“So, have you learned the language yet?” new-to-the-UAE Expat X is asked by someone from back home.
“No, you don’t need to speak Arabic here - everyone speaks English,” replies Expat X. “Even the signs are in English. Maybe I’ll learn if I stay for a couple more years.”
If you are a western expat living in the UAE, you have either said the above (hang your head in shame) or you have heard it.
Yet, the hard truth is that as a journalist working in the UAE for an English-speaking newspaper, I can get by without Arabic, just as expats from across the world do here every day.
Worse, I have heard stories of Arabic-speaking businessmen moving to the UAE and quickly realising they would have to learn English to be a success.
Arabic was made the official language of the UAE in all federal authorities and establishments in 2008. Yet, still to this day, the language is in danger in the country, according to some Arab scholars at the International Conference on Arabic Language, held in Dubai earlier this month. One pointed out that job seekers still write CVs in English, more often than not, as though it is the true official language.
Time for a confession: I was Expat X (you can stop booing now). This was a long time ago. Since then, the UAE has become my home. If I came for the year-round sun and tax-free salary, I certainly stayed for the country’s unique culture and ambition.
But how much can I truly know about a country without knowing its mother tongue? How great it would feel to be able to hold my own in social situations without feeling intimidated by my lack of understanding and, worse than that, lack of effort to learn. So I have signed up for an intensive Arabic course — and with 20 lessons over four weeks, intensive is the operative word.
I am not slapping myself on the back just yet. Talking about it is one thing; doing it will be entirely another. Like many Brits, I speak only English, other than the school French and German I forgot a long time ago. I have no idea how my brain will cope with it.
Arabic-speaking colleagues (with knowing smiles on their faces) have warned me about brand new vowels, dozens of dialects and using facial muscles that I may never even have known I had before.
The best part about it? While my fellow students will have to share their successes and failures with just their nearest and dearest, my invariable struggles will be splashed all over these pages for you to enjoy. It serves me right for leaving it so long.
