Maikutlo Aka - My Views
The Three Hardest Things to Get Used To
Posted Tuesday, July 10, 2007
The big stuff isn't too bad. It's always the little things that catch me.
For example, I'm not sure if most people are even conscious of it, but "stay to the right" is deeper in American and (continental Europe) than just when driving on the road. If you're walking past someone, you naturally move to the right, they naturally move to the right, and you pass each other. If someone's coming through a doorway, sharing a sidewalk, entering an elevator... whatever it is, odds are that if you shift to your left, you'll bump into each other. And they'll give you a funny look. In England or South Africa or anywhere they drive on the left, and you shift to your right (as I often did when I arrived in SA) same thing happens. It's funny because although conscious of the driving thing, I never thought much about it spreading into other habits!
Coins. Our system makes sense in that less than a dollar is a coin. But the size of a dime is a little confusing for most foreigners. For me, being used to rands, I still look for the 5 coin. If something is $25.25, I look for a twenty bill, then open my coin purse. Then have to go back to my bills when I remember that $5 is a bill, not a coin!
The final thing is getting people to understand when I'm asking a question vs. making a statement. Because my teacher is South African and I spend 4 hours a day in class, this one is taking much longer to adjust to than I expected. In British English, the tone and emphasis of a question is different -- is it? going up at the end is American. is it? going down is British, and South African (and probably most other former colonies). With obvious questions, people usually understand the context. But often my questions come out sounding like sarcastic statements not intended to be answered. It doesn't help that the sentence with a question tone is very normal in KZN because in Zulu you often just use tone instead of question words, and it's carried over even into native English speakers. For example, I might say "let me help you?" intending to ask if I can help but sounding like I'm demanding to take over. Or in class, I might say "like this?" and my teacher understands -- but my class hears "like this" command!
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