Language
When I first got to Jordan, I was terrified. Not only was this my first time in the Middle East, but I also didn’t speak any Arabic. I realized exactly how out of my league I was when my roommates and I went out to get coffee the morning after we arrived in Amman…and none of us could communicate with our server. Thinking back now, I realize we were probably just too sleep deprived and jetlagged to function. Regardless, I couldn’t wait to start my language class and learn some survival Arabic at the very least. The thing with that, though, is that when you try to speak a language that you’re not very skilled at, you will encounter some hilarious lost in translation moments.
Last week, for example, I went to the grocery store in search for cinnamon. As I am staring at the spice isle, clearly very lost, one of the box boys walks up to me and asks if I need help in broken English. I begin to speak back in Arabic that I need help finding the cinnamon, but quickly realize that I don’t know the Arabic word for cinnamon. So, I rub my fingers together and say “Cinnamon. Spice.” He looks back at me in wonder and tells me to wait as he pulls out his phone and points at the keyboard. I type into his Google Translate: “Cinnamon”. He then yells out “ahhh! Ahhwa!” (Yes) He then directed me to the butcher’s counter, pointed at a dead fish not yet filleted, and said “Cinnamon.”
“La cinnamon. Hatha La cinnamon.” I pointed back at the dead fish. (Not cinnamon. This is not cinnamon.) He continued to insist that this fish was cinnamon, so I tried to use object association to get my point across.
“Cinnamon min sheii.” I said as I rubbed my fingers together over a cupped hand, and pretended to drink out of my cupped hand. (Cinnamon for tea.) I received another “Ahhwa!” and he led me to the tea aisle. He then proceeded to hand me large bags of dried tea leaves. “La La La. Cinnamon. Spice!” I replied. Marissa caught up with us in the tea aisle, and she found a picture of cinnamon sticks on the packaging of cinnamon tea, and pointed to the illustration. The language barrier was finally broken as he directed us to the spices. I thanked him and also apologized for my intermediate level Arabic.
My favorite phrase thus far is definitely “mkin qahuwwa,” which means “may I have a coffee.” I truly do not believe I would get very far here, or anywhere for that matter, without knowing that one phrase.
