ARTS & PHONETICS

I saw a few movies on the plane in March, but the sound was working for the flights to the States, so I read lips. Interestingly enough, South Africans move their lips much less than say Americans do. I’m specifically referring to white South Africans. Though they do have a bit of inflection, they tend to drone their voices in an uninteresting way, but it’s hard for Americans to detect because initially it sounds more sing-songy because of an initial way of starting a sentence or for short phrases or sentences. The British and Aussies sing more in their speech than do the white South Africans. And Americans move their mouths more than South Africans making reading lips easier (for a non-South African and non-American) for someone from another country.

My favorite event in Cape Town happened this Palm Sunday weekend, the Cape Town International Jazz Festival. It has really built itself into a big international event on the music calendar. So we get people from all over South Africa and all over the world. Here’s a link.



http://www.capetownjazzfest.com/