The beautiful thing about struggling with a new language is how the speakers of that language will embrace your effort – nudge, motivate and sympathise with you. It’s like having an audience in the stands cheering you on and seeing your tired and weary body to the finish line. When learning a new language – the more you cross the finish line, the longer you want the race to be.
 

I am an Afrikaans speaking guy who grew up on a farm and who now find myself living in Johannesburg. As someone who can haphazardly butcher my way through a conversation in Sesotho, I have always found it incredibly inspiring to see racial and cultural divides dissolve just because someone can drop a line or two in local vernacular.
 

I’m not looking for kudos here. I am ashamed that I am not better equipped to handle myself with ease in PE, Cape Town, Pongola and Limpopo. Generally, black South-Africans can do that – without fanfare or confetti. Most white South Africans, sadly, cannot say the same.
 

The truth is that my knowledge of the language is minimal and even though I am pretty able to follow a conversation as a listener, I still suck at getting words out without doubting and criticising my efforts. Many South Africans can still only speak one language, and that is sad if you think that we are more in need of learning from each other than ever before.
 

So to change the status quo, We at The Media Farm are very proud to lift the veil on our latest social project: TEACH YOURSELF 100 PHRASES.
 

It is a means for South Africans to learn a local language on social media. The idea is to make this part of someone’s daily routine and equip them with a new phrase broken down into bite-size bits that won’t seem overwhelming or too intimidating. The beauty of this will be when one can interchange these phrases to create thousands of phrases.
 

We kicked off with Tswana and next on our radar is isiZulu, Sesotho and Xhosa.


When done, it will be filterable and comparable with other languages. It will not be academic teachings, but rather an everyday language as used and spoken on the street.


It was designed in such a way that there will be a natural flow, a thread leading from one phrase to the next, anticipating where your conversation will take you; making the most of your weekly teaching.
 

Each email will also reference a google sheet, with ALL the phrases to help you quickly find that phrase that will get you noticed!


Ke a leboga, re tla bua.
(Thanks, we’ll chat soon.)

John-Henry – The Media Farm