My students are learning the national anthem. Singing it slowly, deliberately. Nolu, the Xhosa teacher, calls instructions over their muddled lines. Their Xhosa has an American twang to it. Strange that. I suppose I just assumed that all English-speakers would speak Xhosa with the same accent. But theirs is different to mine.
I've had a crap weekend, having destroyed every piece of technological equipment I've come into contact with. Obviously the destruction happened in between spending the weekend in my office working on my never-ending dissertation. So I'm not having the best Monday.
Somehow, knowing that despite my horrendous pronunciation, I still speak Xhosa in a more South African way than my students, has made me feel a little better about life. That and the fact that they called me in mid-blog to help with the Afrikaans verse. Nothing like a bit of a mid-morning sing-along to turn my Monday frown upside down... :)
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