Egyptian Colloquial Arabic

It is been a month now that I have taken a break from my Arabic class and it looks like the break will extend to another month since there are no classes happening for Level 3-not enough students to hold the class. I am not complaining -I need time to digest all the grammar.

Arabic is similar to French in the sense that it is an inflected language. The words change to reflect the person, number and gender. For example, the verbs are marked for person-first, second and third. But that is not enough; the verbs also change to reflect gender and number. Whew! So many things to take care of! Adjectives follow the nouns that they qualify-for number and gender! And there is more inflection but I am not getting into it here.

But the thing that has really got me in a tizzy is the “plurals”. In Arabic, the nouns do not only have a plural, they also have a dual, indicating two of the noun. For example a month is “shahr”, two months is “shahren” and three and above months is “shuhr”. But the catch is that for number beyond 10, the noun is again referred to in the singular- i.e. 12 months would again be "hadashar shahr. "

And the pronunciation is another thing-some words require you to make a gargling sound-for example work, which is transliterated as “shughl”. Apple in Arabic is “tuffaha” and the “h” is pronounced as if you are trying to blow out a candle! The letter “q” if it appears in the beginning of the word is silent; if it appears elsewhere in the word, then it is pronounced as a “k”. And then of course, there is the “Ain” letter, which has no equivalent in English-you know you have pronounced it correctly in a word when it comes out sounding as if you are choking!

There are times when I am trying to speak in Arabic and I land up using the French equivalents; I guess since both are “foreign” languages for me, some overlapping is bound to happen!

Knowing the Language is Knowing the Culture

My arabic classes are really interesting these days, the school (Kalimat in Mohandissen; would definitely recommend it) adopts an interactive way of teaching and the focus is on communication, not just learning grammar and vocabulary. Learning a new language is like getting an insider’s view of the community you are staying in.

For example, while learning the arabic word for “friends’, I got an interesting insight into the Egyptian cultural values-having friends of the opposite sex is not widely “accepted” here, except among people who are educated and have been exposed to “western” culture. So if my teacher were to introduce his female students to his conservative wife, he would refer to us more formally as “asdiqai”. He would use the more casual term “ashabi” while introducing a group consisting of both male and female students. As for your live-in boyfriend, you simply refer to him as “goozi” (husband) and avoid any disapproval and raised eyebrows-live-in relationships are a taboo in the Egyptian community.

Very similar to the Indian culture where you definitely don’t flaunt your “boyfriend” or "girlfriend" and you make it “public” only if marriage is definitely on the cards. And live-in relationships are something that you can get away with only in the anonymity of big cities. Elsewhere, everything you do becomes everyone’s business, right from how much you earn to why you are pushing 25 and still unmarried!

Here in Cairo, don’t be surprised, if the person you just met asks you how much you are making every month or while taking a ride in a taxi, the cabbie asks you whether you are married and undeterred even goes on to ask whether you have children. I now have the perfect answer in Arabic-“DI HAGA SHAKHSIYYA”-“It is a personal thing”

P.S: the Arabic words have been written minus the dashes and dots that have to be used while writing the transliteration.

Arabic class

Yesterday was the first day of the new term of my Arabic class. When I did level 1 last month, I was not sure that I would continue….but have realized the benefits of knowing the language of the country you reside in-I don’t need to call up my husband’s secretary in a panic to translate what my maid is trying to tell me-(is she asking for a day off or a raise?), at the neighborhood grocer, I can confidently ask for help to locate things and the other day at the Attaba market, I even bargained in Arabic!

Last evening at the class, we started with Arabic alphabets-level 1 was only ‘spoken” arabic. Arabic has 28 alphabets and our teacher has promised us that we shall finish the alphabets in two hours!!! Ambitious? I find it incredibly hard to believe that I shall soon be able to read and write arabic-the script looks so intimidating. Arabic has no vowels, in place of vowels, you use dots, slashes and a “comma”, placed above or below an alphabet to change its pronunciation-it could then be a ‘ba’, ‘be’, ‘bu’ or ‘b’. But in typed or printed arabic, even the “vowels” are missing-so you have to guess the word, which is fine if you have a good grasp of the language. Otherwise the attempt will definitely end in disaster!

The Dravidian languages of India, such as Tamil, Malayalam, Kannada and Telegu (widely spoken in south India) seem very alien and “unreadable” to north Indians like me. Hey, but not any more, once I have mastered Arabic, these languages will be a cake-walk!