Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
Despite my many years in the Middle East, I am ashamed to admit that I still haven’t learned to speak Arabic.
You would assume that after spending my entire life in an Arab-speaking country that I should at least be able to engage in simple conversation, yet the extent of my Arabic peaks at counting to 10 and barley being able to write my own name.
I, along with many other English speakers, have come to adopt the mentality that ‘everyone speaks English’, so, on the grounds of functionality, why would we complicate ourselves with the different grammar and vocabulary of other languages?
Luckily, Bahrain has westernised to such a point that I never felt it necessary to learn Arabic.
I have never been in a situation where I was required to and have consequently become ‘language lazy’.
My father has always urged me to learn a language, and maybe if I had committed to his advice, the place I could potentially live would be much more diverse.
Learning another language is more than just being able to communicate with a wider range of people. Understanding a foreign language allows you new ways of seeing that which would otherwise be barred.
