Former FT in China
- 2016-09-07
What about Geordies and Glaswegians? Perhaps the 2 most difficult British accents to understand, unless you come from Newcastle or Glasgow.
The South African accent may be difficult for Brits/Aussies/Americans etc to understand, but it's nothing compared to the Geordie accent or a thick Glaswegian accent.
Yet Geordies and Glaswegians can happily tick the 'native speaker' box!
Foxy, that's the way the cookie crumbles. Like it or not, the Chinese immigration bureau have set the regulations to try and filter out FTs with non-standard English pronunciation and little understanding of western culture and customs.
However, I think that FTs with bad accents will be found out and forced to leave within a few weeks of taking up their new teaching posts in China. If I had a thick accent, I wouldn't want to be an FT in any country!
Foxy
- 2016-09-06
What about Geordies and Glaswegians? Perhaps the 2 most difficult British accents to understand, unless you come from Newcastle or Glasgow.
The South African accent may be difficult for Brits/Aussies/Americans etc to understand, but it's nothing compared to the Geordie accent or a thick Glaswegian accent.
Yet Geordies and Glaswegians can happily tick the 'native speaker' box!
Guangxi Guy
- 2016-09-06
That is a good question. That particular fellow might check the box saying 'native speaker' but do they reject this if 'South Africa' is the nationality and place of birth?
It seems to me.. and I don't know a lot about S.A. .. but it seems to me some of the ones I meet have something closer to a 'Melbourne' Australia way of speaking. British. Maybe like your YT blogger.
Then, most of them I meet must come from whatever that Boar or 'Afrikaans' or whatever that English that requires subtitles when they are speaking in films or TV interviews. It's English but it might be one of the most baffling 'foreign sounding' dialects or accents or whatever we want to call it.
Former FT in China
- 2016-09-06
I wonder if the ban on South Africans (Saffers) applies to black and white alike in the eyes of the Chinese.
Let's play devils advocate. One youtube blogger who I shall not name, but is white, hails from South Africa, and has a british background, was bemoaning the difficult situation and how hard it is making things, for native speaker and non native speaker alike, yet he still clings to the place like a barnacle to a pier stand. If white south africans are considered non native speakers, unless they have a degree from the UK, canada, usa, are they then unable to procure a Z and then the RP!!!????
Indeed, Migsy!
And let's not forget the descendants of the Boers. Most will be white, but maybe their mother tongue is Dutch, not English! And another thing is the status of South African universities. Is it equivalent to that of Western universities, which includes Aussie and NZ ones? Surely it is.
BTW, re your European seaside house. It's constructed of bamboo, isn't it? You know, some posters on here don't know their arse from their elbow, especially those pretending to be Geordie/Welsh!
San Migs
- 2016-09-06
I wonder if the ban on South Africans (Saffers) applies to black and white alike in the eyes of the Chinese.
Let's play devils advocate. One youtube blogger who I shall not name, but is white, hails from South Africa, and has a british background, was bemoaning the difficult situation and how hard it is making things, for native speaker and non native speaker alike, yet he still clings to the place like a barnacle to a pier stand. If white south africans are considered non native speakers, unless they have a degree from the UK, canada, usa, are they then unable to procure a Z and then the RP!!!????
Greetings
After reading various posts,I got to know how frustrating it could be for a native speaker's degree to be authenticated from his/her country of origin as per the current legislation.
Bearing that in mind, I wondered if any non native speaker from an English speaking country ( such as Gambia, Liberia, Jamiaca, Nigeria, Zimbabwe etc) who studied in the UK,USA,Canada, Australia and the likes has gone through the process of attesting their foreign qualifications while in China. I'd imagine the situation to be like a camel going through the eye of a needle. Correct me if i'm wrong. 
All inputs are highly welcome.
Cheers