A postcard from South Africa

Hello everyone! Having just returned from my holidays in South Africa, I thought I'd fill you in on a few bits and bobs that you might find interesting about the country.

Did you know that as well as English, there are ten other official languages in South Africa? Although English is the country's lingua franca, it is only the fifth most commonly spoken language. In fact, if you are of Dutch descent, you would probably understand much of Afrikaans, a very widely spoken language (especially in the west of the country) which has its roots in 17th century Dutch.

When most people think of South Africa, they probably think of its troubled and often turbulent past, but the South Africa of today is a modern, vibrant society which, despite it's many problems, attracts almost ten million visitors annually. Of course, this trend looks set to continue with the country hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup. We visited the stadium in Cape Town and it is an amazing building in a fantastic location with the famous Table Mountain as a backdrop. I hope that the tournament is a success, both on and off the field.

We spent most of our time in Cape Town, though we also travelled around the Western Cape from the coast to the desert! Everywhere we went we were given a very warm welcome, had great weather, ate delicious food and visited some amazing places. In other words, the perfect holiday!

Glossary

to fill sby in to update sby, or to give them some new information
bits and bobs random assortment of things (informal)
lingua franca a common language used by speakers of different languages (from Latin)
to be of Dutch descent to come from The Netherlands
turbulent difficult, unsettled, sometimes violent
annually every year
backdrop the scenery behind something
warm welcome a friendly welcome