Friday, March 28, 2014

If I am going to spend 5 months in Cape Town, should I learn Xhosa or Zulu?

If I am going to spend 5 months in Cape Town, should I learn Xhosa or Zulu?
I am a student planning on spending a semester studying at the University of Cape Town. English is my first language (being an American) and I intend to study Afrikaans while in South Africa as well. But I am very interested in volunteering in less privileged parts of the Cape and am wondering which would be the more useful language of isiXhosa and isiZulu. I want to be able to connect and communicate with the poorer citizens of the area in their first language, instead of the more common languages of their historical oppressors.
South Africa - 5 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
Xhosa is predominantly spoken in the Cape. Zulu is mainly spoken in Kwa-Zulu Natal, on the east side of the country. So you will be doing well learning a smidgen of Xhosa. And will earn a lot of respect from the people if you can speak a few words of their language. You will find that most of the people also can speak some english and afrikaans, and even one or two more of South Africa´s eleven official languages. The Cape Coloureds speak mainly Afrikaans, but more and more are adopting english as their home language. A little tit bit on interesting things: http://users.iafrica.com/a/au/aug/YEP/custom.htm
2 :
Well just about all people in South Africa speak English.As for isiXhosa that would be more of a cultural thing to learn a little .Then there's "Afrikaans" which is known by the locals as "Taal". The Afrikaans language is Germanic deriving from "17th Century Middle Dutch. Afrikaans is the only official language of European origin in the World to have evolved outside the European Continent. You stipulate "opressors" yet remember that during the Anglo-Boers War from 1902-1905 The Dutch (Boers) had tribal blacks fight along side them against the Brits(Anglos) whom had tribal blacks allied with them as well to fight for the country.The Coloreds & Malays wanted to go along with the Apartheid.The word "Apartheid' means separate in Afrikaans.The theory of "Apartheid was written then imputed by JF.Milan in 1948.All of South Africa during the Apartheid had the best health care in all of African nations for all it's citizens.
3 :
The 2 people before me had good info! Colourds speak mostly Afrikaans, mutually inteligible with Dutch and quite similiar to english as well. Xhosa is indeed spoken in the Cape area in the outskirts by the blacks. 99% (my estimate) of the whites speak English and people from over 150 countries attend UCT, thats a fact though. You'll do just fine with english but learning Afrikaans would be a wise idea, especially since it's a simple language to learn for english speakers
4 :
Frankly, for 5 months, it would not be worth your while to learn one of these very complex languages. Most South Africans can speak enough English to get by. Learn a few phrases like greetings, please and thank you.
5 :
Honestly speaking you do not necessarily need to learn Xhosa , Cape town everybody understands English. Xhosa people mix their language with English. So when you want to evaluate Africans who can and cannot speak English, Africans from CPT mix their language with English which they have begin to think it’s part of xhosa where in actual fact itsn't…. Just for knowledge sake you can if you want to not a must

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Friday, March 14, 2014

What options do I have !? (International Student)?


What options do I have !? (International Student)?
So here is my situation: I am an international student studying in Tampa, Florida. I have gone through three semesters but now I have a problem. My sponsors are not able to support me for the next semester, I have been working on campus but it just not cover the balance. I know about the economic hardship but it's only 20 hours a week, and it won't be enough. I know I can't get financial aid, and that I need a co-signer for a private loan, but I don't have one. Are there any other options?? Would going back to South Africa be the only other option?
Financial Aid - 2 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
Damn that sucks and because of the economic situation in our country at the moment it would be even tougher to find a way out. My suggestion would be is make a little investment in a tiny business. For example over here in Downtown Los Angeles, theres a central shopping area. People just go there and sell merchandise and make small profits, but its something. Sell books or shoes...
2 :
If the school is a Christian school you can go to www.crosstuition.org and apply for a grant (you don't have to ever pay back). They give grants to students attending Christian schools.

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Friday, March 7, 2014

Where would you travel of these?


Where would you travel of these?
Picture yourself a student in high school. Would you rather visit South Africa, China, Australia, Peru, or the Galapogos Islands? Also as a high school teacher where would you want to take a group of ~40 children w/ chaporones? It will be for about 10 days in a February. Assume they are all the same price.
Other - Europe - 5 Answers
Random Answers, Critics, Comments, Opinions :
1 :
Galapagos.
2 :
Australia
3 :
Australia As for the school trip, somewhere that is the least travel time.
4 :
i would pick China because it's so massive and there are ton of huge cities like Hong Kong, Bejing and shanghai, i really want to see the Great Wall of China and explore their culture and landmarks. Australia would be my second choice as it's an English speaking country so i bet it wouldn't be too different compare to other English speaking countries. But, i wanna take a picture with Sydney Opera House too... XD ..
5 :
China, or South Africa!

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Saturday, March 1, 2014

Becomeing a jewish foreign exchange student in junior year.?

Becomeing a jewish foreign exchange student in junior year.?
Hi I'm currently a student in my sophomore year at a high school. Now I've seen a few listings on information on becoming an exchange student but i have one extra problem-- I would need to go to a Jewish school. I have thought about this and I really want to do it but one problem i face is where. I would need to go to a Jewish high school which narrows it down a lot. I also would like to do this for one semester preferably the fall (northern hemisphere) so from about late august early September till January. The places that I have become most interested in are Australia and South Africa. thanks for all your input
Studying Abroad - 2 Answers
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1 :
My best suggestion is contact the nearest Jewish day school and ask them if *they* have any info on schools in Australia or South Africa. If they don't they'll know who does. Alternatively you can contact the NY Federation; they should know also.
2 :
Wow. That's a toughie! You might try contacting some of the bigger programs such as YFU or AFS. Perhaps they have a solution for this. There is another alternative. If your school or family has any international connections, you can do what's known as a direct placement with any major exchange organization. That means if you know a family where you want to go that would be willing to host you and a school willing to take you, the organization would facilitate the exchange. To be honest, we had the opportunity of hosting a Jewish student once, but he was kosher and that was totally beyond our capability. It was too bad, because I thought it would have been very interesting. Good luck to you and I hope it works out!

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