Irksome Thingis
Two things have been bugging me lately.
The first one is pretty recent and occurs on a weekly if not daily basis.
I do not understand why I get chain-mail letters from my closest friends that have closing lines like “If you do not send this to 100 people, you’ll die in five days.” I mean why? I know that some people are superstitious and would rather send it to the number of people stated in the hateful email, but why anchor down your loved ones with this ridiculous and rather malicious email? Thank goodness for the subject line…delete those absurdities.
I chatted with my friend about the other bothersome issue that has been on my mind ever since I left Kuwait. I was in our district’s supermarket when I overheard a 30-something year old mother talk to her son who was still in his single-digits, “3abooooodi, what you want from here? Yallah pick what you want.”
I have noticed that a lot of young kids nowadays talk solely in English. Now, don’t get me wrong; I think it’s a must to master the English language, especially in our globalized world. But that does not mean you should disregard your mother tongue altogether.
Whenever I pick up my little brother from school, I hear a few parents uttering phrases in broken English while their young ones respond in a crisp American accent. I remember talking to my friend’s eleven year-old nephew, asking him about school and such. His response was a long, confused stare. “He doesn’t speak Arabic Erzulie,” my friend quietly said.
What gives? Am I the only one noticing this trend?
PS Pink Floyd - Hey You
at 12:48 AM
9 Comments
I once hear a mom tell her kid, "you swim the table in water",
meaning, saba7ti il tawla bil may
in a bad Kuwaiti accent.
If you are going to have your kids speak english, at least get a few lessons for yourself first.
Erzulie, you rock again, I just posted lyrics to Pink Floyd and you put up an MP3, great minds think alike.
McArabian: Well, that's the thing: Effort! I'm not going to dive into my "anti-nanny" talk because it's been done before, and second, it can be looked at as one-sided because we -my siblings and I- were never touched by any nanny. And that's another thing; I contemplated whether to place "American" accent mostly because some of the kids have an Indian or Philippino accent!
Don_Veto: Lol! That's another thing as well! It's as if they're practicing English with their kids, grammatical mistakes and all.
Don_Veto 2: ;P
7tenths: Lol! Poor grandma! Well, I was referring to emails and such but yeah, I guess you can include the whole phone thing as well. Ugh, sometimes I get the same joke over and over again and it just gets exhausting to delete those damned things! Heh, and yeah, like I said, I do think learning English is a must. But the thing is, there should be somewhat of a balance! I too attempt to escape that little fall because I know that knowing both languages will be extremely handy, specifically in my field! Wow, that's a lot of exclamation marks...I feel like I'm yelling or something...
I noticed the trend and it bothers me to no end. It's all about being pompous in my opinion and it's hysterical (to me at least) to see parents talking to their children in broken English. It was like this in Venezuela in the 80s, at the height of oil wealth, so this trend isn't exclusive to Kuwait.
Having said all that, I'm American and speak to my children in English - at home and in public, because it was essential for me that they understand/speak English to be able to have relationships with their relatives in the States. Recently, I hired a maid that speaks only Arabic (and her native tongue) so that my children could pick up some Arabic. (Listening to mommy speak it with the maid - not letting the maid take care of the children all day long which is another trend that irks me to no end...)
I don't really know. Personally I find it hard if you know any more then one. I find myself mixing my languages alot, and I only speak one fluently. I don't know how confusing it is for someone raised here, but from an outside point of view, arabic varies drastically with certain phrases depending on where you are from. Like, I could learn to say something here "Kuwaiti Style" and it be totally not accurate in another part of the Middle East.
English is pretty Universal. It's the primary language for many colleges and is used in the business market as well. You go anywhere in the world (with some exceptions), most people can speak a little english, at least very simple things. How many places can you go and someone speak even a single word in arabic and KNOW it's an arabic word?
I think people rely on English too heavily though. Just like in the states: Some parts of the US there are communities that know VERY little English and are heavily spanish in concentration. Being fluent English there would be great, unless you were a firefighter or something like that.
What I worry about here: People grow up speaking English and not being able to speak much arabic, let alone READ it, what if someone needs help? What if YOU need help and no one around speaks English?
Eh, I dunno, but like McArabian said, the easiest way to communicate with your kids.
Yala chica, masalam. (mixing again back there)
this is my take on this issue: Tikallimo 3arabi
الأخت اريزولي
أول شي شنو يعني اريزولي؟
second about the msg on the bottom of the e mail recommending to send it to 5 7 10 10000 ppl or ull die..just ignore it!~
i chek the mail , if its intrsting ill read, if not ill just delte without bothering to even read the recommendation at the bottom
about the other problem , i think we cant get every thing we want at the same time, we all want our kids to speak perfect english as u said this is a MUST. however , the culture of the private schools in kuwait is taking over nowa days and we cant stop it, especially when the parents themselves are a private school students !
am a 7koma student thats why i think i speak perfect kuwaiti and bad english:P so its easier to me to get my kids to private school and when they are home ill inforce the kwuaiti on them,,but if i was a private school student and am biassed towards the english than my kids will speak english in and out of school
i think its a personal efforts from parents to force their kids to speak arabic and also have some knowldge about their culture
I think they are trying to come off as 'sophisticated' (in their mind)
Yes I noticed it. I also hate it when groups of friends who can't speak proper english chat away in broken english trying to sound hip.
Stinni: I think the whole "prestige" factor could be applied here. It just sucks because it places English as a more superior language. Language hierarchy?
William: You've got a lot of valid points. There are different dialects in the Arabic language but I'm mainly referring to the Kuwaiti one. I constantly try to talk with my friends in Kuwaiti because you kind of lose touch when you're speaking in English 24/7 (think college). I think that the old, nostalgic phrases of the Kuwaiti tongue are getting lost and all we have left is the younger generation mixing it up with frivilous slang. And I also agree that learning English is a must no matter where you are; it IS a universal language.
A3sab: I totally agree :)
Kila Ma6goog: I wrote about the meaning of my name on my first post ever :) It's a mythical character. And about the email: It just annoys me! Heh, and I don't believe in forcing anything on anyone, though I don't think you meant it that way :) But I agree...I think that in school (if the kids attend a private school) they should speak English but at home, I believe it will be beneficial to the children to practice and learn their mother tongue.
Miyafushi: Awww crap! I hate that too! I was speaking to one of "those" girls the other day and she kept trying to have a heavier sounding "L" and "R" to sound more American! I was like "I can see -and hear- right through it!"
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