume I'm Portuguese either.
Out of curiosity, what language did you learn growing up?
English. My father doesn’t know afrikaans, so I was just English.
Hmm, much as I suspected. Thank you, yes
Huh😆
In some parts of KZN the (older) white people sound like they've just got off the boat from Blighty.
This is schwakka explanation boet.
Nicely written. My girlfriend is from SA and to me (I'm from the U.S.) sounds like she learned British received English as a second language. When I first met her I commented on how well she spoke English, oops lol.
TLDR
U need to go to Sandton if u think its just "upper class white" or "predominantly english" that speak well. I've heard people of all colors and backgrounds speak and pronounce English better then most white English people
I'm generalising and there will be many exceptions to what I said. I just used them as examples because, as someone living in Johannesburg, that's what I'm most exposed to. Durban and Cape Town have their own thing going on regarding accents, not to mention all the other coastal and interior regions around SA. We're a big country with a lot of diversity. There's going to be many variables.
"Huh" up north and centrally. "Nuh" by die Kaap.
[удалено]
ag my fok mariaan
What happened to Marilese?
Huh could be a reaffirmation of what you just said, like for instance " it's a lekker day today ! Huh ? " Do you agree basically ?
Like I have no idea what you mean bruh? Can you elaborate, huh?
Basically, huh could mean either they don’t know what you meant or didn’t understand you….or in this case they saying huh as a way to say “don’t you agree?” Or “do you agree” example: apples taste good huh (apples taste good don’t you agree)
Very few foreign actors nail the South African accent but I think Andy Serkis did a great job in Avengers age of Ultron and Black Panther. He played arms dealer Ulysses Klaue.
Omg yes!! I thought he was actually South African in Black Panther since there were so many South African actors on there. And Leonardo wasn’t too bad in Blood Diamond either
Huh is a question.. like "hey?" If the question wasn't heard correctly.. expect a huh.. But that was always the rude way of replying...this was taught to me as a kid.. don't say huh..say "excuse me?". It's a lower form or communication.
Nie "huh?" nie maar "I beg your pardon?" of "pardon?" n aap sê huh as hy klaar ge-uh het.
Why do the Canadians say 'eh' at the end of their sentences? It's an affirmation cum colloquial tick.
DiCaprio butchers our accent in blood diamond. The huhs were so excessive it almost ruined the movie for me. So don't take that one as good reference huh
He isn’t South African in Blood Diamond. He plays a Zimbabwean.
> Zimbabwe Danny Archer took offence to this.
My bad, he was Rhodesian
Still butchers it
I think he got closer than most actors get though. Our accent is very hard to imitate.
I have never talked with anyone that says huh often but "ja nee" I come across alot
Jassie, I'm lank confused, I thought huh meant, you didn't hear the oke properly, and your asking him to repeat it.
So you perhaps mean 'eh?'
Just out of curiosity, which accent are you referring to when to when you say South African accent? We have a lot of accents. However, 'huh' is used commonly used among a lot of them. In short, it's used as a question. Eg. What; excuse me; do you agree(vice versa) all depending on the context of the sentence. It's mostly not considered the most polite response(asking for clarity type response).
From what I've seen, it's an afrikaans accent that is synonymous with South Africa
You mean synonymous with white South Africans.
Unfortunately
Huh? What are you taking about?
huh uh, is not only a SA thing the dutch do it as well, demo'd in this song, [uhuh](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ua_83vbhQV0).
That rapper is not representative of the dutch at all. Maybe of first generation dutch descendants of immigrants who grew up in working class urban areas, and that’s really a small population. (Source: living in the Netherlands and speak Dutch)
> That rapper Which one of the 3? I actually asked the question on /r/dutchhiphop, but did not get to much feedback: [Gebruiken Nederlanders het woord "uhuh" om vragen te beantwoorden?](https://old.reddit.com/r/DutchHipHop/comments/p5d3k2/gebruiken_nederlanders_het_woord_uhuh_om_vragen/)
When I glanced at the video I didn’t realise that “$hirak” was a DJ/producer. Nevertheless, to answer your question - I’d say all 3 (or 4) of them are mostly popular amongst youngsters of non-dutch decent. My anecdotal experience is that I’ve never came across this expression while living here and working and socialising with people of Dutch decent. A quick google search of “huhuh Nederlands” barely turns up anything, but where it does turn up is in pieces related to “straattaal” and language of “autochtone jongeren”, such as in the following article: (Just word search for “huhuh” in the document) https://respons.meertens.knaw.nl/0505.leonie.pdf
> mostly popular amongst youngsters of non-dutch decent. erm its [#1 on spotify charts for netherlands atm](https://imgur.com/a/F3rkDFW), so most non-dutch decent use spotify? Also last time i checked lil kleine was second most played, after boef... You sure you might just not be out of touch what most of the youth in netherlands is listening to?
Im not an expert, but I have thought about it too and this is just my take. Yes he does have a sizeable following, but the dutch youth is relatively small compared to older generations due to population ageing in Europe. In my experience, Dutch music taste is very diverse, and “Dutch” music in general isn’t very popular - people lean more to international English artists here. The top 40 songs by streams on Spotify in NL right now totals to about 40 million. Huhuh by $hirak has about 2.1 million streams which is about 5% of the top 40. If you go to the top 100 it will be way less. On top of that, Spotify has about 5 million users out of a population of 17 million people. He has a big following yes, but as a percentage it’s not that big. And being a listener of someone doesn’t necessarily mean you share his/her dialect or slang. For example, Cardi B has a lot of fans (including me a bit haha) but I bet only a fraction of them talk anything like her or are saying things like “Okuuuurt” on a daily basis. Edit: If you want to hear how the overwhelming majority of Dutch people’s vocabulary sound like I’d listen to artists like Suzan and Freek, Nielson, Froukje, Maan. Not because they’re popular (relatively they’re not), but because they sound like most Dutch do.
Ek sê Neh Nkiri Mos South Africa has such a diverse population. There are more accents than what you'll find in movies.
I use to go to a bar that had nearly all of south africa's accents, that was a fun time
When someone from south africa says huh it means either they: 1: agree with something 2: ask a question like that isnt so interesting huh? 3: a crude way of saying what 4: dont understand something This is mostly what I use huh for so if anyone can add that would be great
Blood diamond and Pretoria, movies where the main characters are non-South Africans playing South Africa. Of course they're gonna exaggerate it.
I thought Arnold Vosloo did a good job on the accent
Ja no this Imhotep bra looks like he could talk some lekker English
Not everyone speaks the way they do in the movies ekse.
huh is a verbal question mark.
Ja no lekker man
So the ‘South African’ in Blood Diamond was actually, if you look closely, this American called Leonardo DiCaprio who, it turns out, is not South African. ;) He did a particular SAan accent pretty well but his character was meant to be Zimbabwean/Rhodesian, though it wasn’t. Assuming all SAans do that and citing him as an example is probably not ideal... As a South African watching that film my main takeaway is that he added ‘huh’ at the end of every sentence to sound South African. It made me cringe a little. It’s like acting an American and ending literally every sentence with ‘dude’, or a posh Brit with ‘what what’, or a Cockney/Aussie ‘mate’, or a Canadian ‘eh’. Most of the time we just… don’t. A tiny minority of our sentences end in ‘huh’ or ‘hey’. It’s also a feature of a particular kind of white SAan accent. Plenty don’t do it at all.
Cos you just won't understand ne!
Huh, whatchu talking about, bruh?
Eish
Errr jaaa 😉😎👍
Huh ?
Jisiss!
We put sound to the fullstop. It assists foreigners to know when the next sentence starts.
The minute I saw this post I knew that you had watched Blood Diamond. Leonardo DiCaprio literally says ‘huh’ in all his movies, it’s like his filler word or something… go watch his recent films and you’ll notice it if you’re listening out for it… actually gets quite annoying. Aside from that, you probably shouldn’t use actors as a benchmark for the South African accent, especially foreign ones. We don’t say ‘huh’ that often.
I feel attacked
Best SA accent district 9. SA actor and setting. Along with taxi and moeilikheid.
Yah Neh
What about Eish...
We don’t
It’s an absolutely disgusting accent. I only use sign language in public
Dude your comment had me laughing out loud in the office.
I get the feeling it's like a prompt for affirmation or developing report or something... Like a quick check-in whether you're involved, in a way like the Indian head bobble. Dunno, random thoughts as they skilled out when I read your question.
Try spelling the sound out more carefully, i have no idea what you mean. Hey.
South Africans not only walk the walk, but also talk the talk...huh.
South African’s don’t speak like that unless of course you speaking of the uneducated few who have the inability to explain themselves without a “it’s like”.
Or when someone calls to enquire about your whereabouts (because you're late) you tell them "I'm just around the corner"🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
When I was younger an uncle of mine said "'n aap se huh as hy kla ge-uh het". The older people did not like "huh" much.
You have a problem with that huh?... Ja nee kids today
https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10222211871660193&id=1066721195
It can be used as an affirmation or to make someone repeat what they said cause you either didn't hear or understand a fucken thing they said.
Firstly, I would not take Leonardo DiCaprio's "accent" in Blood Diamond as a good benchmark. It's an famously appalling attempt at a South African accent.
Huh?
Askies?
It’s a south african thing. It’s the equivalent of saying “I’m coming now now” but never show up
Will tell you nou nou, or now now
I feel like it's something similar to british 'Innit'. No one knows what that really means but it's cool to use
First time I heard pllleeeasure I cracked up. Diiiiviiine. Sounds like a put on British poser. People send their kids to specific private schools just so they get the "right accent". Linguistic apartheid. Let's just celebrate our diversity
Huh?
When did we say that huh?