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No Speak Arabic - Episode 6
14 Plays6 years ago
I lay out the reasons (excuses?) for not having learnt Arabic in spite of living in the Arab world for most of my life.This is an interesting issue of not learning the local language and particular to expats living in the GCC - unless I've got it completely wrong and it's happening all over the world?BECOME A PATRONHey guys, if you enjoy my work then you can support it with as little as $2 (one time or monthly). It goes towards paying for equipment, time, all my comedy work including the podcasts, youtube videos and live events I do and MOST IMPORTANTLY towards my family. Help me feed my baby here:https://www.patreon.com/join/salmanzq?
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Transcript
Introduction to Expat Brat
00:00:08
Speaker
Welcome back guys!
00:00:09
Speaker
Welcome to another episode of Expat Brat with Salman Qureshi.
00:00:13
Speaker
Yes, I'm still practicing my intros and whatnot.
00:00:17
Speaker
But here we are, more stories from the past, talking about the present, and hoping for things to change in the future.
00:00:25
Speaker
That's right, that's another podcast we're talking about.
00:00:28
Speaker
This one is something else entirely.
00:00:30
Speaker
This is me rambling on instead.
00:00:32
Speaker
Actually, part of it is true, some rambling of old stories and whatnot.
Language Barriers for Expat Kids in the Gulf
00:00:36
Speaker
This time, you know, I've been thinking about this particular thing that would resonate with most Gulf kids.
00:00:43
Speaker
It's a very particular thing to us.
00:00:45
Speaker
And that is the fact that we, having grown up here, whether you were in the UAE, Saudi, or even Oman, Bahrain, wherever,
00:00:55
Speaker
Most of us expat kids who were not Arab or originated from Arab countries pretty much do not know how to speak Arabic.
00:01:04
Speaker
The majority of us, I'd say, I'd even bet on 90-95% of us do not know how to speak Arabic.
00:01:10
Speaker
Some of us might know some broken Arabic.
00:01:13
Speaker
I understand a few words here and there.
00:01:15
Speaker
And this is quite, in some ways, it should be embarrassing having lived in a country.
00:01:20
Speaker
And it's quite unusual.
00:01:21
Speaker
If you were an expat growing up in France or Spain or any other country, region in the world, I would expect you to have learned the local language, even if not fluently, very close to being able to speak it with ease.
00:01:38
Speaker
No such case here.
00:01:39
Speaker
I cannot speak Arabic except for a few sentences.
00:01:42
Speaker
In fact, one of the sentences I say really well basically means I don't know how to speak
Arabic Education in GCC Schools
00:01:48
Speaker
Arabic.
00:01:48
Speaker
So I say it with a real great accent.
00:01:51
Speaker
I know how to do that.
00:01:53
Speaker
So I kind of go, And every time I say it to an Arabic speaking person, they look at me with bewilderment and wonder, am I joking or what's going on?
00:02:07
Speaker
And to give you a background, if you go to a school in the Middle East, most places, again, in the GCC, Gulf countries, you would most likely, even in a private school, most likely be asked to take some kind of Arabic classes.
00:02:22
Speaker
I took Arabic classes from, I think, from grade one onwards, if I'm not mistaken.
00:02:27
Speaker
I definitely remember going to Arabic classes at the age of in grade three and four.
00:02:33
Speaker
So I don't know how early it started.
00:02:35
Speaker
But there were three divisions.
00:02:36
Speaker
There was the beginner, the intermediate and the advanced.
00:02:40
Speaker
And I think those three divisions happen as you go up in your grades.
00:02:46
Speaker
And obviously, you know, it's pretty obvious the beginners was for people who've never spoken Arabic, complete expats.
00:02:54
Speaker
The intermediate was a mix of some Arabic-speaking people and some expats who did pay attention in the Arabic classes.
00:03:02
Speaker
And obviously, the advanced ones probably were 99% people from Arabic-speaking homes.
00:03:08
Speaker
There were every so often some expat who kind of did well at it.
00:03:12
Speaker
And I don't know.
00:03:12
Speaker
I thought...
00:03:13
Speaker
I usually thought they were like sucking up to those guys.
00:03:16
Speaker
But anyway, that's just me.
Experiences of Racism and Impact on Language Learning
00:03:18
Speaker
The thing is even more intriguing because, you know, having studied it for 10 years in a country, which is pretty strongly Arab.
00:03:26
Speaker
I mean, you know, you talk about immersion in a language.
00:03:29
Speaker
I was in Saudi Arabia.
00:03:31
Speaker
And unlike some of the other countries in the Middle East, like the UAE and Bahrain, where there's actually more English-speaking people or situations, Saudi was quite strongly Arabic.
00:03:42
Speaker
If you went into the stores, if you had any sort of work in Saudi Arabia,
00:03:46
Speaker
the government or wherever, you needed to know Arabic.
00:03:49
Speaker
And I was probably shielded from it because I went to school with expat kids and even the Arab kids, we spoke English and I never had any need to go into a government office and speak Arabic for myself.
00:04:01
Speaker
My dad did it for me.
00:04:03
Speaker
So there was no incentive.
00:04:04
Speaker
And then there were things like, I kind of regret it because, you know, what's the harm in learning a language?
00:04:12
Speaker
Well, I'll give you a little background about why I personally
00:04:14
Speaker
did not want to learn Arabic and it was because of being like you know there's that hint of racism that I've spoken about earlier when I say hint I mean like it was pretty openly uh you know forced into your face I didn't say that
00:04:32
Speaker
And so, you know, because of the racism and I remember, I think there was a particular incident that I remember and may have been the start of me not wanting to bother with Arabic.
00:04:45
Speaker
And it was this it was this cartoon that used to come on television on the Arabic channel.
00:04:51
Speaker
Now, in Saudi, there were only two channels.
00:04:53
Speaker
God, I have to give a lot of background on these stories.
00:04:55
Speaker
So there were only two channels.
00:04:57
Speaker
One was an English channel and the other was an Arabic channel.
00:05:00
Speaker
The English channel showed a lot of American shows Sesame Street to Airwolf to whatnot.
00:05:06
Speaker
And the Arabic ones were some of them were locally produced and some were I say locally produced.
00:05:12
Speaker
I don't think a lot of it was in Saudi, but I mean by Arabic neighboring countries.
00:05:17
Speaker
And some of it was dubbed.
00:05:18
Speaker
So they would take some programs and dub it in Arabic.
00:05:22
Speaker
Now, there was this cartoon called Captain Majid.
00:05:27
Speaker
Yes, that's it.
00:05:27
Speaker
It was about this kid who plays soccer.
00:05:31
Speaker
I don't think that's a real name.
00:05:32
Speaker
Captain Majid was the Arabic name.
00:05:34
Speaker
It was a Far Eastern cartoon dubbed, probably a Japanese cartoon that was dubbed into Arabic, and it was called Captain Majid here.
00:05:41
Speaker
Really exciting.
00:05:42
Speaker
We all watched it, and I watched it in spite of not understanding the Arabic, but I could follow through what was happening because cartoons are simple.
00:05:50
Speaker
And cartoons are a great example of good storytelling.
00:05:53
Speaker
Keep it simple.
00:05:54
Speaker
Right.
00:05:54
Speaker
And one day I remember bringing up something that happened in an episode and one of these Arab kids just turned to me and said, you shouldn't be watching it.
00:06:03
Speaker
That's Arabic and it's for us Arabic kids.
00:06:07
Speaker
And I remember being really put off and surprised by it and shocked by it.
00:06:12
Speaker
It was the first time I, if I'm, again, if I'm not mistaken, this was grade three.
00:06:17
Speaker
And that memory is pretty strong in my mind.
00:06:21
Speaker
I can't quite place who it was.
00:06:22
Speaker
I have a strong idea about which kid said it to me.
00:06:25
Speaker
It doesn't matter to you guys because you don't know my classmates.
00:06:28
Speaker
But it was very strong.
00:06:29
Speaker
It was a very strong memory.
00:06:32
Speaker
And I remember feeling really bad and thinking, well, you know what?
00:06:36
Speaker
Screw you guys.
00:06:37
Speaker
Why are you watching the English stuff?
00:06:40
Speaker
But that line had been drawn for me that we were different and that they thought of me as a different person.
00:06:46
Speaker
Until then, I remember being conscious of that as much.
00:06:50
Speaker
And that was one of the things that really triggered it.
00:06:54
Speaker
But obviously I became more conscious of being different, being told off.
00:06:59
Speaker
And so learning Arabic was a no-no for me.
00:07:02
Speaker
I didn't want to learn Arabic.
00:07:04
Speaker
I didn't want to learn a language of a people that
Challenges in Learning Arabic
00:07:08
Speaker
looked down on me or were racist.
00:07:10
Speaker
And I said, screw you, screw your language.
00:07:12
Speaker
I don't have a shit about it.
00:07:13
Speaker
It's not cool anyway.
00:07:14
Speaker
Yeah.
00:07:15
Speaker
And unfortunately, you know, that memory and those kind of incidents just put me off learning Arabic and not wanting to have anything to do with it.
00:07:25
Speaker
I think I eventually stopped watching football because it was just, well, it's their sport.
00:07:29
Speaker
Everything became us against them kind of in my mind, at least.
00:07:35
Speaker
Well, when I say in my mind, it was pretty obvious.
00:07:37
Speaker
I think a lot of my expat friends would agree on this.
00:07:40
Speaker
If you're ever listening and you were in school with me or in Saudi with me, especially in Manara, well, give me a shout out and let me know what you guys think.
00:07:49
Speaker
Was it just in my head or was it something that was quite strong?
00:07:53
Speaker
I would bet on it actually existing.
00:07:55
Speaker
Anyway, because of that, I never learned Arabic.
00:07:58
Speaker
I don't know what reasons other kids have, but for me, that was one of the things.
00:08:02
Speaker
Also, you know, because you were graded, it was easier to get a, it was easier to stay in the beginner class each year and do the same thing each year and get a good grade in one subject.
00:08:13
Speaker
I mean, I wasn't a genius and academically, I wasn't, you know, a straight A student.
00:08:18
Speaker
So,
00:08:19
Speaker
just getting an easy grade on air in arabic really boosted my overall grade and you know so that was another good incentive to just stick stick to basics there's a third reason and this one was not my fault this is this was the really this was a big problem this was a problem for any kid who did really want to learn arabic not me and and the problem was this the teachers they gave us
00:08:45
Speaker
to teach us Arabic, even at the basic level, could not speak English.
00:08:50
Speaker
Most of them were these Egyptian teachers who were nice guys.
00:08:54
Speaker
I had a great time with them, but they did not speak English.
00:08:57
Speaker
And so for them to be able to teach us a language without being able to really tell us what it means and stuff,
00:09:04
Speaker
It's not going to happen.
00:09:05
Speaker
And so I think it was a two-way wink-wink situation where we were like, you know, we'll just do the same stuff and we'll pass.
00:09:13
Speaker
And you get to keep your job and we'll pretend you're doing a great job.
00:09:16
Speaker
And he doesn't have to learn English or work hard.
00:09:20
Speaker
I think that was the gist of the relationship there.
00:09:25
Speaker
And so because of these three very different reasons, I never learned Arabic and here I am.
00:09:32
Speaker
I tried later in life, but I have a hard time with languages.
00:09:36
Speaker
I don't know if it's an excuse and everyone can learn something.
00:09:39
Speaker
Maybe they can, but I struggle with it and I gave up on Arabic.
00:09:44
Speaker
Eventually I just went, you know, I don't care.
00:09:46
Speaker
I'm trying to learn Spanish instead.
00:09:47
Speaker
I'm feeling pretty badly at it.
00:09:49
Speaker
I had this, you know, typical audiobook and whatnot and it's just, yeah, I'm not doing too well.
00:09:55
Speaker
I was hoping at this point I'd remember something and so I could impress you with a line in Spanish, but nothing.
00:10:00
Speaker
I got nothing.
00:10:01
Speaker
in my head.
00:10:03
Speaker
So what a waste of money.
00:10:05
Speaker
I got it on audiobook for one of my free credits or something.
00:10:10
Speaker
And I don't know.
00:10:12
Speaker
I am intrigued, again, if you're an expat kid, about why you didn't learn Arabic.
00:10:17
Speaker
In the UAE, the people are nicer.
00:10:19
Speaker
So I guess that...
00:10:20
Speaker
A feeling of isolation was in there.
00:10:23
Speaker
You wanted to be one of them.
00:10:26
Speaker
A good reason to learn the language.
00:10:27
Speaker
Maybe it was the same school problems.
00:10:29
Speaker
Maybe there's one more problem.
00:10:31
Speaker
Oh, God, I'm just like bringing up problems and learning Arabic.
00:10:34
Speaker
This is my feedback to the Arabic speaking world.
00:10:37
Speaker
The last problem that I can think of, I don't think I have any more.
00:10:41
Speaker
I think this is it, guys.
00:10:42
Speaker
This is it.
00:10:44
Speaker
The problem with learning Arabic was there's a whole big difference between what we were thought and then what is spoken.
00:10:51
Speaker
Spoken Arabic is completely different to classical Arabic.
00:10:54
Speaker
And everybody goes, oh, you know, if you learn the classical Arabic, you'll be able to pick up the spoken Arabic and blah, blah, blah.
00:11:00
Speaker
Except when I tried speaking this, you know, the classic Arabic, the Arab people laughed at me.
00:11:06
Speaker
Arabic speaking people laughed at me, my friends and any stranger, because it's so completely different.
00:11:11
Speaker
It's the equivalent of going up to someone and speaking in Shakespearean English.
00:11:16
Speaker
Obviously, they'd laugh at you or find you weird.
00:11:19
Speaker
And that's what it is.
00:11:20
Speaker
You're speaking Shakespearean English.
00:11:23
Speaker
English, whereas the modern slang is completely different and they don't match at all.
00:11:29
Speaker
And so whatever I did learn, I was not able to use.
00:11:32
Speaker
Although technically they should understand it, but because they embarrassed you about it, I lost all confidence in speaking it as well.
00:11:39
Speaker
So those were some of the reasons I couldn't speak Arabic.
00:11:42
Speaker
I don't speak Arabic.
00:11:44
Speaker
Am I embarrassed about it anymore?
00:11:46
Speaker
I guess not.
00:11:46
Speaker
I used to be at one point when people from abroad came and said, oh,
00:11:50
Speaker
You live here and you don't speak the local language you lived here your whole life.
00:11:53
Speaker
How come you don't speak that?
00:11:55
Speaker
And I just go, well, no one speaks Arabic here, I guess, especially in Dubai.
00:11:58
Speaker
I get away with it a lot more.
00:12:00
Speaker
So that helps.
00:12:02
Speaker
And that's my story, my love story with the language, the Arabic language.
00:12:08
Speaker
And I don't know, maybe I'm poorer because of that misinteraction, but who are we to blame with so many factors around?
00:12:15
Speaker
I guess it was fate for me not to speak or learn Arabic.
Language Proficiency and Personal Reflections
00:12:19
Speaker
The one thing I do, here's a weird bit.
00:12:21
Speaker
Here's a weird bit I just remember.
00:12:23
Speaker
I know the letters.
00:12:25
Speaker
I know how to read Arabic.
00:12:27
Speaker
So, you know, if you're a Muslim kid, you learn Quran, you learn Arabic.
00:12:31
Speaker
And I did learn something.
00:12:32
Speaker
I was a complete dumbass.
00:12:33
Speaker
I did learn the Arabic letters.
00:12:35
Speaker
Like in the beginner's class, you have to learn something.
00:12:39
Speaker
And so I can read Arabic.
00:12:41
Speaker
I can't understand it and can hardly speak it.
00:12:44
Speaker
With my native mother tongue, Urdu, I can speak it, but I can't write it or read it.
00:12:51
Speaker
And then English is the only language that I can speak, write, read in.
00:12:55
Speaker
Quite bizarre, right?
00:12:56
Speaker
With the Urdu and Arabic thing, it's just I can speak one language, but cannot write or read.
00:13:01
Speaker
I can read and write Arabic, but I have no idea what it means.
00:13:06
Speaker
It's bizarre.
00:13:07
Speaker
That's one of the very bizarre things I feel golf kids have.
00:13:11
Speaker
So...
00:13:12
Speaker
So yeah, that was a sum up of the Arabic language and my journey together.
00:13:19
Speaker
Will I ever speak Arabic?
00:13:21
Speaker
Who knows?
00:13:22
Speaker
Will this podcast turn into an Arabic podcast?
00:13:26
Speaker
No, because I'm also, as I grow older, lazier.
00:13:30
Speaker
And unless a miracle happens and Arabic is immersed into my brain,
00:13:35
Speaker
I just, it's not going to happen, guys.
00:13:37
Speaker
So if you're an Arabic-speaking person, I apologize.
00:13:40
Speaker
Nothing wrong with the language.
00:13:41
Speaker
When I was a kid, it just represented something else to me.
00:13:45
Speaker
And, you know, like I said, I have no problem in learning a language.
00:13:50
Speaker
It's another skill or, you know, knowledge to have.
00:13:54
Speaker
So what's wrong with that?
00:13:56
Speaker
But that's some of the background on our situation out here.
00:14:01
Speaker
Thank you guys for listening.
00:14:02
Speaker
This was another podcast with the expat Brad, Salman Qureshi.
00:14:06
Speaker
I will catch you guys around soon.
00:14:08
Speaker
Goodbye.