🇿🇦 The Ultimate Saffa Translation Guide (Share this with your non-Saffa mates!)

Welcome to South Africa! Or as we say here,

Howzit!

If you are visiting, dating a South African, or just trying to survive a conversation with us without nodding in bewildered silence, you need this cheat sheet. South African slang is a chaotic, beautiful mix of 12 official languages, and it is our true national unifier.

Before you get deeply confused by our traffic lights or our highly subjective sense of time, here is your essential survival guide to understanding a Saffa.

👋 Howzit

Let us start with the basics. Howzit is a portmanteau of how is it, but it operates as a universal greeting that does not actually require a detailed response about your health or emotional state.

When a Saffa says Howzit, the correct response is simply Howzit right back, or a casual No, I'm good, and you?
It entirely replaces hello, good morning, and nice to see you!

🔥 Lekker

If there is one word you must pack in your vocabulary suitcase, it is lekker.

Technically meaning nice or tasty in Afrikaans, it has evolved into the ultimate, all-purpose adjective for anything good, great, awesome, or delicious.
A meal can be lekker. A party can be lekker. A person can be a lekker guy.
If someone asks how you are doing, lekker is always a bulletproof answer.

⏳ The South African Time Continuum

This is where relationships are tested and foreigners lose their minds. Saffas have a deeply relaxed relationship with time, broken down into three distinct phrases:

Right now: This means immediately. It is happening at this very second.
Now now: This does not mean now. It means shortly or a bit later. If someone says they will do the dishes now now, they might do it in five minutes, or they might do it in an hour.
Just now: This is the most dangerous of them all. Just now means at some undefined point in the future. It could mean in three hours. It could mean tomorrow. It could mean never.

🥺 Ag, shame

To the rest of the English-speaking world, shame implies disgrace or humiliation. To a Saffa, ag, shame (the 'g' is pronounced with a slight guttural throat-clear) is the ultimate expression of empathy, pity, or endearment.

If a baby is doing something cute: Ag, shame!
If someone tells you they bumped their toe: Ag, shame.
It is a vocal hug used for both minor tragedies and overwhelming adorableness.

🥩 Braai

Never, ever call it a barbecue. A braai is a deeply sacred cultural institution.

It involves cooking meat over an open wood or charcoal fire.
It is really about the hours spent standing around the flames with a drink in hand, solving the world's problems.
A braai is an event, a verb, a noun, and a lifestyle.

🚦 Robot

If a South African gives you driving directions and tells you to turn left at the next robot, do not look for a cyborg directing traffic.

A robot is simply a traffic light.
The origin of the phrase dates back to the early days of automated traffic signals, and we just never let the term go.

🤦‍♂️ Eish

Borrowed from isiZulu and isiXhosa, eish is a catch-all exclamation that conveys surprise, shock, resignation, or disbelief.

It is the sound of a complex emotion that English simply does not have a word for.
When you see the price of petrol, you say Eish.
When someone tells you a wild piece of gossip, you say Eish.

🤝 Ja, nee

Literally translating to Yes, no from Afrikaans, this phrase makes zero logical sense to outsiders.

However, in South Africa, it means absolute, unwavering agreement.
If someone says, The traffic was terrible today, you nod and say, Ja, nee, meaning: "Yes, I hear you, and there is absolutely no denying it."

Hit share to save a non-Saffa from getting lost at the next robot! See you at the braai now now.

🇿🇦 The Ultimate Saffa Translation Guide (Share this with your non-Saffa mates!)