South Africans with non-South African partners? What language do you speak?

Question

If your partner comes from a country where a non-South African language is spoken:

Do you speak the language of your partner or one of the South African languages with your partner?

Did you meet your partner in SA or in your partner´s country?

Does the country in which you met determine which language you now speak with your partner?

Answer 1

I guess it's mostly true that the country in which one meets determines the language of the relationship, although I do know of a few exceptions to the rule.

I met my Italian wife in SA, at that stage the only Italian words I knew were pizza and amorè, needless to say we conversed in English (her English was already fluent) and continue to this day to converse in English, even though we live in Italy, and the same is true for when we lived in Spain.

It's only when we go out with friends or visit her family that we speak Italian together, which would be in a group scenario.

However, even if we are in a group and I need to ask my wife something, I still ask her in English, I find it very strange to speak Italian or Spanish to my wife even though they are languages that we both speak.

Answer 2

My ex was Australian. Met her in the UK. We spoke English when we moved to SA she did try and learn Afrikaans but with no that much success. All other foreign girls I have been with was English speaking as well so that makes it the the language of choice.

Answer 3

I would imagine that if I was from one country (say Holland for example) and my husband was from South Africa we would most  likely have a language in common like English.  If I were fluent in Afrikaans (the other language spoken in S. Africa, then maybe we could speak that with each other.)

Answer 4

whoa.....Reb da Rebel - I might know a nice deutsche young man for you - hehe

My hubby is french, we met while working together in the UK.

We speak English at home and don't try to speak french to each other because we always end up fighting - he has no patience and I am always getting my tenses wrong. We have a two year old and she speaks English and Afrikaans. He doesn't speak french to her (altough his family do give him endless hassles about this) but she will learn when we move to France in the next couple of years.

When we go visit his family, after a few glasses of wine, then French is like a 2nd language to me !!!!

Answer 5

Sometimes I speak English to my wife, but sometimes Chinese.

Answer 6

My boyfriend is South African (actually Afrikaans) he speaks Afrikaans at home with his parents and I join at times. Maar my Afrikaans is baie sleg!

When we are together we speak English as my Afrikaans is not perfect and I get frustrated easily if I can't say a specific word but he teaches me well and I am getting better each day. We met in England but that doesn't make a difference to what language we speak, the fact is I am not fluent in Afrikaans. I guess I am the problem LOL but like I say I am learning more and more.

If it was the other way around, I'd also have wanted him to learn my language. I love Afrikaans, it's just getting the hang of it. Also being in the UK most of the time where Afrikaans is not spoken unless you know South Africans, it's harder to get to grips with the language. So when I go to SA in December I will try and just speak as much Afrikaans as I can.

Answer 7

Lol Honey him indoors is Irish,we met in SA,but we speak English,he speaks better Zulu than Afrikaans....but my little dog that I brought here in the UK understands Afrikaans much better than English...Cakes I wish you can hear my hubby speak Afrikaans t the dog...you'll roll around with laughter!!!!xxxx

Answer 8

the language of love, baby!

Answer 9

Australian....half the time I still don't undersand the Aussie slang....

Answer 10

My husband is British, I met him here in SA at Varsity, he came to study here. We speak either Afrikaans or English to each other. I taught him to speak Afrikaans and he speaks it extremely well for a Pommy. He tends to speak more English and I more Afrikaans. Kids speak Afrikaans to me and English to their Dad.

Answer 11

Ich wünschte, ich hätte ein beau, sprach eine fremde Sprache ... inländischen Streitigkeiten wäre so spannend... lol!