Rolene Strauss, new Miss World - Afrikaans speaker?

Moderator:Aurinĭa

boerboel
Posts:9
Joined:2014-11-13, 22:43
Gender:male
Location:San Diego
Country:USUnited States (United States)
Rolene Strauss, new Miss World - Afrikaans speaker?

Postby boerboel » 2014-12-15, 19:29

I saw that Miss South Africa, Rolene Strauss, just won Miss World. I assume based on her name and hometown that she's a native Afrikaans-speaker, but after a quick online search, I've only seen her post or communicate in English. Just out of curiosity, can any South Africans here confirm whether she's an Afrikaans-speaker? I did find one video where she said something to the effect of, "I couldn't think of the English word to use...". If she is indeed a native speaker as this would suggest, it would be a shame if she avoids ever using Afrikaans in public or "pageant" events.

boerboel
Posts:9
Joined:2014-11-13, 22:43
Gender:male
Location:San Diego
Country:USUnited States (United States)

Re: Rolene Strauss, new Miss World - Afrikaans speaker?

Postby boerboel » 2014-12-15, 19:42

OK, after some additional searching, I've found videos of her speaking Afrikaans. It strikes me as somewhat odd that her facebook is entirely in English. Hopefully, she's not following the Charlize Theron school of thought where one has to distance oneself from Afrikaans heritage and speaking the language in order to be a success...

User avatar
Bittereinder
Posts:173
Joined:2013-10-25, 20:12
Real Name:William
Gender:male
Location:Potchefstroom
Country:ZASouth Africa (Suid-Afrika / uMzantsi Afrika / South Africa)

Re: Rolene Strauss, new Miss World - Afrikaans speaker?

Postby Bittereinder » 2014-12-16, 17:52

Hi Boerboel

Yes, she's an Afrikaans-speaker. I heard her speak Afrikaans on an interview today.

boerboel wrote:OK, after some additional searching, I've found videos of her speaking Afrikaans. It strikes me as somewhat odd that her facebook is entirely in English. Hopefully, she's not following the Charlize Theron school of thought where one has to distance oneself from Afrikaans heritage and speaking the language in order to be a success...


Not sure. Charlize Theron went total sell-out. Acting, in my mind, is also the worst profession to be at the helm of any cultural or social representation. It's too far from reality. What we get of Charlize Theron is a mere 2 dimensional image or video feed. Then she joins the UN, making totally false statements about AIDS and crime in Africa after which she returns to the comfort of her own home in America.

Back to the point: :mrgreen:
Miss Universe is mainly an globalist representational roll. Since English is a global tongue it seems (from their point of view) to be the most sensible language to use publicly. I doubt we'll hear any Afrikaans from her in public, but people like her always find their way to pages in local magazines and newspapers; often in native tongue. She might also end up on one of the few Afrikaans TV channels.
Openbaring 21:6
"Verder sê Hy vir my: Dit het klaar gebeur. Ek is die Alfa en die Omega, die Begin en die Einde. Aan elkeen wat dors het, sal Ek te drinke gee uit die fontein met die water van die lewe, verniet. "

boerboel
Posts:9
Joined:2014-11-13, 22:43
Gender:male
Location:San Diego
Country:USUnited States (United States)

Re: Rolene Strauss, new Miss World - Afrikaans speaker?

Postby boerboel » 2014-12-17, 21:30

Hey Bittereinder,

Agreed with regards to Charlize being a sellout. Without actually knowing her background, one would never guess her native language was Afrikaans or that she's even from SA. Given her profession, perhaps she felt it necessary to lose her accent and distance herself from her cultural heritage in order to get movie roles. I'm not really familiar with her work with the UN or what types of statements she's made regarding Africa, but I just get this vibe from her that she's not really "proud" of her heritage, which is a shame, if true.

It does make sense that these international pageants and the contestants would primarily use English, especially publicly. I was just surprised to find at first only English results, especially on her personal facebook page. However, once I dug a little deeper, I did find several instances of her speaking Afrikaans.

I guess it would just be refreshing if people with an international platform would occasionally give a nod to the language and their heritage. In the case of Charlize, it seems like it has get pulled out of her...

User avatar
Bittereinder
Posts:173
Joined:2013-10-25, 20:12
Real Name:William
Gender:male
Location:Potchefstroom
Country:ZASouth Africa (Suid-Afrika / uMzantsi Afrika / South Africa)

Re: Rolene Strauss, new Miss World - Afrikaans speaker?

Postby Bittereinder » 2014-12-18, 5:08

Agreed with regards to Charlize being a sellout. Without actually knowing her background, one would never guess her native language was Afrikaans or that she's even from SA. Given her profession, perhaps she felt it necessary to lose her accent and distance herself from her cultural heritage in order to get movie roles. I'm not really familiar with her work with the UN or what types of statements she's made regarding Africa, but I just get this vibe from her that she's not really "proud" of her heritage, which is a shame, if true.


Oh yes, she's definitely more of an American than South African Arnold Vosloo is also popular in the American film industry. He has played quite a lot of villains. :mrgreen:
He's slightly better than Charlize in the sense that he occasionally returns to SA for a South African film, but once actors go abroad they usually don't go back to their roots.


It does make sense that these international pageants and the contestants would primarily use English, especially publicly. I was just surprised to find at first only English results, especially on her personal facebook page. However, once I dug a little deeper, I did find several instances of her speaking Afrikaans.


It's unfortunate, but she's also representing the whole of South Africa. English is the only language the speakers of all 11 languages can understand and [hopefully] speak. Speaking English is not as unnatural as one might imagine. English is a compulsory additional language throughout school and is used predominantly in the corporate world. For a university student like herself there's often only English textbooks available for most of her modules. I'm studying IT and I've only had a few Afrikaans textbooks. So it might just be about pragmatism for her personally. If you travel here you're bound to regularly switch from your native tongue to English regularly.
Openbaring 21:6
"Verder sê Hy vir my: Dit het klaar gebeur. Ek is die Alfa en die Omega, die Begin en die Einde. Aan elkeen wat dors het, sal Ek te drinke gee uit die fontein met die water van die lewe, verniet. "

User avatar
Weerwolf
Posts:1908
Joined:2009-12-09, 19:53
Real Name:Krisztián
Gender:male
Location:Венгрия; Будaпешт
Country:HUHungary (Magyarország)

Re: Rolene Strauss, new Miss World - Afrikaans speaker?

Postby Weerwolf » 2014-12-18, 10:25

The Hungarian Edina Kulcsár ( Kulcsár Edina in our Hungarian name order, the surname comes always first) who came second in this competition also uses a lot English because of the international nature of this event. Her twitter is completely in English, but her facebook is only in Hungarian. She can reach more Hungarians via facebook, therefore she must write in Hungarian, because the average Hungarian wouldn’t understand what she’s saying in English. Foreign languages are taught not so good in our country.

The problem with Charlize is methinks not her speaking more English than Afrikaans, but that she’s abandoned her roots and has apperantly changed her identity. She could have been the international voice of unheard South African problems, raising public awareness of plaasmoorde, but fame and glitter comes first. Being in Holywood she has to weigh her words, because one wrong word could make the owners of the business angry and she would be then booking her flight back home.
In het middelpunt staan: [flag=]nl[/flag] [flag=]nl-BE[/flag] [flag=]af[/flag] [flag=]de[/flag][flag=]hr[/flag] [flag=]sr[/flag] [flag=]ru[/flag] [flag=]pl[/flag]
Heel hartelijk bedankt voor elke hulp!
Ich bin für jede Verbesserung dankbar.

Минден кездет нехез.

boerboel
Posts:9
Joined:2014-11-13, 22:43
Gender:male
Location:San Diego
Country:USUnited States (United States)

Re: Rolene Strauss, new Miss World - Afrikaans speaker?

Postby boerboel » 2014-12-24, 0:54

Bittereinder wrote:It's unfortunate, but she's also representing the whole of South Africa. English is the only language the speakers of all 11 languages can understand and [hopefully] speak. Speaking English is not as unnatural as one might imagine. English is a compulsory additional language throughout school and is used predominantly in the corporate world. For a university student like herself there's often only English textbooks available for most of her modules. I'm studying IT and I've only had a few Afrikaans textbooks. So it might just be about pragmatism for her personally. If you travel here you're bound to regularly switch from your native tongue to English regularly.


True, I hadn't really thought about it from the perspective of her representing all South Africans, many of whom don't speak or understand Afrikaans. And obviously she won't be conducting international interviews in Afrikaans like let's say a winner from Venezuela would be doing in both English and Spanish.

boerboel
Posts:9
Joined:2014-11-13, 22:43
Gender:male
Location:San Diego
Country:USUnited States (United States)

Re: Rolene Strauss, new Miss World - Afrikaans speaker?

Postby boerboel » 2014-12-24, 1:10

Weerwolf wrote:The problem with Charlize is methinks not her speaking more English than Afrikaans, but that she’s abandoned her roots and has apperantly changed her identity. She could have been the international voice of unheard South African problems, raising public awareness of plaasmoorde, but fame and glitter comes first. Being in Holywood she has to weigh her words, because one wrong word could make the owners of the business angry and she would be then booking her flight back home.


Exactly. I would expect her to speak primarily English considering she's lived in the States for decades now, however it's the complete abandoning of her heritage that is objectionable. When questioned in interviews, she appears to just gloss over the topic of her origins. And forget about her ever raising awareness with regards to plaasmoorde because it goes against particular narratives that Hollywood (and the US in general) like to believe and portray.

JOSHTRUS
Posts:7
Joined:2012-09-07, 17:38
Real Name:christian

Re: Rolene Strauss, new Miss World - Afrikaans speaker?

Postby JOSHTRUS » 2015-03-16, 23:52



Return to “Afrikaans”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 10 guests