While our communication has improved 100-fold since we started hanging out late last November, there are still some really comical moments between Hassan and I with regards to language as he continues to learn English and I continue to learn Darija (the Moroccan Arabic dialect, special to this country).
One of the things I've laughed the most over is the way he breaks out into song with English lyrics- only these are usually bits of different songs he's heard before but all mixed together.
One time we were walking on the beach he broke into a melody, in full voice, “I've got a big one for you!.... Bye-bye, love!” I started cracking up. I've got a big one for you could imply many things and I tried to explain its dodgy connotations.
Then the other day while sitting watching the ocean, again he broke into song, “Please forgive me! I wish you were here...” It all started making sense when he told me that he listens to a lot of Phil Collins, whom he calls, “Phil Connays” because most of these snippets have a feel of 80's sappy love songs mixed with Cat Stevens introspection... along with a few commercials. He told me that a lot of Moroccans love Phil Collins... and well, I heard that Cat Stevens spent a fair amount of time in Essaouira and even studied with Ma'alem Seddik, not to mention that he converted to Islam.
For me, I haven't noticed that I crack him up with mistakes but sometimes the way I conjugate adjectives turns him or other men into a female and he always corrects me on that.
One of my mistakes that cracked ME up was when I found out that the way I was pronouncing the word “heart” in Darija meant I was actually saying “dog.” So all the time I kept saying, “Ma'alem Seddik has a big heart,” I was saying, "he has a big dog,” and “he has a really open dog.” hahahah
Of course, that doesn't measure up to when I first got to Mali and was mispronouncing the word “heart” in French and was instead saying, “ass.” But as I told Hassan, “Hey, it's not my fault that the word heart and ass are so close. I blame the French.”
Nevertheless, we've both learned a lot. We still have our own language that mixes French, Arabic and English, probably respectively 40/40/20 percent. It's difficult for others to understand us but sometimes other Moroccans catch on since they tend to mix in French words as well. In any case, our Tamara-Hassan dialect works well for us but I have to really concentrate with French people here to speak without mixing in so much Arabic.
I think there are a lot of Arabic words that are going to stick with me when I get home, too- words/concepts that have no real English translation but which I really like.
