FOREIGN LANGUAGE

I did schooling in Chennai and studied in the State Board wherein we had English and Tamil as languages to study. There were several protests against Hindi in those days (70s) by the regional political parties. Despite the political outcry against Hindi every household particularly the middle class families encouraged their children to study Hindi.

I joined for Hindi Classes (Prathmik) along with my brother T.P.Ashok about 35 years ago. We used to go to Akbar Sahib Street in Triplicane for the Hindi Classes. Every day while we were waiting for the Teacher we used to hear the Prayer from the Mosque which was right opposite the Hindi Class. Over a period of time I started remembering that Prayer as I have heard it repeatedly. I was actually checking if any of those words that used in the Prayer is from Hindi. Later I came to know that the prayer is in Urdu/Arabic. I used to think it will be nice to learn that language also.

My stint with Hindi ended with Prathmik and I got through the exams with Second Class. My brother continued his Hindi Classes and went on to complete the entire set of exams upto Praveen.

In 2001 when I came to Dubai I felt the need for learning Arabic as I thought it would be easier with discharge of duties. In my day to work I had to go through documents which were in Arabic and always needed help from someone. Though the need was felt I did not make a serious attempt to learn Arabic until 2010. It was only towards the end of 2010 that I took this up seriously and went to Alliance Française to enquire about the Arabic Classes.

I finally joined for Arabic Classes in January 2011 and it proved to be a wonderful experience. Learning a foreign language is very difficult but it is also very interesting. The words and the context in which different words are being used is really very interesting to learn. The Grammar is the toughest part of any language and Arabic it is not an exception. In English we say he came, she came, I came, you came, they came, we came – but in Arabic there is a different word for each Jeet, Jeetee, Jetoo, Aaja, Ajat, Ajoo, Jeena.

The script is also very difficult to follow and reading and writing is quite difficult in Arabic. There are similar letters but they vary with dots. There are two dots, three dots, dot above the letter and dot below the letter. For instance if the dot is below it is “Ba” and if the dot is above it is “na”. If we are not careful while writing then the word itself will change and thus the meaning as well. There are also strokes for vowels “aa” “ee” “oo”. Even if these punctuation strokes are not used in the real text one has to read the word with the vowel. For example when they write Dubai the vowel stroke for “oo” is not written in reality. But when we read we have to read with the vowel sound and read as Dubai and not Dbai. The pronunciation of certain letters is also very difficult.

After eight months of learning I have still not got the confidence to speak in Arabic. My recollection of words is very poor and hence the lack of confidence. I intend to continue with the Arabic Classes until I get the confidence to comfortably speak, read and write. I do not know how long it is going to take.

It is now my desire to learn at least five foreign languages over the next five years (2011 included). I have chosen “French” as my next Foreign Language. Learning a Foreign Language helps us not only to learn the language but in the process it helps us to learn the culture, values and customs.

T.P.Anand
Dubai, U.A.E.
3rd September 2011