Why I Was Not Able to Learn Arabic...

Hi friends,

Kayf- halik? Kayf Sehtek?

I went to Abracadabra, a kindergarten in Jeddah. I can still remember clearly some of my moments there, making drawings and running around the playground. I then went to Manarat Jeddah, which are a series of Arabic-medium schools all over the Kingdom. I went there for grade one and two. The school uniform was the thobe, the Saudi national dress. All my classes were in Arabic, except for English. Although my mother tongue is Urdu, I had learnt to speak Arabic at that school. I remember talking to others in Arabic, and knowing all the colors and fruits in Arabic. My time at Manarat Jeddah would be a time of mischief, as none of us liked wearing the thobe. We would always wear jeans and t-shirt under it, and as soon as it was time to go home, before we even got on the bus, the thobes would come off first. Even during break-time, all of us would be pulling our thobes knee high to allow us to run faster. Our days would end at the time of prayer, where all the boys would line up. Usually an Arab boy would be asked to call the prayer, the adhan. The naughtier kids would be at the back row, and somehow I would be included along with them. Every single day, as soon as the call to prayer would end, someone, just someone, would do something silly, and every one of us in a row would come tumbling down like dominoes. This was a daily routine, and we all would then get up, and rearrange ourselves in a line.

In our circle of friends, the parents had come to a consensus that the English being taught at Manarat Jeddah was not up to par, and so myself, along with our family friends were taken out and shifted to Jeddah Prep, which was a British school. Saudi students would not be allowed into expatriate schools, and so thus began a time for me where my interactions with the Saudis would fall really low. We learnt to speak English fluently; all our classes were in English, we read English books and perform stage plays in English. I went through grade 4, 5 and 6. Jeddah prep went up to grade 9 only, and so my elder brother who finished grade 9 shifted to Continental School, and so I also shifted along with him.

Continental school was another British school that went up to O’Levels. Again, Arabic was not taught here, my friends were mostly Pakistanis and there were very little interactions with the Saudis.

Which brings me to the question: having lived in Jeddah since 1978, why didn’t I pick up the Arabic language?

No doubt, this is a very embarrassing and a shameful question to me, and I am ashamed to say I haven’t learned Arabic where clearly I should have. But in my defense, here is why I think I did not learn Arabic.

1. I went to an English school since grade 4 all the way through grade 11. We did not learn Arabic in that school.
2. My circle of friends was all Pakistanis. So whatever gathering we went to over the weekend, it would be at a Pakistani’s house. So again, our interactions with the Saudis were very minimal.
3. When we would go to fast foods, even today, Filipinos would serve us. We would speak English with them. Other shops were not really run by Saudis, so our communications with them would be in English, or Urdu/ Hindi if the workers there were Pakistanis/ Indians.
4. Taxi drivers would be Asians.
5. I know basic Arabic, just well enough to get by in shops. “Kam Hada? La! Naam! Hamman fayn?” Basic words that barely got me going in the market place.
6. As expatriate families living in Jeddah, we were in compounds all the time, and in compounds would be other expatriates, so again, little interactions with the Saudis.

Having said that, I am not coming up with an excuse for not learning Arabic. My mom would teach in the adult center at Dar Al Hanan, and she would take my younger sister to school there. So my sister went to Dar Al Hanan in Jeddah, where she took all her classes in Arabic. She has three Saudi friends who are her best friends today. So, while my sister speaks excellent Arabic and like a Saudi, my brother and I unfortunately did not manage to pick it up.

I try to learn here and there. I would ask my Arabic friends in University to help me speak Arabic, and they would tell me they would rather learn English from me. Saudi Arabia is becoming westernized today, and English is being spoken very widely here. As the socio-cultural dynamics are changing, where large number of Saudis are learning English by the day, I sometimes find it difficult to really learn Arabic. The only hope I see is for me to join an Arabic learning class, but then, I would need a lot of time for that.

My parents know Arabic really well, because my dad has a lot of interactions due to his business, and my mom taught as an English teacher at an Arabic school. When I was working in Jeddah last year, I was able to pick up some Arabic, and was forced to talk to some people on-site who did not know English at all. Because I was forced to, I actually managed to pick up Arabic that way.

I know how to read Arabic perfectly well, because I have read the Quran thrice completely with the help of the Islamic teacher. But, we never learnt the meaning of the Quran, and so again, my Arabic was restricted to reading.

The best way however would be to live in an environment where people speak Arabic, and you make it a point to not speak in English. I am in Dubai today, and everyone is speaking either English or Hindi, because of a large Indian population. So, again, the environment is not conducive to me learning Arabic.

Wow, I feel like I have written an essay for one of my English class. I hope this answers your question Jawaher! Xena, you share the same sentiments?

Masalaama!

Mansur