Learning Arabic

When my darling wife and I decided to move to Palestine, we knew there would be several transitions for us to navigate.  New city, new culture, new language.  Being in Ramallah, although exotic sounding to Westerns is actually very familiar in many ways and learning Arabic is not an absolute requirement.  English speakers, English-language signs, English-language menus are plentiful and even if the shopkeeper you’re dealing with at the moment doesn’t speak much English, capable English speakers can easily be tracked down to help out.

Nevertheless, my darling and I felt that learning Arabic would not only be fun but also important.  It took a few weeks to decide on a language teacher, but by late March we started our lessons.  We currently attend Arabic language class two times each week and are the only ones in the class, so we get plenty of personalized attention.  We started by learning the alphabet and some basic vocabulary.  We quickly added writing to the lessons.  For the most part, we concentrate on vocabulary and phrases that are useful for everyday life.  More and more, we are able to utilize our new skills at the vegetable market and at restaurants, mostly.  “How much is this?”  (Adish hada?)  “Do you have vegetables from Palestine?” (Andak hodra min philistine?) “I would like salad without tomato.” (Mmumkin salata bidoon banadura.)

Of course, learning a new language doesn’t happen without making a few mistakes.  Actually, that’s part of the fun if you don’t let it overly frustrate you.  During class a few weeks ago, our language teacher asked me to practice the phrase, “I would like potatoes.”  I responded quickly—anna bitata—confident of my answer.  He asked me to try again.  Thinking perhaps he didn’t hear me, I said very clearly: Anna Bitata.  He repeated the instruction: tell me you would like potatoes.  My confidence was a bit shaken, but I stuck with my answer: ANNA BITATA.  After three chances, he realized I didn’t know I missed some verbs, and instead of asking for potatoes, I was emphatically declaring in his office: “I am a Potato!”  (My JFK moment, I suppose.)

And just the other day, I was with a group of co-workers (all Arabic speakers) and someone asked where another co-worker was.  I had just seen the person in question in his office and was pretty sure I could explain his whereabouts in Arabic.  In Arabic, many nouns and verbs take on the possessive form with specific endings.  So the phrase I mentioned earlier: Do you have vegetables from Palestine?  Would start with “Andak” when asking a man but with “Andik” when asking a woman.  If you want to say “I have…,” the phrase starts with “Andi...”  So far, my darling wife and I have learned the possessive endings for I, you (f), and you (m), but that’s all. 

Too anxious to answer and forgetting the possession rules, I told my coworker in Arabic: “He is in your office” instead of “He is in his office.”  Confused, he asked why the coworker was in “my” office.  Realizing I made a mistake and thinking he was correcting me, I ‘corrected’ myself and said “He is in my office.”  This caused more confusion and finally laughter ensued as those listening pictured our lost coworker wandering aimlessly from office to office according to my fledgling Arabic skills.  Luckily, we realized what was going on and ended our version of the “Who’s on first” routine.

Needless to say, this potato needs a few more lessons…