Monday September 17, 2007 Chris Saul's Blog
Monday September 17, 2007 Al Sinjab has a good post on the Arabic mix spoken in this part of the world.
It makes me feel less guilty about not having learnt much more than a few words since arriving here. It also makes me understand why many Arabs seem quite tolerant of the fact that a lot of us Brits don't learn - when the choice of what to learn seems pretty bewildering, it's probably pretty hard to choose what to invest your time and effort in.
Sure, English has plenty of accents, but learning a 'standard' business English version and getting used to a few accents must be easier than learning the local Arabic mix here, which seems like the equivalent of having to master Biblical English, Shakespearian English, Indian English, Brummie, Geordie and a few others.
I'll stick with pidgin Indo-Arabic-English when appropriate to get around -
- You come my house frontside now, ok, khallas!
- I want delivery, one litre milk, 6 egg, 6 bottle water, bas.
- When it will come? Tomorrow too late, I want today. Ok, ok, you come now, 5 minutes.
- How long you in Dubai? 2 year only? You like Dubai? Yes, yes too much traffic Dubai, always mushkillah for taxi driver.
( Sep 17 2007, 01:54:07 PM GST ) PermalinkComments:
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