Misconceptions about Africa/ South Africa

[Gansie]

Sorry to vent, but here goes...
Usually I really enjoy telling people about South Africa and how great this and that is. But sometimes I just get really tired of people who have absolutely no clue about the place. Granted, I don't know everything about every culure or country, but I have a reasonably good idea of what to expect etc. and I would certainly try not to offend someone.

Today my co-t and I were talking about random things and we happened upon Nobel prizes as a topic. She mentioned that Korea won a Nobel Prize for peace and I mentioned that we have also only won a few. She then sceptically and very seriously asked me whether I was sure that we have won any. I then showed her on the internet that indeed we have won a few (and not just  for peace, also for literature, science and medicine). Even afterwards she was still a bit unsure. I guess I'm just in a grumpy mood today, but sometimes it gets really annoying when people think all of Africa is utter poverty and misery.

Ok, so instead of making a thread where I rant, could anyone tell me about the funny misconceptions they have heard about Africa/South Africa?

[Jozigirl]

From a parent of one of my campers at summer camp in the US:  Did you have to buy clothes just to come to America? (because we don't wear clothes in Africa)

Again from a parent of a camper at summer camp:  You speak English very well!  Have you been studying it long? (It's my first language!)

From several people (in the UK and France):  How long was the boat ride? (because we don't have airplanes in Africa)

From many people in Europe, America, Canada & Korea:  You can't be from Africa; you're not black.

From one of my students:  Are you sure you're from Africa?  You're white and you speak British; you must be from England.

And, my personal favourite:

From a "cheeky" high school boy at my school: Will you wear traditional African dress to the school festival? (while pointing at a picture of unmarried Zulu women who wear only grass skirts and beads...)   

[novalis]

From a hairdresser in Myeong-dong: You're too pale to come from Africa (and I'm not even white  )

[Andyroo]

My predecessor was South African but I don’t have any funny South African stories to tell.
Quite a few students didn’t know who Mandela was but that’s all I have got.
Africa is one of those continents that does not get a lot of press. Apart from Egypt, South Africa and Ghana (because of the chocolate) I wouldn’t be confident of them knowing any other countries.
Perhaps the boys could name Nigeria and the Ivory Coast due to footballers.

What might make you feel better is it’s not just a South Africa thing, some of them are fairly oblivious to all countries. There are plenty of people like that in Australia too, but I kind of expected better from university educated teachers. A lot of them think Chinese food consists of just 3 dishes and that country is just next door!

The funniest was one of the ex English teachers at our school who was quite young (around 25) and had even lived in America (Utah) for a year.
She thought Rain won that time magazine award because he was genuinely popular in America…. because of some Ninja movie apparently.

The best was that she thought most people in America couldn’t read or write.
I suggested that was “probably just a Utah thing” and looked up the literacy rate for her (99%). She had to double check on Naver though because you can’t trust Google 

Starting to miss her now....

[ovid]

The world is a big place, so it should be easy to understand that there will be misconceptions everywhere.  I mean, how many people, when telling friends and family that you were going to Korea, even knew where it was or asked "Is that the good one or the bad one"? 

I didn't know much about Korea when I came here except from the common misconceptions I heard from my friends.  When I first came to Korea, I wanted to make sure that my pizza had no dog meat in it 

[0mnslnd]

What's the difference between trying to educate people about South Africa and banging your head repeatedly against a wall?

---When you bang your head against a wall, it has an effect in some way.

[Leez]

American Military Boy: "So you're from South Africa, are you at war with North Africa like South Korea and North Africa are at War?" Next question: "So you're all subsistence farmers right?"

Me: "Wow, I really missed all the chocolate over Easter."
German Guy (utter amazement!): "You have Easter in South Africa! REALLY?!?"

Student: "Are you reading the news in English Teacher."
Me: "Yes."
Student: "You speak English in South Africa?"

And of course all the usual, can't convince my kids that we don't naturally have tigers and beers and yes, I am apparently too white to be from Africa :)

[0mnslnd]

http://www.flyafrica.info/forums/showthread.php?21216-Funny-FIFA-2010-questions-(and-answers)
some typical questions that were asked during the soccer world cup

But in all fairness, how informed are WE about other countries in the world?

A dialogue from my wall of shame (my first year in Korea)

Me: "I don't like taking taxis/cabs in Korea. You are probably use to it, coming from the States??
American: "Actually, no. I am from Kentucky. Stereotypes...."

To my fellow Saffa's, what questions did you asked to the first Canadian you saw?
Something about the movie "The whole 9 yards" or any other Canadian movie? Where did a certain scene in the movie take place? Or "Do you speak French?"

Just to put this thing in perspective.  :).

[Jozigirl]

To my fellow Saffa's, what questions did you asked to the first Canadian you saw?
Something about the movie "The whole 9 yards" or any other Canadian movie? Where did a certain scene in the movie take place? Or "Do you speak French?"

Just to put this thing in perspective.  :).

 ??? ??? ??? ???

[Gansie]

To my fellow Saffa's, what questions did you asked to the first Canadian you saw?
Something about the movie "The whole 9 yards" or any other Canadian movie? Where did a certain scene in the movie take place? Or "Do you speak French?"

Just to put this thing in perspective.  :).

Hehe, no, I've never asked these questions. I can't even remember The Whole 9 Yards that well, to be honest. But I understand what you mean.  ;)

[flasyb]

Today my co-t and I were talking about random things and we happened upon Nobel prizes as a topic. She mentioned that Korea won a Nobel Prize for peace and I mentioned that we have also only won a few. She then sceptically and very seriously asked me whether I was sure that we have won any. I then showed her on the internet that indeed we have won a few (and not just  for peace, also for literature, science and medicine). Even afterwards she was still a bit unsure.

She was definitely just jealous that you "out-countried" her. South Africa shouldn't be able to beat Korea. Korea is number 1. Everybody knows this. Therefore, you and the internet must both be wrong.


My students don't really have any misconceptions about South Africa. For the last 2 or 3 years, the teachers at the two middle schools in my town (which feed into my high school) have been white South Africans (both couples). I'm sure they set them straight about a few things.

[justanotherwaygook]

Sorry to vent, but here goes...
Usually I really enjoy telling people about South Africa and how great this and that is. But sometimes I just get really tired of people who have absolutely no clue about the place. Granted, I don't know everything about every culure or country, but I have a reasonably good idea of what to expect etc. and I would certainly try not to offend someone.

This might be your first mistake.  No one cares.  I don't tell people about the US and how great it is.

Student: "Are you reading the news in English Teacher."
Me: "Yes."
Student: "You speak English in South Africa?"

What was the context of his question?  Was it that he was surprised that English is a common/official language in South Africa?  Or was he referring to you specifically and if English is your native tongue?  Most South Africans I know in Korea speak Afrikaans.  Yes, of course they can speak English fluently, but they're Afrikaans speakers first.

[Jrong]

Gansie, this is the only culture I've ever been in that wasn't interested in knowing about me, instead, they were only interested in pushing their tiny-little-homogeneous culture onto me. Good luck with telling ppl about South Africa.

Misconception I had: I thought all white South Africans sounded like a cross between Arnold Schwarzenneger and Crocodile Dundee. It's more like a cross between Steve Irwin and Arnold-tryingouthisSpanishaccent . It sounds cool.

[Gansie]

This might be your first mistake.  No one cares.  I don't tell people about the US and how great it is.

I don't go around forcing people to listen about SA, that would be irritating. And I'm not overly patriotic or anything. I just meant whenever someone asks about SA or if it is somehow related to the topic.  :) At least once or twice a week my co-t will begin a discussion with "In your country, do you...?"

Misconception I had: I thought all white South Africans sounded like a cross between Arnold Schwarzenneger and Crocodile Dundee. It's more like a cross between Steve Irwin and Arnold-tryingouthisSpanishaccent . It sounds cool.

Haha, I take pride in our strange accents (there are quite a few different English accents). A thick Afrikaans accent is especially baffling to some people. They can never tell if someone is German or Russian or something else.  :D

[flasyb]

Sorry to vent, but here goes...
Usually I really enjoy telling people about South Africa and how great this and that is. But sometimes I just get really tired of people who have absolutely no clue about the place. Granted, I don't know everything about every culure or country, but I have a reasonably good idea of what to expect etc. and I would certainly try not to offend someone.

This might be your first mistake.  No one cares.  I don't tell people about the US and how great it is.

Not a mistake when it comes to Korea. If a Korean starts prattling on at me about how great Korea is, I usually get involved in a little one-upmanship with them. I can't help it. I'm not even patriotic at all - in fact I dislike excessive patriotism. Perhaps that's why I do it. Or maybe I just like being a knob.

Other than that, I never really talk about my country unless it's a "what do you miss from home?" kind of conversation because, like you say, no one cares.

[Damien]

We all have general misconceptions about our home countries. My students think I know Eminem, I grew up near where he did. They think the only black people are related to Obama. Canada is a state in America. All white people are either English, American, Canadian, etc. You get the point. Get used to it here. Yes, South Africa probably has it worse. Why? There isn't as much coverage on it. I am not saying it is a bad place but it gets dwarfed by other English speaking countries. America has Hollywood, lots of huge companies, etc. Canada has Canada, joking around here. This happens to all of us. I remember being asked if I was a Nazi growing up, "You speak German? Are you a Nazi?"

[Roxy]

Well my one co-teacher was surprised to hear that we have wild penguins in South Africa... Although somehow I thought that was really cute 

[apappajohn]

I find this a very interesting discussion because my husband and I are Americans who recently spent 2 years living in Botswana. Living in southern Africa - though not South Africa (and understandably very different) – we did quite a bit of traveling to, and around, South Africa. And in this time we realized that many South Africans are very knowledgeable about many different cultures and countries around the world (not all - but many). I believe this is partly because South Africa is such a melting pot of cultures (similar maybe NYC in the US - many different cultures are represented). I believe that being surrounded by different cultures, forces people to widen their view of different cultures and countries around the world but this is only my theory.

What might bother some South Africans is that sometimes people that come from more of a monoculture (like some Americas from the area of the US where I come from (I won’t say where)) might not be as educated about different cultures. And therefore have gross misconceptions about any given country (or what people from that country).

With this said, I think it is important to let people know what is like in South Africa (or wherever you come from). I know we have received some misconceptions about America and Botswana (especially anywhere in “Africa” – because everyone seems to lump all countries in Africa together!). But in these situations we always try to strike up a conversation to help people understand what it is honestly and actually like in these countries. I figure this extra little bit of information from us can help to slowly change misconceptions about America, South Africa and Botswana. So it helps to not brag about how awesome your country is but to represent it fairly and completely. At least that’s how I view it anyhow.

[Gansie]

Usually I really enjoy telling people about South Africa and how great this and that is.

Yeah, I think I should have phrased that better. I don't sit and brag about my country. But if someone asks, I don't mind telling them how beautiful or interesting this or that is.... I'm not patriotic at all.
I guess I'm just shocked sometimes that some people have very strange misconceptions about some places. For the most part, it can be entertaining.  :D

Recently some of my students were impressed when I mentioned that we have McDonalds in South Africa. I then realised that some of them actually thought it's a Korean franchise!

And I have to mention that I have a supersmart student who read up on South Africa after I came to the school. I swear he knows everything there is to know!

[EmmaJ]

My students are all amazed that there are 11 official languages in SA; they automatically assume I can speak all 11 of them until I burst their bubble.
Also, the girls at my middle school believe me all too easily if I joke about lions running wild in the streets...hehe