Well, living in an environment occupied with various kind of people and ethnicity, it sometimes makes my head a little dizzy to communicate with them especially when we have to switch codes while talking. It happens to me since I was young.
I speak Northern Malay at home and we have sprinkling of Hindustani, Persian and Arabic in our speech that do not really exist in Southern Malay especially during my schooling times. I am not sure the words such as kutub khanah (library), gerek (bicycle), prashat (villains), bahadur (courageous act), rumbas (fight), and so on ever exist in Southern Malay. We used those words before we leave them out as the time is moving on up to now... In term of pronunciation, I was frustrated with Quranic and non-Arab teachers who taught Islamic related sciences where they pronounced things differently to our pronunciation... The Qaf (ق) becomes Kop... The Ghayn (غ) becomes Gain... The Khaf (خ) becomes Haf... Ḍhad (ض) becomes Dott.. The special glottal 'Ayn (ع) turned out to be Ain...
I pronounced them without any pain because I am a Peranakan Arab of the Past yet I had to pretend or forced to pronounce things like non-Arabs because we are not recognized with our own ethnicity instead we were lumped into Malayan nationality during British administration era... I was so much confused back then and yes... I was so depressed... 20 years ago people perhaps were not familiar with dialectical differences as compared to now with the development of modern information technologies and the internet.
That was just my experience. I am relieved that I could share how I
feel... I am dumping some Arabic for Communication. I would only use
Roman script as Arabic script would take time unless if I write
everything with my hand, hehe... These are in Syrian Arabic... Not Modern Standard Arabic (MSA).
Passport Control
In this story, Sylvana had just arrived in Damascus and she has to check her passport at the passport control. Let us see how she deals with el-mowazzif (worker).
Sylvana: Ṣabāḥ el-khayr!
Worker: Ṣabāḥ el-khayrāt! Jawādh el-safar idhā bitrīdī.
Sylvana: Tafaḍḍhal...
Worker: Shukran... Shū esmek?
Sylvana: Anā ismī Sylvana.
Worker: We entī minīn?
Sylvana: Min Iṭāliyā. Anā mu'allimeh.
Worker: Āh! Enti Iṭāliyyeh? Iṭāliyā balad helwe katīr.
Sylvana: Eh, bas b'ide katīr.
Worker: Ṭhayyib... Tafaḍḍhalī. Haī basburik, ahlaw wa sahlan fīkī bish Shām!
Meaning
Sylvana: Good morning!
Worker: Good morning! Passport please.
Sylvana: Here you are...
Worker: Thank you... What is your name?
Sylvana: My name is Sylvana.
Worker: You are from?
Sylvana: From Italy. I am a teacher.
Worker: Oh! You are an Italian? Italy is a beautiful country.
Sylvana: Yes, but it is so far.
Worker: Great... Here you are. Your passport, welcome to Syria!
Sealed with prayers for mercy, peace and love, amin!
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