Reflective Essay

Meryem Benslimane  

Dr. Abderrahim Agnaou

Eng1301, section 12
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 19^th, 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.