With the business universe becoming a common ground for the English and Arabic speaking worlds, Sara Kilani looks at the impact of Arabish as a rising language barrier.
A few years ago, HSBC ran an amusing ad campaign highlighting cultural differences and the impact they can make when doing business. Cultural differences are one thing, but communication problems when two people are supposedly speaking the same language, is another. This was brought to light at a recent conference in Jordan where a number of the speakers, although using excellent English, kept inserting strange sound blips in the middle of their sentences. The audience, which was largely composed of foreign visitors to the countries, would not have realized that the speakers were peppering their English speech with Arabic words like inno, bas, and yaani (which translate respectively into like, but and I mean).
There is absolutely no valid reason for using these words in the middle of an English sentence, yet many Jordanians do this as a matter of course when speaking in English. While this may be acceptable in everyday life, it is not acceptable in a formal situation. Non-Arabs attending the conference will be at best confused and at worst offended.
Perhaps the speakers feel better able to express themselves using these words, but since they are using English, it makes no sense to use Arabic words. How does the audience know they are not missing something vital or that something offensive is not being said? To slip up and do this once or twice is fine, but it's an unavoidable-if undesirable-side effect of bilingualism, and to do so regularly alienates the audience by making them feel isolated and excluded.
The situation reached extreme levels when a UK examination board sent an official query to a school in Jordan: what is this word yaani that so many students keep using in their English oral exam recordings? The school promptly banned all students from saying yaani when speaking in English and launched a campaign to get students speaking clearly in one language at a time.
Why are so many Jordanians using this sloppy mix of English and Arabic? Apparently, the phenomenon is not limited to Jordan, but exists worldwide. According to linguists, using two versions of one language, such as colloquial and classical Arabic, is called diglossia. Regularly switching between two versions of one language, even in the space of one sentence, is called code-switching and facilitates the code-switching between two completely different languages. The divergence between classical and colloquial Arabic then could be partly to blame for why so many Arabs find themselves falling into the habit of speaking Arabish (Arabic-English).
In addition, some Jordanians (along with people all over the world) use English as a status symbol, and the mixing of the two languages denotes a specific privileged background. However, when in formal situations this can come across as idiosyncratic, self-absorbed or frivolous. In fact, for the uninitiated, the constant slipping in and out of English and Arabic and the mixing of the two to create Arabish ends up sounding like complete rubbish.
Foreigners visiting Jordan and wondering what people are saying, should thank their lucky stars that they're not in Lebanon (where they mix Arabic, English and French) or Algeria (where they mix Arabic, French, Berber and Turkish).
Should you worry about speaking Arabish? Well, yes and no. In a business situation you should always try to speak clearly, using formal language and be as polite and communicative as possible, regardless of which language you are using, so Arabish is definitely out.
Practice using just one language at a time in everyday life and you will find it much easier to do so on command. If you really can't stop yourself from thinking and speaking in two languages at once, there is an upside. According to the latest studies, bilingual people who regularly use two different languages can stave off memory loss and senile dementia for four years longer than non-bilingual people.
© Jordan Business 2007
