My whole life has become one giant game of charades. Living here in Egypt has made me appreciate just how important it is to be heard and understood. A lot of people in Egypt are able to speak English. There are even a number of people who are able to speak a few different languages. It's kind of necessary when most people rely on the tourism industry for their income. When I met Mena he already knew how to speak English. He told me that he learnt by watching subtitled American movies. Simple put, he said if he was going to make any money in the tourism industry he needed to learn English.
I kind of took for granted just how important language is in Australia where mostly everyone knows English and I don't have any trouble communicating what I want from day to day. But, not knowing the local language can really make your life very hard and the simplest thing can become so difficult.
Something as simple as grocery shopping becomes a huge task. Telling Mena what I have on my shopping list can become a huge came of charades or Articulate.
"I want to buy some vinegar" states Peggy
"What is this vin-gar?" asks Mena. "I don't know this word."
"It's a clear liquid...fluid...looks like water, it smells strong and tastes strong and they use it in cooking and cleaning."
"It's something you can clean with and cook with? Why would you want to buy something like that?"
"Do they have this in the market?"
"I don't know Habibi, I don't know what your talking about"
At this time I turn to Google translate...."Ah yeah, we have this something in the market."
"Ok, I also want to buy some capsicums" And it begins again....
One thing I can say about Mena, he is very patient with me and the difficulty with our language has actually made us good at communicating. We have also come up with a few little strategies that help us get over these little hurdles. Often I write my shopping list (or list of things to do) on the left side of the page and we translate it together with the aide of Google images or Google translate and Mena copies it out on the left side in Arabic.
Sometimes I get to the end of my day trying to communicate with my work mates, my students, family and friends and I feel absolutely exhausted. But as they say in Egypt, step-by-step, everyday I learn a little more Arabic and the puzzles get a little easier to solve.
I kind of took for granted just how important language is in Australia where mostly everyone knows English and I don't have any trouble communicating what I want from day to day. But, not knowing the local language can really make your life very hard and the simplest thing can become so difficult.
Something as simple as grocery shopping becomes a huge task. Telling Mena what I have on my shopping list can become a huge came of charades or Articulate.
"I want to buy some vinegar" states Peggy
"What is this vin-gar?" asks Mena. "I don't know this word."
"It's a clear liquid...fluid...looks like water, it smells strong and tastes strong and they use it in cooking and cleaning."
"It's something you can clean with and cook with? Why would you want to buy something like that?"
"Do they have this in the market?"
"I don't know Habibi, I don't know what your talking about"
At this time I turn to Google translate...."Ah yeah, we have this something in the market."
"Ok, I also want to buy some capsicums" And it begins again....
One thing I can say about Mena, he is very patient with me and the difficulty with our language has actually made us good at communicating. We have also come up with a few little strategies that help us get over these little hurdles. Often I write my shopping list (or list of things to do) on the left side of the page and we translate it together with the aide of Google images or Google translate and Mena copies it out on the left side in Arabic.
Sometimes I get to the end of my day trying to communicate with my work mates, my students, family and friends and I feel absolutely exhausted. But as they say in Egypt, step-by-step, everyday I learn a little more Arabic and the puzzles get a little easier to solve.
