Languages, schmanguages

Almost every educated person here is a polyglot. Here are the languages most of my professors/homestay family speak:

1. Derija (Moroccan Arabic)
2. Fusha (Classical Arabic)
3. French
4. English
5. Tamazight (or Tashelhit or Tarifit...Berber dialects)

Some people also speak:
6. Spanish
7. German

(depending on where you are in the country.)

This is all very intimidating at first, but in the name of education, I have tried not to let it bother me that I am supremely ignorant and just soak up as much as I can. Hence, I have had quite a few interesting linguistic/lingual experiences here in Morocco.

The first few weeks I was here, there was a European film festival in Rabat. I saw 5 or 6 European films (Polish, German, Belgian, etc.) but subtitled in French.

I do not speak French.

Undeterred and desperate for some Western culture, I took in the films and slowly discovered that I can kind of read French due to some combination of Spanish and English.

Recently, I connected with the only theater school in Morocco called ISADAC (and luckily in Rabat). A very famous Moroccan artiste invited me to come see his show. Which was all in Derija. I understood just a tiny little bit, but I think at one point during the one man show the actor looked at me and my Dutch sister Marthe and said, "Fahemtee?" ("You understand?") I think I shook my head no, but I was so surprised that I actually did understand his question that I can't be sure.

In another incident, I have recently discovered that the reason my hair is so gross is because I have been washing it with conditioner. Hey, the label on the bottle LOOKED like it said shampoo.

Last night, my homestay sister Marthe (a Dutch student doing research on gender issues in higher education) asked me to help her translate her research questions from Dutch to English. Her English is very good, but this was a matter of technicalities. Are "gender expectations" in a given society about individual gender roles, how the sexes interact or both? It took a while, but we hashed it out. I now know the Dutch words for "gender roles" and although I can say it, don't ask me to write it.

Finally, as most of you know, I am a creature of habit. I discovered that the hanoot (little grocery store) down the street makes sandwiches. I go every single day to have a variation of the sandwich I have at home. Here it's tomatoes, onions, avocado and cheese. Because I'm now a regular, I've made friends with the guy who makes my sandwich every day. Hassan jokes around as he cuts up the cheese because I always ask for "fromage rouge" and he always says, "It's not fromage. It's cheese!"

Today, Hassan finished making my sandwich and asked me something in Derija. It was too fast for me to understand so I asked him to repeat it and he did, in English. He said, "In Arabic, this is called a sandwich. In English?"

"Um...sandwich. Yeah. Sandwich."

Languages, schmanguages.