Those were the first four languages mentioned when the 2021 Miss Supranational was asked about the official ones spoken in Namibia.
Two of those languages are absolutely incorrect, and the internet had a field day laughing at her when it happened.
She went on to mention Herero, Damara and Nama, but by then the damage had been done.
Most people focused on how funny it was to mention isiZulu, the language of a KwaZulu-Natal tribe in South Africa.
They are a big and powerful group of people, and plenty of them actually live in Namibia, but they are not indigenous to this place, nor is their language officially one of ours.
I, on the other hand, was more shocked and amused by the inclusion of Dutch.
Truthfully, I also thought it was ridiculous to have mentioned Afrikaans and German first for a southern African nation of which such a small percentage are native speakers, and neither language originates from this region.
German came with colonialism and genocide and still lingers on in private high school curricula, small communities and beach towns where you”;ll get the meanest stare if you are not the right skin tone.
Afrikaans is a bastardisation of Dutch.
It was created by Khoi slaves as a way to communicate with settlers, and is now spoken by Coloured and Baster people, as well as the Afrikaans community.
But honestly, I am willing to let that go. My qualm lies elsewhere.
Dutch is such a weird inclusion to the list. I have thought about it for a long time after I heard the answer the pageant queen gave. It has left me with a lot of questions.
I have repeated that part of the clip multiple times to understand her reasoning and her choice to start that way.
She was actually quite nervous while she was on stage, but her serious anxiety really seemed to kick in when the host turned the attention to this little nation.
I think it is actually quite interesting to think about how there are so many things about life, the world and the human experience we just assume we all share and understand equally, but then something reminds you that we all live in our own worlds.
It”;s funny how when you do this type of thing for a living (being in pageants) you spend so much time practising all the different questions you may get asked, and you still don”;t know that something so simple could trip you up.
It makes me wonder if the issue is that Namibia is too divided along racial lines, or if young people are increasingly losing interest in this place.
I wouldn”;t put it past her, honestly, and low-key I wouldn”;t blame her.
I mean, look at Victoria”;s Secret model Behati Prinsloo. She is from Namibia, but when she appeared on “;The Ellen DeGeneres Show”; and was asked about where she was from, all she could speak about was rhinos.
So you know, everyone has their shortcomings.
Maybe one day you will be put on the spot and asked something about Namibia and you may stutter a bit. Will we laugh at you online? Most likely. Will it make you less Namibian? Certainly not.
Sorry, you don”;t get off that easy, we”;re all in this together.
My last bit of hope is in little Shiloh Jolie-Pitt.
She”;s not technically Namibian, but who cares? I think she would do a good job of answering a question about where she was born correctly, and that she would be able to help our public relations immensely.
I believe when she”;s old enough she”;ll take the time to visit her real home (LOL, joke), and she”;ll show all these celebs how to really represent us.
The internet really roasted the beauty queen, so I don”;t think I need to do that too.
I”;m sure Chanique Rabe felt mortified the next day (I know I would), but we all make mistakes, and it is what it is also, so yeah.
I”;m really more interested in the mishap in an abstract sense, as a case study in a way.
I”;m curious to understand the mistake and how it came to be.
Maybe I never will though.
