I made my way to one of the cross-cultural centers in Kuwait which offers Arabic classes. It took me a little while because the address wasn't on my GPS, so I had to actually read the road signs. Upon entering the building, I saw a young Muslim woman who I assumed to be a Kuwaiti or Syrian because of her fair skin, along with her hijab (head covering) and abaya (black outer garment).
She greeted me with "Salam Alaykum", which is the Arabic and Muslim traditional greeting, which means 'peace to you.' I responded with "Alaykum Salam," which means the same thing. After this, I spoke to her in Arabic about my interest in taking Arabic classes. It always takes a little time to communicate in Arabic what I'm saying, and she quickly said I could speak to her in English. I felt a little foolish because I was sure she thought my Arabic was awful and that it would be less painful for us to speak in English. I told her I know some Arabic and want to continue learning.
She asked me how much Arabic I knew. Again, I started speaking in Arabic to show her my range, abilities and limits with the language. This time she said nothing, which prompted me to ponder why I even try learning Arabic if it's that bad. She asked me where I learned Arabic, so I told her in mixed English and Arabic that I've taken different classes on and off over the last several years and that I wanted something with more speaking than reading and writing.
When she asked me why I wanted to learn the language, I told her I liked it and that I want to know some since I live in an Arab country. It was at this point that she responded with, "I want to learn Arabic too." I was kind of stunned. I instantly replayed all the scenes of me talking with her in Arabic and realized that she didn't speak it once except for the initial greeting, which also explains why she wanted me to talk to her in English and she didn't respond to my Arabic dialogue. I was pretty embarrassed, and I felt that I should have known better than to assume.
This experience reminded me that, while Kuwait is an Arab nation, it is full of people from all kinds of cultures. In fact, there are more foreign workers than Kuwaitis. I was also reminded that not all Muslims speak Arabic. I believe the largest Muslim population on Earth is Indonesia, and where they do not speak Arabic. At the end of the conversation, I asked her where she was from and she said Pakistan, which has a huge number of non-Arab Muslims, who only know Arabic from the Koran. I guess my situation would be like hearing a Christian say hallelujah and assume they know Hebrew.
She greeted me with "Salam Alaykum", which is the Arabic and Muslim traditional greeting, which means 'peace to you.' I responded with "Alaykum Salam," which means the same thing. After this, I spoke to her in Arabic about my interest in taking Arabic classes. It always takes a little time to communicate in Arabic what I'm saying, and she quickly said I could speak to her in English. I felt a little foolish because I was sure she thought my Arabic was awful and that it would be less painful for us to speak in English. I told her I know some Arabic and want to continue learning.
She asked me how much Arabic I knew. Again, I started speaking in Arabic to show her my range, abilities and limits with the language. This time she said nothing, which prompted me to ponder why I even try learning Arabic if it's that bad. She asked me where I learned Arabic, so I told her in mixed English and Arabic that I've taken different classes on and off over the last several years and that I wanted something with more speaking than reading and writing.
When she asked me why I wanted to learn the language, I told her I liked it and that I want to know some since I live in an Arab country. It was at this point that she responded with, "I want to learn Arabic too." I was kind of stunned. I instantly replayed all the scenes of me talking with her in Arabic and realized that she didn't speak it once except for the initial greeting, which also explains why she wanted me to talk to her in English and she didn't respond to my Arabic dialogue. I was pretty embarrassed, and I felt that I should have known better than to assume.
This experience reminded me that, while Kuwait is an Arab nation, it is full of people from all kinds of cultures. In fact, there are more foreign workers than Kuwaitis. I was also reminded that not all Muslims speak Arabic. I believe the largest Muslim population on Earth is Indonesia, and where they do not speak Arabic. At the end of the conversation, I asked her where she was from and she said Pakistan, which has a huge number of non-Arab Muslims, who only know Arabic from the Koran. I guess my situation would be like hearing a Christian say hallelujah and assume they know Hebrew.
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