KhaLEEENA Mni7ki 3arabi ma3 ba3d, Mama 1

After getting word from Lil Kinz’ Arabic teacher that she will actually benefit from practice with Mommy’s charming and broken Arabic, we have been speaking Arabic more together as a family over dinner. Rather than being a forced thing which makes table talk nonexistent, it has become a really fun family past-time. Abu Qamoos 2(Abu Kounouz) throws out all his wild vocabulary, I use the words I learn from bloggers (weeeeeeeeeeeel, not all of the words), Spikekid and Project Boy like showing off their superior skills and pronunciation, and History Buff interjects with the KOREAN he is learning from his little classmate (THAT is a trip, hearing him greet the dad on the phone in Korean,  bowing in deference as if the dad can see him). Abu K and I speak German together when we don’t want the kids to know what we are saying. It’s like linguistic ping-pong.

*Even though History Buff doesn’t have the nuts and bolts of the language down, he is a fearless speaker. Where Spikekid has to say it perfect or won’t speak at all, and Project Boy is still emotionally scarred from his his teacher’s stern reprimands (only sort-of), History Buff just jumps in and starts talking with whatever sounds right. This MORTIFIES Spikekid. Good thing SK wasn’t with us today, as HB wanted to hunt down a controller for the newly resurrected Playstation. We found an open store, and he walked right up to the the counter and said “3ammo, 3indkum controller lil Playstation? Mish il PS2, il wahid”. 3ammo asked “Yaani, biddak lil Play Station Original?”. Confident, HB replied: “Ah. Il original”. 3ammo “Biddak il memory card kamaan?”. Ibni: “Ah, biddi high kamaan iza fi’. 3ammo: “Fi 3indna bas wahid, it’s your lucky day”.   Too cute, 3ammo indulging my little boy. Who needs fus7a?*3

So now Lil Kinz and I have a new game, it’s like the Arabic version of “I Spy”. Around the house, in the car now that I am driving again, it is a fun way for her to learn vocabulary and even teach me a few things.  She was on the kitchen desk-top yesterday, and I asked her what she was playing bil 3arabi. Without missing a beat she said: “Ana am bil3ab Zoo Tycoon, Mama”. I asked: “Shu had ‘Zoo Tycoon’? Keef bituuli bil 3arabi?”. She looked up, a little irritated, with a perfect 3arabizi accent and said “Zooooooooooooooo Tycoooooooooooon, Mama. Mafee bil 3arabi”.4

So can you put that on a resume? Does 3arabizi count as another language?

Happy cross-cultural child-rearing! (trademark MommaBean)

*Update

FOR YFA and my non-Arabic speakers (sorry guys, I forgot!!!)

Rough transalation for non-Arabizi (cute mix of English and Arabic, say it in English with a Jordanian accent and most everyone understands/3arabi (how to type the phonetic pronuciation of Arabic in English)/Arabic speakers

1) Mom, PLEASE let’s speak Arabic together!

2) Father of Dictionary, a kinzi-way of saying the guy is a walking dictionary in Arabic.

3) HB: “Mister, (literally, uncle, my father’s brother) do you have any controllers for a Playstation? Not PS2, but the the first” . Mister: “You mean you want  the original Playstation?” HB: “Yes, the original”. Mister: “Do you want a memory card too?” HB, “Yes, if there is one, I’d like a memory card too.” Mister: “Well, we have just one left!” Fus7a = classical Arabic, more often written than spoken.

4) Lil Kinz: “I am playing Zoo Tycoon.” Mom: “What do you mean by ‘Zoo Tycoon”? How do you say it in Arabic?” Then she says it in English but with a West Amman Jordanian accent and adds: “You don’t SAY it in Arabic Mom.”