Learn how to catch up with an old friend
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Intro |
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| Becky: Hello, and welcome to AfrikaansPod101.com, where we study Afrikaans in a fun, educational format! I’m Becky, and this is Absolute Beginner, Season 1, Lesson 1, Catching Up with an Old South African Friend |
| Chesney: Hallo, I’m Chesney. |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to make small talk in Afrikaans and about Afrikaans pronunciation. |
| Chesney: This conversation takes place on a street in Pretoria. |
| Becky: The conversation is between Anet and Mikka, two friends who haven't seen each other in a long time. |
| Chesney: The speakers are friends, so they’ll be using informal Afrikaans. |
| Becky: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
Lesson conversation |
| Mikka: Hallo, Anet? Hoe gaan dit? |
| Anet: Hallo, Mikka!! Goed dankie, hoe gaan dit met jou? |
| Mikka: Goed, dankie. |
| Anet: Hoe gaan dit met Jan? |
| Mikka: Heel goed en met Bert en die kinders? |
| Anet: Ook goed! |
| Mikka: Wat 'n verrassing! |
| Anet: Ja! |
| Becky: Let’s hear the conversation one time slowly. |
| Mikka: Hallo, Anet? Hoe gaan dit? |
| Anet: Hallo, Mikka!! Goed dankie, hoe gaan dit met jou? |
| Mikka: Goed, dankie. |
| Anet: Hoe gaan dit met Jan? |
| Mikka: Heel goed en met Bert en die kinders? |
| Anet: Ook goed! |
| Mikka: Wat 'n verrassing! |
| Anet: Ja! |
| Becky: Now let’s hear it with the English translation. |
| Mikka: Hello, Anet? How's it going? |
| Anet: Hi, Mikka!! Good thanks, how’s it going with you? |
| Mikka: Good, thank you. |
| Anet: How’s it going with Jan? |
| Mikka: Very good, and with Bert and the children? |
| Anet: Also good! |
| Mikka: What a surprise! |
| Anet: Yes! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: Ok, we should probably talk about greetings in this first lesson. South African people use different greetings depending on the time of day. |
| Chesney: For example, in the morning, before noon, people say, goeie more. |
| Becky: It means “Good morning.” And in the afternoon? |
| Chesney: In the afternoon, even if it's just one minute past noon, people say, goeie middag. |
| Becky: “Good afternoon.” Is there a greeting for "Good evening" as well? |
| Chesney: Yes, we say goeie naand. |
| Becky: Around what time do people start saying the expression? |
| Chesney: Maybe around 5 pm. There is also goeie nag, meaning "good night," but it’s not really a greeting per se. Goeie nag is only used to wish someone to ‘sleep tight,’ when they're about to go to bed. |
| Becky: So, how do we say “goodbye?” |
| Chesney: If you want to say goodbye when leaving late at night, just say totsiens. |
| Becky: Okay, thank you! Now, onto the vocab. |
| VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Becky: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| Becky: The first word we shall see is... |
| Chesney: hallo [natural native speed] |
| Becky: hello (informal, answering the phone) |
| Chesney: hallo [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chesney: hallo [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Chesney: goed [natural native speed] |
| Becky: great |
| Chesney: goed [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chesney: goed [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next is... |
| Chesney: dankie [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Thank you |
| Chesney: dankie [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chesney: dankie [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Chesney: met jou [natural native speed] |
| Becky: with you |
| Chesney: met jou [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chesney: met jou [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next... |
| Chesney: heel [natural native speed] |
| Becky: very |
| Chesney: heel [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chesney: heel [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have... |
| Chesney: en [natural native speed] |
| Becky: and |
| Chesney: en [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chesney: en [natural native speed] |
| Becky: And next... |
| Chesney: kinders [natural native speed] |
| Becky: children |
| Chesney: kinders [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chesney: kinders [natural native speed] |
| Becky: The next word is, |
| Chesney: ook [natural native speed] |
| Becky: too |
| Chesney: ook [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chesney: ook [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have, |
| Chesney: wat [natural native speed] |
| Becky: what |
| Chesney: wat [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| wat [natural native speed] |
| Becky: And last... |
| Chesney: verrassing [natural native speed] |
| Becky: surprise |
| Chesney: verrassing [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Chesney: verrassing [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCABULARY AND PHRASES |
| Becky: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Becky: The first word we’ll look at is… |
| Chesney: Hallo. |
| Becky: What can you tell us about this word? |
| Chesney: It’s a standard Afrikaans greeting. |
| Becky: When can you use this word? |
| Chesney: You can use this with anyone at any time. |
| Becky: Are there any special words you can use when greeting friends? |
| Chesney: You can also say hi, just like in English. This is more informal. |
| Becky: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Chesney: Sure. Hallo Jan hoe gaan dit? |
| Becky: “Hello Jan, how are you?” |
| Becky: Okay, what’s the next word? |
| Chesney: Hoe gaan dit? |
| Becky: meaning “How goes it?” |
| Becky: After you greet someone in Afrikaans, you’d most likely ask how they’re doing right after. |
| Chesney: The most common way to ask this is Hoe gaan dit? Literally, "How goes it?" |
| Becky: Can you use this phrase to ask about other people too? |
| Chesney: Yes, just add met plus a name to the end of this question. For example, Hoe gaan dit met Michael, or Hoe gaan dit met Sandra? |
| Becky: “How goes it with Michael?” or “How goes it with Sandra?” |
| Chesney: That’s it! |
| Becky: Okay, what’s the next word? |
| Chesney: Goed dankie |
| Becky: meaning “Good, thank you.” |
| Chesney: This is an answer for the last phrase we heard, Hoe gaan dit? |
| Becky: Remember, that phrase means “How goes it?” How else can we answer? |
| Chesney: You could also say baie goed. |
| Becky: This means “very good.” Okay, onto the lesson focus. |
Lesson focus |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn about Afrikaans pronunciation. |
| Chesney: Afrikaans is quite easy in that the language is pronounced exactly as it’s written. |
| Becky: That sounds easy enough! Is it really that simple? |
| Chesney: Yes, but there are still a few sounds that you should pay attention to. |
| Becky: Okay, can you introduce those sounds for us? |
| Chesney: Of course. First, let’s talk about the throaty “g” sound. |
| Becky: Can you give us an example of words that have this sound? |
| Chesney: goed, gaan, goeie. |
| Becky: Can you hear that sound, listeners? |
| Chesney: This sound might take some practice, but I think that once you master it, it’s a lot of fun to say! |
| Becky: I think so too. What’s the next sound that we should be careful with? |
| Chesney: It is the Afrikaans “r.” This is quite different to the “r” used in American English. |
| Becky: How is it different? |
| Chesney: Like “g,” it comes from the throat. |
| Becky: Okay, let’s hear some examples. |
| Chesney: There are the names Bert and Gert, and the verb verassing. |
| Becky: So far, we’ve looked at two consonants. Are there any vowels that we should be careful with? |
| Chesney: Yes, there are. Vowels are usually the easiest way to tell who is a native Afrikaans speaker and who isn’t. |
| Becky: The pronunciation can be that different? |
| Chesney: Yes, it can. |
| Becky: What are the vowels in Afrikaans? |
| Chesney: The base vowels in Afrikaans are a as in gaan, e as in heel, i as in bied, o as in ook, u as in duur, and oe as in hoe. |
| Becky: If those are the base vowels, does that mean there are more vowels? |
| Chesney: Yes, each of these vowels can be long or short, and there are several diphthongs or vowel combinations. |
| Becky: Do you have any advice for new speakers of Afrikaans that want to get their pronunciation perfect? |
| Chesney: Listen to native speakers carefully and pay particular attention to the vowels; then, try to imitate them. |
| Becky: Sounds like good advice! |
| Chesney: Yes, I think that this will help you acquire a good accent in Afrikaans. |
| Becky: Try it out, listeners! |
Outro |
| Becky: That just about does it for this lesson. See you next time! |
| Chesney: Totsiens. |
Comments
HideLet us know if you have any questions.
Hallo J Neal
Baie is more common to use and is used by default.
Heel goed, is just used as a response to how it is going and not the main reference to 'baie goed'.
Baie lekker
Baie mense
Baie goed
Hope that helps,
Zani
Team AfrikaansPod101.com
Would we use "baie" instead of "heel"? My Afrikaans family is saying that "heel" is not correct for this way of "very".
Hello Will
Jy leer baie!
You are learning a lot!
Enjoy!
Geniet dit!
Zani
Team AfrikaansPod101.com
Hallo
Goeie more. Ek is American.
Hoe gaan dit? Totsiens!
Hey Fionn
Have you heard of SvTOMPvI. (please search this on AfrikaansPod and other sites.)
The verb is the second word of the sentence (if there are two verbs, the second one is at the end)
This will help you make sentences!
Lekker dag,
Zani
Team AfrikaansPod101.com
Hello, do you have any tips on how to know where to place a verb in a sentence in Afrikaans? I've noticed that the verb is often at the end of the sentence, and other times it is placed in the middle of the sentence after the pronoun. I have a South African friend who speaks Afrikaans as her first language and she finds it very hard to explain. She says she "just knows", which obviously isn't much help xD.
Hey Rhea
Did you mean to post it here? You might have GermanPod101 and AfrikaansPod101?
Lekker dag
Zani
Team AfrikaansPod101.com
Hey Rhea
Did you mean to send this to us?
You might be part of GermanPod101 and AfrikaansPod101?
Geniet dit!😁
Enjoy!
Hoe gaan dit met jou GermanPod101
Hey Vee
Difficult one :-).
Press the tip of your tongue just behind your top teeth and trill it by pushing air from the back of your throat and top of your mouth to pass the tongue.
Practice is key.
Good luck
Zani
Team AfrikaansPod101.com
Please explain the pronunciation of the letter r ! I don't know how Americans say it, so it is not a lot of help.
Hey Amy
These lessons might help.
https://www.afrikaanspod101.com/lesson-library/how-to-sound-like-a-native-afrikaans-pronunciation/
Let us know if you have any questions!
Lekker dag
Zani
Are the base vowel letters and sounds available as flashcards?
Are there any resources for assisting with producing the pronounced, rolled "r" sound?
Many thanks,
Amy