What's this Arabic you speak of?

ya noortje,

this is one of the most interesting emails i have got in a looong time.
thanks for sharing all of this with me.

your questions are very valid, and i think it makes sense to ask them as a non-arab, meaning, that you wouldn't have asked those questions had you been raised in an arab country, because these are such subtle dynamics that it doesn't even occur to us to wonder about. unless of course it's a matter of interest, say, to a radio broadcaster who wonders how to deliver the next piece of news (in fusha or ammeyya?) ... then the matter becomes more salient to her.

ok, let's take them one by one:


What do you think about the gap between fusha and ammeyya, written and spoken arabic?
let's get one thing clear first:
there is written ammeyya, especially in cartoons (eg. Mostafa Hussein) and contemporary poetry (eg. Ahmad Fouad Negm, Salah Jahin). also in novels, when the author wants to switch between a narration (him telling the story) and a dialogue between the characters. and typically in most scripts written for film or theater. the national theater in egypt resorts back to fusha when they perform plays for old foreign writers, like Shakespeare, unless they want to wink at the audience, that the matter discussed in that old play still relates to our today and here and now.

so, obviously it's a big mix of when to use what.

luckily for fusha, it has a universal protection system, which is the Holy Quraan. because there are institutes and boards specifically made to monitor that the quraan is maintained word for word from one copy to the next, and make a lot of noise if they find any deviations, the bi-product of this process is a maintained, protected fusha language, used to write the quraan itself. in fact, Magmaá Al Lugha al Arabeyya, which is the institute established to protect and maintain the arabic language, takes any confusions back to the quraan, which is considered the ultimate reference in linguistics, grammar and conjugation.

but the speed at which ammeyya is developing and changing, borrowing and lending, is very high. this is a bi-product of freer expression in literary arts.
a movie writer could come up with a meaningless word, and coin it to mean something in his movie. the movie gets seen by millions, and within a few months, his new term has become part of the language. granted it's not taken seriously, but people "get" what it means.
for example, in the movie "Ismaéleyya Rayeh Gayy" (Ismaeleyya back and forth), the egyptian actor Mohammed Henedi says, "Nefsy fe Kamannanna" (I want Kamannanna), then a song kicks off about wanting that Kamannanna. That word means nothing, but through the song, you realize that it refers to all the intangibles that he cannot afford: more than one girl, a million dollar house, etc... So the audience left the movie house saying Nefsy fe Kamannanna. Now, imagine a situation where a crowd of young people gather at night, with no particular plans on how to spend the night out in cairo. they call each other. they finally get frustrated with the indecision. so one goes, "Yanni nefsak fe aih bezzabt??" (what do you want exactly?)... very seamlessly, the other would respond, "Nefsy fe Kamannanna" and both would laugh at it.

The tension between Fusha and Ameyya is the tension that exists between any two vehicles of media in our modern times. it's the same tension say, between Radio and the Internet. One is less relevant to the users than the other. Granted, you turn your radio from time to time, to fill a void, or fulfill a temporary function, but it's the internet that you use on a daily basis, and feel lost without. so it's an issue of relevance.

It's really interesting to have read the five categories of Arabic speakers, because it makes sense to me. it's not a top-of-mind division that i wake up and the morning and say, yeah, i know there are 5 different categories of native arabic speakers out there. but when i read about it, i acknowledged it.


If you write a letter to a friend, do you write it in fusha or in colloquial?
It depends. If you wanna sound like yourself, you write in ammeyya (colloquial), but it's challenging for most people because we aren't used to writing it at school. so to me personally, it's more tricky, specially with the spelling, because it's very subjective how you write something. for example, would you dismiss the Qaf letter and replace it with a Hamza, or would you write out the Qaf knowing that people will make the right pronunciation?

My mother and father corresponded in letter writing when he used to work in saudi arabia. actually it was a mix of telephone calls, recorded cassette tapes, and letters.
in the letters, there is an obvious switch between fusha and ammeyya, depending on the specific emotion expressed by the phrase, as well as how comfortable the writer was with expressing that emotion."Habibty we noor einy..." it reads both fusha and ammeyya in arabic (fusha, using the exact same letter, no tashkeel: "Habeebaty, wa nooro ayny") The reader makes the call on how to read it, and it's usually in ammeyya. sometimes the writer uses template fusha expressions in certain parts of the letter, because it's a custom (or lack of creativity): "maa hobby wa qobolaty" (with my love and kisses)... he doesn't write "bahebbek we baboosek".

When there was a fight that happened one day between the two of them (in the same house, no more long distance), mom opted to express herself in writing to resolve the conflict. She wrote the whole thing in fusha. i think she decided to do so because it's smoother to read, and therefore, there would be less confusion about what she meant. It would also give her a more authoritative percieved voice.


When you went to school did they teach you to write colloquial as well?
no, but the education in subjects taught in arabic is all in colloquial, even in the arabic language itself. the teacher would read a passage in fusha, and then explain it in "Yaani..." unless again the teacher is trying to be percieved as a firm authority or an expert.
We had inspectors come from time to time, sent by the ministry of education, to check on the teachers' performance. These guys always spoke in full fusha, with both the teacher and the students. that made them more distant, and certainly gave them the pedestal they meant to look down on the rest of us from.


And given that illiteracy is still a major problem in a lot of Arabic countries, don't you think that, for illiterate people, it is sometimes confusing that the only way of writing 'good 'Arabic is of such high standards; that it makes people insecure?
again, it depends on the salience of this matter to the illiterate person.
i imagine it would be intimidating for someone who plans to start reading and writing, who thinks about her own illiteracy in contrast of the "previliged literate others".
and this is not even class specific; some higher ups made it without knowing how to read and write, and they still get cornered about it. for example, egypt's alfa belly dancer, Fifi Abdo, used to join this entertainment show during Ramadan extensive entertainment programing. the show was charades, so it involved reading the name of the film she would act in silence off a piece of paper. while all the other actors and actresses read the film title and went straight ahead to act it away, she always had the judge whisper in her ears after pretending to read the title. cut to the present actors and actresses gossiping about it in whispers. of course fifi didn't give a damn about it, because she reckoned that her millions would buy several arabic language institutes.
my impression is to an illiterate person whose education is not such a big bother, she wouldn't allow the matter to intimidate her that much, because it's more likely than not she's of a struggling social class, and has a lot of other challenges to keep her busy. but again, i think it all depends.


Do you think it's wrong if a writer uses a 'bi-imperfectum' 'illi' and 'dilwa'ti' together with allathi, 'alan, inni uridu ann, etc?
I think everything depends on the context of the work presented. with reference to the plays and literary works i mentioned above, it should be a matter of choice, rather than incompetence. meaning, the author needs to choose to switch between the two modes of the language depending on what perception she wants to trigger in her audience.
think of it like art: when picasso went to develop cubism with other artists, he had already nailed down realism. he knew how to paint and draw to an impressive level of accuracy. and then he decided to tear it all up and switch to absract form. same, in my opinion, should apply to writers. you need to master your tools before experimenting with them. otherwise it would be haphazard and tasteless. but of course, it's not like we have a ton of picassos out there.


Do you mix it up sometimes?
I actually tend to mix english with ammeyya, due to my foreign education and living abroad. sometimes it's just easier to plug a word in in whatever language it may be.
but if i'm talking to an audience that doesn't know english, i am aware of that and make sure to make my words all ammeyya.
i rarely write fusha poetry, but i find more beauty in writing it than in writing in ammeyya to nail down that delicate emotion i'm trying to communicate. fusha, to me, is indisputably more powerful and elegant than ammeyya.


Do you ever use a dictionary of colloquial Arabic?
The only time i have run into one was in the back of a Lonely Planet, translating from english to street egyptian ammeyya. But i don't personally use it. i wouldn't need it.