One of the most poignant statements I've heard since arriving in Irbid was said by my professor in our class on the local dialect: "In Irbid, you must learn 2 languages." My professor was referring to the fact that in most classes, we only study الفصحى (al-fusha), which is modern standard Arabic. This is the version of Arabic that you hear on the news, read in books and the newspaper, and use in academic or professional settings. The problem is that nobody you meet on the street (or at least, very few people) actually speak this version of the language. Instead, they speak in dialect العامية (al-'amiya). The local dialects vary in the way they pronounce certain letters, and many times the dialect word for something is completely different than the word in modern standard Arabic. This can be very frustrating because after studying Arabic in school for years, you still might not be able to order your dinner or ask how much something costs!
Wow--that's pretty profound if I think about it. I wonder if the essence of the "American" problem of trying to work in the Middle East politically is the problem of speaking the wrong language--the modern standard instead of the dialect (you can take that literally or metaphorically). I had similar questions last summer at Dar al Islam--the Arabic of the Qur'an is understood by the scholars--what is the responsibility of the individual Muslim: to think for him/herself, or to simply accept the scholar's interpretation.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stimulating thought!
Salaam,
Dad