An international airline found itself at the receiving end of some choice South African words recently when an Afrikaans questionnaire was said to have been used to prove if someone was truly a South African.
South Africa (08 June 2022) – South Africa is a melting pot of cultures and people, so much so, that we have eleven official languages. Social media outrage was recently sent towards an international airline that had asked South Africans to prove their South Africaness by answering a series of questions in Afrikaans.
One of the reasons for the outrage is that despite Afrikaans being a well-known language of South Africa, there are millions of people who cannot speak, read or write in the language. The airline in question is Irish company Ryanair. The reasoning for this questionnaire is said to be due to an increase in fraudulent South African passports being found on travellers.
Airlines are fined for each passenger that is found to be in possession of fraudulent documentation and the South African passport is the favourite at the moment. At £2000 per passenger, we can understand the need to verify certain documents, however, it can be done in a better way, without offending an entire country.
All in all, not a great day for the airline. South Africans have really been sharing their thoughts on the matter but it was Shelley Finch’s post about the suggested questions they could have asked instead, that had us giggling. Firstly, it is loaded with memories and nostalgia and secondly, the questions don’t isolate the non-Afrikaans speaking population.
These are her questions, let’s see how you fair…
“Ja look I feel like if Ryanair REALLY wanted to find out whether someone was genuinely South African, they could have done a better job at compiling questions.” – Shelley Finch
Her suggestions are as follows:
- Explain the difference between now-now and just-now.
- List 3 main ingredients of a gatsby.
- Complete the sentence: “Jou ma se …”
- How many people can you fit into a minibus taxi?
- What incident inspired the catchphrase “my fok Marilize!”
- What do South Africans call the televised weekly/monthly COVID updates from Cyril?
- Who makes the best chutney?
- What will happen if you try and pay your taxi fare with a R100 note at 7 am in the morning?
- Which Isidingo character does Bheki Cele remind you of?
- Complete the lyrics: “It’s good good good, it’s …
So what is your score? Or let us know your questions in the comment section.
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