Learn some common Afrikaans idioms
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Intro |
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| Antoni: What are some common Afrikaans idioms? |
| Dewan: And how are they used? |
| Antoni: At AfrikaansPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Imagine the following scenario: Karen Lee hears an idiom she's not familiar with. She repeats the idiom to her friend, Driekie Venter, |
| "Hang onto a branch." |
| Karen Lee: Hang aan 'n tak. |
| Dialogue |
| Karen Lee: Hang aan 'n tak. |
| Driekie Venter: Mense gebruik hierdie idioom om te sê "wag 'n bietjie." |
| Antoni: Once more with the English translation. |
| Karen Lee: Hang aan 'n tak. |
| Antoni: "Hang onto a branch." |
| Driekie Venter: Mense gebruik hierdie idioom om te sê "wag 'n bietjie." |
| Antoni: "People use this idiom to say "wait a second."" |
Lesson focus |
| Antoni: In this lesson, you will be learning about some common Afrikaans |
| Dewan: idiome |
| Antoni: or "idioms." |
| Before we begin looking at examples of actual idioms, let’s quickly make sure we all know what an idiom is exactly, and also what makes it different from a proverb, a saying, and a collocation. Let’s start with collocations. |
| Collocations can sometimes be confused with idioms because, like idioms, they consist of a group of words that are often or always found together. What can be even more confusing is that collocations often reveal the difference between someone who speaks or knows idiomatic Afrikaans and someone who doesn’t. |
| Idiomatic Afrikaans has nothing to do with idioms, interestingly. What it means is that people who speak idiomatic Afrikaans often know the idiosyncratic collocations of Afrikaans. So what is a collocation? It is a group of two or more words that are often found together in an expression. Consider, for instance, the collocation "heavy rain." In Afrikaans, this would be |
| Dewan: swaar reën. |
| Antoni: In both English and Afrikaans, these words are usually used together to describe an extended, powerful rain. One could talk about "strong rain" in English, but it would seem odd. That’s why these constructions are called "collocations"—if you break the word "collocation" down into its prefix and base, then it becomes "co-location" which means "located together." Knowing this also makes the word easier to remember, of course. |
| The other language construction that is often confused with idioms is the proverb. A proverb is a sentence or phrase that most native speakers know and that contains words of wisdom or advice. A common proverb in both English and Afrikaans is "One swallow does not make a summer." In Afrikaans, it sounds like this: |
| Dewan: Een swaeltjie maak nie 'n somer nie. |
| Antoni: As you probably know, this proverb is used when one wants to say that one piece of evidence is not proof of something existing or being imminent. Proverbs like this are frequently confused with sayings because sayings also often contain snippets of wisdom. The difference between a proverb and a saying is that most native speakers know the proverbs, but they have no idea who first said them. A saying, on the other hand, is like a quote, in that the person who said it is usually mentioned as well. An example of a saying is "What is a friend? A single soul dwelling in two bodies." This was said by Aristotle. Unlike a proverb, many native speakers will not know this expression. |
| Great, now you know the difference between collocations, proverbs, and sayings, but we have yet to talk about idioms, so let’s do that now. We can start by examining the example that was used in the dialogue for this lesson. Let’s have a listen to the first part of that dialogue again. |
| [Recall 1] |
| Antoni: Do you remember how Karen says, "Hang onto a branch?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Dewan as Karen Lee: Hang aan 'n tak. |
| Antoni: As you can tell, this is not a proverb because it’s not something you would use to give advice with. It is also not a collocation because collocations can be understood immediately, whereas the meaning of an idiom often has to be learned. |
| In this idiom, for instance, the speaker does not literally want the person to hang on a branch. They are asking the person to wait for a moment, and this is probably derived from the English phrase "Hang on." Idioms are like this—you have to learn their meaning. It cannot simply be deduced from the words out of which it is constructed. |
| Now that you know the difference between idioms and other, similar constructions, let’s learn some more Afrikaans idioms. You might find some of them quite fascinating and even amusing. Sometimes, there are even themes. For instance, there is another Afrikaans idiom that refers to a "branch" or, rather, to a "stick," but they’re pretty much the same thing. In Afrikaans, the word "stick" is |
| Dewan: stok |
| Antoni: or |
| Dewan: stokkie |
| Antoni: which is the diminutive version. The latter seems to be preferred in idioms. Listen to this one, for instance: |
| Dewan: Nes ń apie op ń stokkie. |
| Antoni: This translates literally to "just like a monkey on a little stick." This means that someone is looking very perplexed or confused, usually comically so. Another "stick" idiom is this one, which translates to "All jokes on a little stick:" |
| Dewan: Alle grappies op ń stokkie. |
| Antoni: It means the same as the English "all jokes aside," but a bit stricter, such as a warning to stop frivolity and get serious. The Afrikaans idiom was derived from a similar Dutch idiom. The "stick" in the idiom referred to a hand-held prop called the Marotte, which was used by the king's personal comedian or court jester in the medieval or Renaissance eras. The Marotte was often a decorated staff or rod, and it is said that the king would warn the jester to keep his jokes to himself, or literally 'on his stick,' so to speak. |
| Another common theme that it seems one can find in these idioms is one we’ve already touched on—monkeys. The Afrikaans word for "monkey" is: |
| Dewan: aap |
| Antoni: Listen to how it is used in this idiom: |
| Dewan: ń Aap in die mou hê. |
| Antoni: This translates to "have a monkey up your sleeve," and it means that someone is concealing mischievous plans. |
| Animals actually feature in many Afrikaans idioms. One of the most common is |
| Dewan: jakkals |
| Antoni: which means "fox" or "jackal," and it can be heard in an idiom like this one, which translates to "Jackal is marrying wolf’s wife:" |
| Dewan: Jakkals trou met wolf se vrou. |
| Antoni: This refers to the unusual phenomenon of the sun shining while it is raining. This weather phenomenon has many colorful names in different cultures. |
| One of our favorite Afrikaans idioms is a little-known one that involves a duck. In Afrikaans, the word for "duck" is |
| Dewan: eend |
| Antoni: and the idiom is: |
| Dewan: Moenie die dam onder die eend uitruk nie, |
| Antoni: which translates to "don’t pull out the pond from under the duck" and it means "don’t overdo things" or "don't over-react or exaggerate." It’s quite amusing, but we have no idea how or why this idiom originated. There is another idiom that involves sleeves and a monkey, |
| Dewan: Die aap uit die mou laat, |
| Antoni: which translates to "let the monkey out of the sleeve" and means the same as the English idioms "let the cat out of the bag" or "to spill the beans." These all refer to carelessly or mistakenly revealing a secret. |
| Let’s end this with another idiom that is rather fun. It means to look for something where you certainly won't find it; in other words, "a futile search." |
| Dewan: Wors in die hondestal soek. |
| Antoni: Literally, it translates as "to look for sausage in the dog kennel." |
| [Summary] |
| Antoni: In this lesson, you learned about the difference between idioms, proverbs, sayings, and collocations. You also heard some examples of Afrikaans idioms. |
| Expansion/Contrast (Optional) |
| Antoni: Previously, we talked about the fact that many Afrikaans idioms involve animals. Another common theme in Afrikaans idioms is that of the farm. For instance, there is this one which means to take on more than you can handle or "bite off more than you can chew:" |
| Dewan: Te veel hooi op die vurk laai. |
| Antoni: The translation is "load too much hay on the pitchfork." |
| Another farm-related idiom is: |
| Dewan: ‘n Eiertjie lê. |
| Antoni: The translation is "to lay an egg" and it means "to share your opinion," which probably refers to the way hens would cluck noisily once they've laid eggs in a nest. The corresponding English idiom would be "to give someone your two cents worth." |
| Cultural Insight/Expansion (Optional) |
| Antoni: Animals, nature, and farm-related subjects feature quite extensively in Afrikaans idioms, and this is probably because many of these idioms were first composed during a time when Afrikaans people were living close to nature. Afrikaans, as you may know, is a daughter language of Dutch and was born some time after the Dutch sent settlers to South Africa. At the time, South Africa was an undeveloped country. The people lived very close to nature and most of them worked on farms. It is not surprising, therefore, that farms, animals, and nature feature so strongly in the idioms of this fascinating young language. |
| This one, for instance, was almost certainly created while in South Africa because it refers to the hippopotamus. It goes like this: |
| Dewan: Dis net die oortjies van die seekoei. |
| Antoni: This translates to "it’s only the ears of the hippo," and it means that only a small part of the truth is apparent. As you probably know, hippos like to rest or cool down by submerging their whole body under the water of a lake or a large pond or river. Usually, only their tiny ears are visible above the surface, which is most likely where this idiom originated. |
| Other idioms can be traced back to earlier origins, and most were probably taken from English. This one, for instance, dates back to when knights used to joust with lances and charge at each other while on the backs of horses. When one of them fell, it was referred to as "biting the dust," which, in Afrikaans, is: |
| Dewan: In die stof byt. |
| Antoni: I’m sure the English version of that one was familiar to you, and this one might be too. It is: |
| Dewan: Duim vashou vir iemand, |
| Antoni: and it translates to "hold thumbs for someone." As you probably know, saying this to someone means that you are wishing them well while they navigate something difficult. The idiom dates back to the Roman empire, when gladiators would fight in an arena, and, if the emperor kept his thumb folded into his fist, it meant that the victor should spare the life of the vanquished. If the emperor extended his thumb, it meant death for the defeated gladiator. |
Outro |
| Antoni: Do you have any more questions? We’re here to answer them! |
| Dewan: Totsiens! |
| Antoni: See you soon! |
| Credits: Dewan (Afrikaans, Pietermaritzburg), Antoni (English, synthetic voice) |
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