Thoughts on Arabizi

"Give me an allo demain, ok habibi?"

I was a left a little baffled when I overheard that phrase. I am a generation-Arabizi product par excellence, but surely the above phrasing was going a little overboard?

Just so you know, it meant "Give me a call tomorrow, ok hon'?" in English, French and Arabic, or arabizi?

I can completely sympathise with users of Arabizi, and I doubt it has anything to do with denying our roots, culture and language.

But when you've studied in a French school and spoke both English and Arabic at home, the linguistic chords in your head may get tangled once in a while.

The English language may be a sign of coolness to many an Arab, complete with forced American accents or overly posh Brit pronunciation.

Today, Arabizi is merely an indication of the Arab world's expansion and openness to the rest of the world, and as long as generation-Arabizi kids can understand each other, where's the problem?

I'd sure love to speak Arabic a lot better than I currently do, but to those who worry about Arabizi butchering the Arabic language, let me reassure you.

We Arabizi users may distort our language a little, but that in no way means we are not proud of our roots, nor does it make us any less Arab.

Ok habibi?