User name Password Forgot Password?

• Home
• Find an Au Pair
• Be an Au Pair
• Partners
• Resources
• Contact Us

• What is Au Pair Child Care
  • Skills You Choose
  • Schedule You Choose
  • Budget You Choose
  • Family Fit You Choose
  • Culture You Choose
• Plans & Pricing
  • Fees by Au Pair Type
  • Discounts
  • Payment Options
• View Au Pairs
  • Au Pair Statistics
  • Countries Au Pairs Come From
  • Featured Country
• Choose Go Au Pair
  • Reviews
  • Award Winning Au Pairs
• How it works
  • Apply Now
  • Choose Your Au Pair
  • Experience Au Pair Child Care
  • Repeat the Experience
• FAQ
  • All FAQs
  • Host Family Application Process
  • Choose Your Au Pair
  • Preparing For Your Au Pair's Arrival
  • During Your Au Pair Child Care Experience
  • Repeat the Experience
• Blog

View Au Pairs

• Au Pair Statistics
• Countries Au Pairs Come From
• Featured Country

Request Information

Featured Country - South Africa

Quick Facts

Location: Africa
Population 49,004,031
Country comparison to the world: 25

Language: IsiZulu (official) 23.82%, IsiXhosa (official) 17.64%, Afrikaans (official) 13.35%, Sepedi (offcial) 9.39%, English (official) 8.2%, Setswana (official) 8.2%, Sesotho (official) 7.93%, Xitsonga (official) 4.44%, siSwati (official) 2.66%, Tshivenda (official) 2.28%, isiNdebele (official) 1.59%, other 0.5%

Religions: Protestant 36.6% (Zionist Christian 11.1%, Pentecostal/Charismatic 8.2%, Methodist 6.8%, Dutch Reformed 6.7%, Anglican 3.8%), Catholic 7.1%, Muslim 1.5%, other Christian 36%, other 2.3%, unspecified 1.4%, none 15.1% (2001 census)

General Attitudes

South Africa is the only nation-state named after its geographic location.Most South Africans live in urban areas, with twenty percent of the population residing in the central province of Gauteng, which contains Johannesburg, the surrounding industrial towns, and Pretoria, the administrative capital.

Angel Jordaan, Go Au Pair’s International Representative in South Africa says South Africans make great Au Pairs because “they are taught to be independent from a young age, they grow up quickly and learn to be self-motivated and driven to achieve their goals. They drive from a young age, because of the rural areas here in South Africa. They are English speaking, regardless if they have other languages they are taught English in School for 12 years. South Africans are friendly and helpful and they encourage others well. They are social people, love the outdoors, and adore animals, wild life and the ocean.”

 

Diet

South Africans are known for their hospitality and love to cook for visitors. Unlike in the United States, foods are seldom packaged for convenience. Bread is rarely pre-sliced and preservatives are not widely used. National laws determine store hours, particularly for meat sellers, who often open as early as 5:30 A.M. and close as early as 1 P.M.

South Africans eat three meals per day. For breakfast, most eat some kind of hot cooked cereal, served with milk and sugar. Lunch may be a simple meal, such as a sandwich or soup and dinner may be simple or formal. In addition, several beverage options are usually on the table. Tea is enormously popular in South Africa, particularly in the early morning. Guests may be awakened by their hostesses as early as 5 or 6 A.M. to enjoy morning tea.

Etiquette

South Africans are by custom polite and circumspect in their speech. Each of the quite different culture groups—corresponding to home language speakers of English, Afrikaans, Tamil and Urdu, and the southern Bantu Languages, cross-cut by religion and country of original origin—has its own specific expressive forms of social propriety and respect.

South Africans are by custom hospitable, helpful, sympathetic, and most anxious to avoid verbal conflict or unsociable manners. Even among strangers, one of the strongest criticisms one can make in South Africa of another is that the person is "rude."

American families benefits from South African Au Pairs because they grew up in a country very exposed to western cultures that makes them fit in exceptionally well with American Families, their English skills are very well developed, and South African Au Pairs are able to make the best of every situation and bring positive energy to any household.

In honor of our featured country, families who match with an Au Pair from South Africa in January, will receive $100 off the program fees

Learn about other countries Au Pairs come from.

Source

Countries and their cultures

Countries Profile - U.S. Department of State

CIA - The World Fact Book

Food in Every Country