[lg policy] South Africa: How do you click ‘taxi’ in Zulu? This Texan knows.

[Harold Schiffman]

South Africa: How do you click ‘taxi’ in Zulu? This Texan knows.

In Johannesburg, our correspondent took lessons in Zulu, the native
language that uses a variety of click sounds.

By Scott Baldauf | Staff Writer 10.02.09


JOHANNESBURG, SOUTH AFRICA – Like many alien invaders of South Africa,
I was more than a little intimidated by the thought of trying to learn
Zulu, the dominant African language here. It’s those clicking sounds
one has to make in order for people to understand what you are trying
to say. But at heart, I am an optimist. If nature intended a Frenchman
to say “foie gras,” then there’s no reason a Texan like myself can’t
learn Zulu. Who says white men can’t click? Yes, we can!  My guide was
a personal trainer at the gym whose name is Glad. Every morning, I
would meet Glad at the door with a handshake and the customary
greeting, “Sawubona. Unjani? Ngikhona.” (Good morning. How are you? I
am fine.) This was accompanied by a complex series of handshakes
involving thumbs.

But one day, when he could see I was sincere about learning Zulu, Glad
led me into the inner sanctum of clicks. Like a karate dojo, he gave
me one difficult word each week for me to practice and to use. The
first was uncedile, which means “you have helped me.” The “c” click in
Zulu is made with your tongue just behind the top front teeth, you
suck your teeth to make a tsk, tsk, tsk sound. Next week, Glad taught
me another word, nqedile, which he said meant “It is finished.” To my
ears, this sounded exactly like the word from last week, but the
difference was the click. The “q” click is the popping sound of a
bottle cork. You make it by putting your tongue all the way back on
the roof of your mouth. It was many weeks before I was finished
learning nqedile.

For some reason, the “x” click didn’t bother me. That’s the sound you
make, out of the side of your cheek, when you are trying to get your
horse to move faster. (It’s a Texan thing.) I would like to report
that over the past few months, I have since become both svelte and
fluent, that I can order a fried inhlanzi (fish) at a restaurant,
inquire about the health of your gogo (grandmother), and find out the
rate of a Soweto taxi (taxi). Alas, that is not the case. But the mere
step of learning a few words has enriched me, put smiles on the faces
of the people I practice my Zulu on, and opened a window into a part
of South Africa that remains closed for all too many.

http://features.csmonitor.com/globalnews/2009/10/02/south-africa-how-do-you-click-taxi-in-zulu-this-texan-knows/


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