The Arabic Language


 
My family is from the northern region of Africa – a small country at the tip of the continent named Tunisia. The primary languages spoken there are Arabic and French, so naturally that’s what I grew up speaking, and thus language plays a huge role in my life. Pinker describes the importance of language as ”a social currency with real value,” and I couldn’t agree more with him, as language allows us to barter our thoughts and express our emotions in unique ways.

Arabic is an important part of my life, as it allows me to communicate with my family members overseas and other people across the world. It encompasses its own alphabet, much like the Persian alphabet, and unlike most other languages, we write from right to left.  Not only is it a language, but it’s a way of living, with its own customs and sayings and habits. What I love most about Arabic is the idioms and expressions that are often used and extremely hard to translate. These old and often used sayings are not meant to be taken literally, since most of the time they mean something really vulgar or something that doesn’t make sense out of context.

For example, a saying we have in Tunisia that is used when someone wants to change the topic of a conversation means a little something like “Have you taken a sweet? Now pass the plate.” Although clever, (and totally stereotypical since we're known for our mad delicious pastries) this clearly would make no sense when used elsewhere.  Another expression used to convey joking anger translates to something along the lines of “@^#&! your @*&#!*” I love these small unique things about my language. ;)

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