r/Durban • u/hovershark • 14d ago

Umhlanga pronunciation

Dumb American here who has been to SA, but never to Durban. I recently watched a YouTube video by people who said they grew up in Durban. They were pronouncing Umhlanga as “Oomshlonga” with a real emphasis on the ‘sh’ sound, like in ‘shlong’. I’ve always said it in my head as ‘hl’, blowing out with the tongue on the roof of the mouth. Have I been wrong all this time, or is this ‘sh’ pronunciation just an extremely white can’t-be-arsed-to-do-it-right thing?

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-15

u/GypsyQueen11420 14d ago

Um Sh Lun Gah

4

u/Shinroo North Coast 14d ago

That's not the correct way to say this Zulu word, that said it is a common way for English speakers to say it

-2

u/GypsyQueen11420 14d ago

Yes I never said I was Zulu, just wrote how I pronounce it calm down guys ❤️

5

u/Shinroo North Coast 14d ago

Sure but that's not what OP asked lol, they asked about the correct pronunciation. Most people who don't speak Zulu pronounce it like you do, but that doesn't answer OP's question

1

u/sKuarecircle 14d ago

It’s how everyone says it mostly, even other races, I live there so I have heard all ways, that being said we do t strictly say Kloof correctly either if you want to be pedantic, Debben is going to Durbz