As I handed that Arabic learning book to the lady at the Library for re-issuance, she smiled, and said, "I used the same one!" I smiled. "It is really good", she continued, "but you cannot learn only from this". I couldn't agree more.
"Yes, you need to speak the language everyday to really learn it."
"And this one teaches you Arabic as it appears in the newspapers and books, not the colloquial Arabic."
"For how many years were you there in Egypt, D?", asked her colleague.
I cannot remember what her reply to that was, but she continued, "You have to know Arabic to actually live in Egypt- whether you go to shops, taxi, anywhere for that matter...everyone speaks Arabic."
"I think that's the problem here- everyone speaks English and you have no opportunity to really learn this language. It's a shame, and yet convenient for a place like Dubai," i replied.
We agreed, nodded, and reissuing the book she smiled and said, "Next time, i know how to greet you...Ma'salaama!"
"Ma'salaama!"
The language that she had learnt and was forgetting, and i was trying to learn, had given us an opportunity to strike a conversation, and know a little bit more about the people we meet every couple of weeks. When my friend lived in Indonesia, she had to learn the language there to communicate with her staff. When another friend visited Russia, she was thankful she had a Russian speaking host there because that is the only way to communicate there. India was also like that, not very long ago. But now, in the wake of new found economic prosperity, we proudly say to the visitors to India that everyone understands and speaks English, more to reassure them that they will be able to find help if they need it. For economies depending on Tourism, like Dubai, it becomes imperative to embrace other languages and cultures so the visitors feel comfortable about spending their holidays there. The lack of real opportunities for non-native Arabic speakers to learn Arabic is just a small side effect of this whole balance. I wonder though, how has Egypt managed to, so far, lure the tourists and, yet, retain its beautiful language?
I had been to Egypt a few years back. The Arabic our driver taught us in our one-week stay was more than i had managed to learn in a decade here. That was simple, spoken Arabic, without getting entangled in the rules of grammar or script, and that was the Arabic i had enjoyed learning the most!
Languages are complex, private and exclusive. Yet, they deserve to be shared with more and more people so we don't forget them for the other easier ones, or more convenient ones...
