How is your Arabic?

[Sofiyya 1,687]

Native speaker of southern Moroccan and south Levantine dialects.

[Beauty for Ashes 257]

Just curious....

After over 7 years together, my Arabic is still horrible. I can understand some basic things and I know some words, but I can't put together a sentence, read, or have a conversation. Even having my MIL here for the past 4 months hasn't helped too much - I understand more, but I still can't speak. I'm embarrassed about it and it's one of those things that I keep saying I need to do, but never get around to.

I know lots of words....smina ,ajouzza, hra,khanza,walou,lawriat,roula,

I could literally translate any conversation between 2 drunk Moroccans or Algerians. Or 2 drunk moroccans calling some girl walking by dirty names. I have the whole vocabulary since I had to listen to it for years non stop. LOL

YA AJOOUZZZZA>>>YA SMINAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA....

Unfortunately I dont know much civilised darja because I never got to hear any

[Mithra 1,185]

That's sad. Sounds like you've made some bad choices in regards to companions.

I know lots of words....smina ,ajouzza, hra,khanza,walou,lawriat,roula,

I could literally translate any conversation between 2 drunk Moroccans or Algerians. Or 2 drunk moroccans calling some girl walking by dirty names. I have the whole vocabulary since I had to listen to it for years non stop. LOL

YA AJOOUZZZZA>>>YA SMINAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA....

Unfortunately I dont know much civilised darja because I never got to hear any

[Mithra 1,185]

I'm sorry but I refuse to believe you were forced into learning such language. If you knew these people were unsavory then you should've avoided them. You are a grown woman. You chose to be around people who behave badly. My children know better than to hang around the wrong crowd, you should know, too.

[Mommy2ZaidnSalma 11]

I can understand way more than I can speak. However, I think I could get by no problem living in Jordan speaking very broken Arabic. I guess living there for 10 months did me good. Its the grammer aspect I have trouble with...the "hers, his, ours, theirs, etc" and the way words change when you add possesion

[msheesha 548]

I'm sorry but I refuse to believe you were forced into learning such language. If you knew these people were unsavory then you should've avoided them. You are a grown woman. You chose to be around people who behave badly. My children know better than to hang around the wrong crowd, you should know, too.

I agree. And also the Christian who was learning these negative words or phrases - only a Christian at Christmas or Easter? Otherwise what were you doing learning vulgarities in another language? Much less repeating them now! When you point the finger at someone else, you're ignoring the other three pointing back at yourself. When you do that you never learn from your poor choices.

As for what I've learned from my Moroccan and Muslim family / inlaws among other things, I've learned to count to ten, learned of course to say hello how are you ; I'm fine how is your family; I've learned to say I'm coming when someone is calling me. I've learned to say I'm stuffed I've learned to say thank you and you're welcome. I've learned but always forget and have to re-learn words for basic foods such ad butter and milk, plates and cups. I always remember the word for meat because I think it's funny that it sounds just like the english word, ham. I've learned but have have a hard time hearing the difference for the words used to describe something as hot verses asking who is there, as in when someone rings the doorbell.

I think the phrase that verges most closely to something negative is the phrase translated to "whatever" or "as you like" in english -most likely to be used when you think what someone is saying is pretty stupid.

So again, I couldn't agree more that what you learn is related to the company YOU CHOOSE to keep.

[doodlebugg 10]

I can understand most of his Egyptian soap operas but I think it's more that the actors overact so it would take a complete moron not to know what is going on.

Other than that I only know a few words here and there. I haven't lifted a finger to learn anything.

Honestly I would only do it to be able to talk to his sisters but their arabic is so colloquial he'd have to teach me himself and I hate it when he tries to teach me because he's a wicked perfectionist and no matter how I try to pronounce a word he says, "la la la, like this....... not like that.....". I think "la" was my first word other than habibi.

[Berber Mama 5]

I can understand most of his Egyptian soap operas but I think it's more that the actors overact so it would take a complete moron not to know what is going on.

Other than that I only know a few words here and there. I haven't lifted a finger to learn anything.

Honestly I would only do it to be able to talk to his sisters but their arabic is so colloquial he'd have to teach me himself and I hate it when he tries to teach me because he's a wicked perfectionist and no matter how I try to pronounce a word he says, "la la la, like this....... not like that.....". I think "la" was my first word other than habibi.

I have the same problem. I will ask him what a word was that he just said on the phone. I will repeat it exactly how he said it and he's always dumbfounded. Then we go around and around until finally he goes "oh you mean"...and then says the word exactly how I just repeated it to him. It drives me crazy.

[prince+angel 3]

I've asked my husband on several occassions to teach me at least some conversational Arabic or Tunisian & NO, he cant seem to do it or falls out laughing when I try to pronounce a word. I've learned a couple of words but not enough to respond to someone else in a conversation. He speaks Arabic/Tunisian soooooo fast, I wouldn't be able to keep upanyway but I would love to be able just to have some basic skills in that area especially for phone calls home and/or travel. Lucikly my in laws and all of his family are very fluent in French, at this point I'm way better off learning that language if I ever want to communiacte with them.

[doodlebugg 10]

I have the same problem. I will ask him what a word was that he just said on the phone. I will repeat it exactly how he said it and he's always dumbfounded. Then we go around and around until finally he goes "oh you mean"...and then says the word exactly how I just repeated it to him. It drives me crazy.

Exactly. Meanwhile I let him go on saying "sh!t" instead of "sheet" (which still cracks my daughters up), and a whole host of other mispronounced words. I simply don't have the energy and figure his friends at work will clue him in.

Edited September 9, 2010 by doodlebugg

[Berber Mama 5]

Exactly. Meanwhile I let him go on saying "sh!t" instead of "sheet" (which still cracks my daughters up), and a whole host of other mispronounced words. I simply don't have the energy and figure his friends at work will clue him in.

Lol. My husband has a problem with pronouncing popcorn. He says "poop corn" most often. He gets so mad when I correct him that I don't even bother doing it anymore either.

[Liz Rodriguez 1]

I think the funniest thing was teaching Taha what feet fingers were. Im like what? Hes like your feet fingers. Im like those are toes. And i busted out laughing when he repeated it. Its a learning process really. Just have to be patient with each other and teach each other.

[Anna and Ali 13]

I loved reading this thread! I can relate. Sometimes I hear phone conversations and Ali gets surprised when I yell at him for saying something rude to a friend or tell him something about what he said to his mother. He seems a bit confused about how I know the gist of the conversation. It's really hard to try and tell when he's talking about me because he pronounces my name, "Anna" as "Ana" so when he is saying "I" in arabic it sounds the same. that way I don't know when he's talking about himself or me! He also thinks its funny when I mimic his expressions of frustration. The first time I said (excuse the spelling I'm sounding it out) Ya caracer, he almost died laughing.

[Brad and Vika 129]

Post containing or quoting foul language removed.

Edited to say that I think the words may have been used to illustrate a good point about rude comments among people who don't speak a particular language. Nevertheless, please tone it down - as some members find the terms offensive.

Thanks

Edited September 12, 2010 by Brad and Vika

[amal 4]

I can read and write in Arabic pretty well (not that I understand everything I read though).

I am similar to Kelz, in that I could get by just fine in Jordan with my broken Arabic. I know how to ask for things and know directions. I could order from about any restaurant, get to a bathroom, etc etc. My main issue are the plurals of his, hers, mine, theirs, ours, 2 ppl, 3 ppl, 5 ppl....but I have the basic words down. The hubster is always telling me that if he just heard me speaking and couldn't see me, he would have no idea that I wasn't native to Jordan. I guess I'm pretty proud of that . I understand a lot of what he's saying but do have a more difficult time understanding everybody else. I'm always saying "asifa ktheer, bas shwaya min faadlak" hahaha.

amal