Meryem
Benslimane
Dr.
Abderrahim Agnaou
Eng1301,
section 12
Al Akhawayn University
Al Akhawayn University
09
May 2012
Vortex of Dialects
I still remember that day very well. It was July 1, 2011. The day I
stepped for the first time in the international airport of Casablanca. Actually,
it was not my first time to come to Morocco, but it was the first time to come here
with the idea of staying for long. At the beginning, the fact of moving from
the United Arab Emirates to Morocco to continue my studies was very
encouraging, and it is still the case. However, the idea of facing some
difficulties to adapt here in Morocco was worrying me, especially in terms of
language. Although I used to speak the Moroccan dialect with my parents at home
in Abu Dhabi, the Middle Eastern linguistic varieties were always there
dominating me. The Middle Eastern dialects, especially the Egyptian and the Lebanese,
are admired by many Moroccans. The admiration of these dialects is mainly because
of the Middle Eastern series and the movies that they watch frequently. This
admiration pushes Moroccans to have a different attitude towards me in terms of
my clothes, my dialect, and even my principles.
Attending Al Akhawayn
University was a good idea in terms of maintaining the dialect I spoke in Abu
Dhabi, because there are several international students, who speak the same dialect
I am used to hear and use to communicate with the others. However, it was very
difficult for me in the first semester to use the Moroccan dialect fluently and
all the time. What made the situation even worst is that the enrollment and
admission services of the university enrolled me in the Arabic literature
class, where I was compelled to speak Arabic instead of English. Speaking
English most of the time was a good solution to hide my strange dialect, but in
the literature class, it was always embarrassing when I unconsciously use my
Middle Eastern dialect instead of the standard Arabic. I still remember well
the day when everyone started laughing at me and making fun of the dialect I
used. It was a horrible day, as everything was abnormal. The weather was very
cold and overcast; the majority of students were almost sleeping, and the
professor was explaining in a way that was very hypnotic. This situation made
me dive in my deep imagination, where I could see my old memories with my old
friends in Abu Dhabi. Suddenly, the professor asked me a question, and without
even thinking, I answered it using the Middle Eastern dialect. What was very
funny is that all my classmates looked at me at the same moment, and they
started laughing. In fact, it was very annoying to me at beginning, but later
on, I got used to the others’ comments.
After three months of
staying in Morocco and communicating with native Moroccans, my tongue was
almost used to speak the real Moroccan dialect without any mistakes. On
December the 19th, 2011, I went back to the UAE to spend the Fall
break. My first reaction when I arrived to Abu Dhabi Airport was confusion
about whether to use the Moroccan dialect or the Middle Eastern dialect. So,
unfortunately, I entered again in the same vortex of dialects. Speaking several
dialects and languages is an advantage that everyone would dream to have because
this advantage provides us with the ability to communicate with a variety of
people from different countries and cultures. However, sometimes this ability makes
of us the focus of attention of the others, and in my case, this used to disturb
me and it still does. The most annoying request that I used to hate from my
friends in Abu Dhabi and I hate now from my friends in Morocco is to speak my
“strange” dialect. This strange dialect in Abu Dhabi was the Moroccan dialect
and in Morocco is the Middle Eastern one. At the beginning, I thought that I
exaggerated when I described my confusion in dialects as a vortex, but then, I
found out that it was the best term to call it.
My problem with the language was not only about dialects, but it
was also about the misunderstanding and the misuse of many words. What used to
happen is that sometimes I used certain words to express my ideas or my opinion
about any situation; however, some of these words meant something very
different from what I wanted to say. The worst was when some people used to
interpret my mistakes as incivility and impoliteness. The situation that can better
summarize my “suffering” with this problem has happened in the first week of my
coming to Morocco. I was talking with my brother’s friend, and then I said
something that I thought it means villainy; conversely, it meant something very
bad. I suffered a lot from this problem until I reached a point that the people
I know stopped caring about whatever wrong I say because they knew that I do
not mean what I say in the way I say it. That was really a good lesson for me
from which I learned how to think 10 times before saying any word until I
master the Moroccan dialect very well.
Today, as I spent more than 10
months in Morocco, I can say that I could achieve a great improvement in my
Moroccan dialect, in addition to changing some of my Middle Eastern attitudes
and habits. These remarkable changes made people start treating me normally and
without any exceptions. Actually, although I am Moroccan by nationality, my
attachment to the UAE makes me always there, not physically, but mentally. This
attachment in terms of dialect, cloths, attitudes, and even personality can be
attributed to the long period that I have spent there. Fourteen years of my
life living somewhere and then moving somewhere else is quite hard to handle,
and I am quite sure that even if I live in Morocco for a longer period, the
United Arab Emirats will keep dominating my dialect, my personality, and my
behaviors.
