WHEN my friend from the US visited the Kingdom in March, her itinerary included landing in Riyadh, traveling to Madinah and Makkah and then flying out of Jeddah airport back to NewYork. When I met her, she lamented: "No one, NO ONE here speaks English!" I politely pointed out that many people did, even some shopkeepers and salesmen and women can speak at least shopping English. When she insisted that still, not enough people spoke English here, I asked her: "Why should Saudis speak English? Their language is Arabic and they read, write and speak Arabic. So tell me again, why should they speak English? Just because we in the US speak English, the world should only stick to English?" ...(Silence.) However, I do understand her sentiment completely and empathize. When I first moved to Saudi Arabia a year and half ago, I felt extremely frustrated with not being able to communicate well with local people. At the time of moving, I had envisioned living in this exotic desert area, the palm trees, the camels, the horses, the falcons, the finjan filled with tea. I arrived here, armed with my list of to-do things and to-visit destinations. I had dreams of mingling with poetry reciting Bedouin ladies wearing the nigab. Oh, the mystery! All those beautiful, mesmerizing accounts of life in Saudi Arabia on Google and TripAdvisor. Now, all my dreams were being shattered because I couldn't communicate with them because they didn't speak my language, English! Blasphemy! My friends in the US were, of course, curious about my experience here. I always complained about how I was not able to explore this place more because people in general do not understand my language. My friends commiserated, suggested things like Google Translate, maybe an English-to-Arabic dictionary. "Do they have dictionaries there?" they asked. I remember feeling miserable. It took me at least six months of living here to realize that maybe, just maybe, they are not the problem in this language barrier. Maybe I should know some more Arabic. After all, no one invited me to come here. I had options and one of the options meant moving to Saudi Arabia and I took it willingly. I knew Arabic is the official and spoken language here, but I still held a grudge against Saudis for not speaking enough English! I cannot remember exactly when or how a shift in my thinking occurred. I am not even aware if it was a gradual process or an epiphany in the middle of the night or a combination of both, but one day, it just dawned on me that it is wrong for a non-Arabic speaking expat to expect local people to speak English. Living in the US sometimes gives you a certain sense of entitlement, an "us vs the rest of the world" mindset. It makes us feel like we are somehow "better" than the rest of the world and everyone should be following our example, thinking the way we think, living the way we live. Reality is far, far from that. How is it that immigrants are expected to learn English when they move to the USA, the UK or Australia? Nobody accommodates immigrants by putting up signs in Turkish, Arabic, Russian, Urdu, etc. Well, in some places, they do now, but by and large, English remains the official language and the medium of instruction. Arabic is a beautiful language. It is the language of the Holy Qur'an. Arabic poetry is music to the ears. Arabic is deep, it is comprehensive, it is romantic. Language is an integral part of a culture and a nation's identity. Countries that have been colonized by other nations often not only speak their former masters' languages but also try to blindly ape their ways and customs. Some of these may be diametrically opposed to the local norms, yet the colonized adhere to them, often for decades even after achieving and declaring independence from their colonizers. The destruction of a native language is the first step toward the destruction of the native culture. Vice versa, a staunch adherence to the native language is essential in maintaining and advancing the native culture. So now, when people complain to me about Saudis not speaking English, all I say is: "Why should they?"
