A strange thing happened to me yesterday.
I work in a shop, and there were customers queuing in my queue and another queue beside mine, they were very obviously together, and were talking loudly in a foreign language to each other, a foreign language and a bit of english mixed in too.
So eventually one of the customers came to my till, and I asked her what language she was speaking. Afrikaans and english she said, and wondered why I was asking. I explained that I had never heard the language spoken before( I have an interest in linguistics too, but it was busy, and didnt think she needed to know that) and was curious.
A man that was with her made a comment to me just as he was completing his purchase, and as she was out of earshot. He said that some people think that they are Welsh when they hear them talking, strange said I, I too thought they were Welsh.
I love the Welsh people, and one of the reasons I asked what language they were speaking, is that I might be able to have some small conversation in Welsh with them. I could tell from their accents while speaking English that they were from about as far from Wales as the next South African, so this was nmo wind up.
Now my question is, do many people confuse South Africans with Welsh on the basis of how they speak? Am I a freak here? Am I alone with this other person this man met in thinking that some South Africans are Welsh?