Talking about Arab Language and People

I found this image on the web and it reminded me of an interesting discussion I had one of these days with a young Egyptian lady: we have talked about Arab language and people.

It was at a Starbucks. I had ordered a tall coffee and a muffin as usual, then I had taken the Times and the Post from the stand and I was looking for a free place to sit down.

All tables were occupied; there was only a free seat at a table where a young lady was working on her laptop. I asked her if I could sit down and she accepted with a pleasant smile.

I started to browse the papers while sipping the coffee. She left the table for two minutes, to order a new cup of coffee for her, and asked me to take care of her stuff.

When she returned, I asked her where she was from. She was an Egyptian and was now studying political sciences at a university here in DC area. She wanted to become a journalist.

I had a discussion a couple of weeks ago with some friends about Arab language and people. None of us had direct knowledge, so we remained to vague suppositions. Now it was for me an opportunity to find first source information. I told her briefly about the discussions with my friends.

She started to explain to me that Arabic is a unitary language, despite the huge area where it is spoken. The Koran played of course an important role in preserving the unity of the language. However, there are some flavors of Arabic: especially Maghrebians have inherited a lot of French words from their former colonial power, which can create sometimes difficulties to understand them.

What differentiates the various Arab countries is not the dialect, rather the mentality of the people. There are sensible differences regarding the acceptance of Western values, the degree of religious observance, the position of women in society and so on.


(A Life in Books)