al-arabiya

A few days ago I was shocked and delighted to notice a flier on campus advertising a new Arabic language/culture class. My first thought was one of terror- it's been several years since I had anything to do with Arabic. And I have really really forgotten how to speak Arabic. It's quite shameful. But I decided this could be a good chance to refresh my memory. And I do love Arabs and Arabic and everything to do with the Middle East, so why not try it even if it turned out to be humiliating to my over prideful pride.

So today I plopped myself down in the classroom, became acquainted with my nearest neighbor, and waited for class to start. In proper Arab style, the teacher walked in a few minutes late. He had the most amazing long frizzy hair stylishly streaked with gray, pulled back in a ponytail. And he spoke next to no English. Not as in he chose not to speak English because it's a language class and you should be speaking the language you're learning. As in he speaks basic, basic English. If he were one of my ESL students, he'd probably be a level 2 (out of 4). Maybe. If the test is feeling kind. Most of the students in class giggled every time he started to talk and then asked questions quickly and were upset when he couldn't understand what they wanted.

Around this time, I noticed that everyone was furiously staring at their notes...surprise! It was the first test of the semester! And could I remember the word for apple? For flower? Of course not. Did I remember words like united nations or soldier that weren't on the quiz? Naturally. (Luckily I knew the word for camel- thanks Layla!) I spent the next 20 minutes berating myself for having forgotten even the most basic things like how to pronounce simple words. And having forgotten how to say house! (I could have sworn it was "beyt") But then I realized that my bushy-haired instructor was not Sudanese or Egyptian or even Jordanian like I was accustomed to, but Iraqi, and hence why I couldn't understand his weird pronunciation or vocabulary. It's almost like learning Spanish, forgetting Spanish, and then wondering why you can't understand Catalan. Or maybe Italian.

It turns out I'm not as incompotent as I thought. What a relief. Maybe one day I'll study a language long enough (and maybe in country) that I'll actually be able claim fluency. Here's hoping...