So a High School Buddy Ended up in Kuwait

I have a friend of mine whom I knew in high school, who joined the army and ended up in Kuwait, and he finds himself at times interacting with the locals.

I asked if he had picked up any Arabic, he said that they all spoke English, but only with him and the other Americans. So, myself being a linguist, I gave him a few key Arabic cultural phrases, nothing sufficient enough for communication, but just for good manners. The translations were for please, thank you, a common phrase that means ‘praise be to Allah’, used for any positive situation, and a common courtesy word used in various situations. I insisted to him that using these phrases would get him ‘on their good side’, Insha’Allah.



It reminded me of a post somewhere within the trenches of the internet I read long ago about speaking with people outside of their native tongue, that you will subconsciously strew your accent to match theirs, without noticing, because deep down, you’ll empathize with them and want to make them feel more comfortable. I thought it was strange, that one would construe his own speech for the sake of a stranger, but it did give me a sense of hope for humanity’s natural curve toward empathy. In fact, and this is from a confirmed scientific study, when Israeli and Palestinian oppositionists were brought to a facility, and shown video clips designed to make them empathize with ‘their enemy’, they not only expressed feelings of empathy toward the other group, but they did so more-so than they did with neutral parties, I believe in this case it was impoverished African natives.

Additionally, it seems agreeable that when a foreigner comes into a country with such a rich culture, any attempt to embrace said culture, which always includes language, would be welcomed with open arms. However, there are exceptions to every rule (if Arabic language has taught me nothing else, I’ll remember that) and the feelings of the native to such a gesture will of course depend on the individual, or individuals in question. Maybe an American using Arabic could be considered an insult, or at any respect insulting; however, that goes against my teachings and studies of language in general. Of the three languages I’ve studied, each mentor has informed me diligently that natives love when foreigners, especially Americans, at least attempt some smatterings of the local tongue.

Well, best wishes to my friend. Thanks for reading, and I hope you look forward to future posts, my next thought currently is of the natural human empathy I mentioned above.