Oprah

For my Afrikaans course, our final project was to give a three-minute presentation on something about our home country. Everyone else spoke about their hometowns, and though I enjoy herding cattle and whatnot, I decided this final called for a little something extra. So I decided to talk about Oprah. Fascinating.

Here's my presentation, with (quite) literal translation afterwards:

Oprah is 'n beroemde persoon. Sy is die gasheer van 'n kletsprogram, The Oprah Winfrey Show. Maar, haar leef was nie altyd volmaak. Sy was verkrag by haar oom.

Sy was gebore in Mississippi en sy was baie godsdienstig. Maar sy nie wil 'n prediker. Haar eerste werk was vir die lokaal nuus. Sy was baie aandoenlik en mense hou van haar.

En 1986 (negentien ses-en-tagtag), sy het 'n nasionaal kletsprogram begin. Vir die dekade, die program het omstrede kwessies bespreek. Oprah het baie homoseksueel mense gehad vir haar onderhouds. Dus, want baie mense het hierdie onderhouds bewaak, publiek opinie van homoseksueels was aan die toeneem.

Dis uitwerking se naam is Oprahism. Alles Oprah hou van, almal hou van. Alles Oprah hou nie van nie, almal hou nie van nie.: Dit is amper 'n godsdiens! Een tyd, Oprah het [mad cow disease] bespreek. Sy het nie wil eet vleis vertel nie. Dus, duisends van mense het nie vleis eet nie.

Oprah is 'n entrepreneur. St is 'n kletsprogram gasheer, 'n tydskrif redakteur en sy het 'n skool vir meisies in Johannesburg begin gister-jaar. Sy is baie magtig!

TRANSLATION:

Oprah is a famous person. She is the host of a talk show, The Oprah Winfrey Show. But, her life was not always perfect. She was raped by her uncle. [Okay, not the best transition, but whatevs.]

She was born in Mississippi and she was very religious. But she did not want a preacher. [I was going for "she didn't want to become a preacher, but now it's become oddly sexual.] Her first job was for the local news. She was very emotional and people liked her.

In 1986, she began a national talkshow. For the decade, the show discussed controversial issues. Oprah interviewed many homosexual people. Thus, because many people watched these interviews, public opinion of homosexuals was on the rise.

The name of this phenomenon is Oprahism. Everything Oprah likes, everyone likes. Everything Oprah does not like, everyone does not like: It is almost a religion! One time, Oprah was speaking about Mad Cow Disease. She said she did not want to eat meat again. Thus, thousands of people did not eat meat.

Oprah is an entrepreneur. She is a talkshow host, a magazine editor and she began a school for girls in Johannesburg last year. She is very powerful!

And I apologize to rape victims. I don't mean to marginalize trauma. I'm just a bad writer. And I'm still not convinced that Afrikaans is a real language.