La la la.
Trying to speak Arabic is like trying to whistle for the first time. It doesn’t seem to make any sense and is, at first, slightly embarrassing. Personally, I gave up. But while I was interested in learning Arabic this is how it goes:
“Okay, how do you say good morning in Arabic?”
The person will pause. I think because they are indexing several dialects in their head. But who knows why they pause. Then, after what looked like a serious ponder, they will say;
“say ha.”
“ha.”
“no, hhhhha.”
“ah.”
“no ha.”
and so on. You will never quite get the right “ha” sound they are looking for. So, more often then not, they just give up on you and say “okay” (in an annoyed way).
Then he/she will say the word you want: “Sabaho” (good morning).
Now, if there are other Arabic speakers around they will migrate over and start debating the correct word. Or the correct way of saying the word. Or perhaps they were just talking about where to go have lunch…
In the end I settled on pronouncing “Sabaho” like the Spanish word for Saturday: Sabado. The problem is I just can’t master that “ah” sound. You have to act like you’re choking in the back of your throat to get the sound kind of right. And really, who wants to sound like their choking?
However, I have mastered one very important word in Arabic: No. Which is said “la la la!” Now I will use it in a sentence:
“Do you want to learn how to speak Arabic?”
“La la la!”
