Speaker 1: 0:00

Hi, I'm Alexa and I'm Rory, and together we are the Romies. We are made to each other. Right, we are a touring musical duo.

Speaker 2: 0:11

And our music has taken us to all kinds of places all around the world and keeps us always on the go.

Speaker 1: 0:16

So we hope you enjoy our stories and adventures while running around working to keep all your plates spinning.

Speaker 2: 0:22

And we hope, to facilitate your busy lifestyle and feed your inner travel bug. Hi everyone, hello, we have a fun episode today. So we are in our second week of our learning languages for travel, and so today we're going to dive into Arabic. So we have with us our good friend John, and we asked John because not only is he super fun, but also he was. We first met John because we were traveling in Egypt and we were John and his wife were our cultural guides and translators for our trip to Egypt, and we were in Egypt for 10 days. We got to do like so much of the country.

Speaker 1: 1:10

It's okay, you can pity them. They need a little pity yeah.

Speaker 2: 1:14

They put up with so much, with us y'all.

Speaker 1: 1:16

Yeah, I mean, you've met my wife.

Speaker 2: 1:17

I mean yeah, and they're like no, you can't act that way. You can't do like, just calm down, like what are you doing? Stop, don't.

Speaker 2: 1:23

let me ask right yeah so so as we kind of want to share the link, like just give you some basic language tips on arabic for travel, he's going to also throw in some of those cultural things before we kind of dive in with that, john, you're going to share with us. You're not going to give us proper arabic right. You're going to give us egyptian arabic, so're going to give us Egyptian Arabic. So explain about that.

Speaker 3: 1:50

Just a little quick thing so people know, like what they're learning. Okay, so Arabic. It has the standard Arabic, which is like what you hear on the TV news or you read in a newspaper spoken in schools, and that's like standard Arabic. It has like its rule and you need to like, if you are going to speak it correctly, you need to know those rules. Then we have all different kinds of dialects of Arabic Like for, we have Egyptian Arabic, we have Levant Arabic, like for Syria, lebanon, that region, and then we have the Gulf Arabic, which is Saudi Arabia, qatar, dubai. So Egyptian Arabic.

Speaker 3: 2:30

I would say it's understood across the Arab countries. So that's, I guess it's going to be useful to, especially with those small phrases in Arabic, hopefully that if you use those, you are going to be understood regardless of the country you are in. So this is Egyptian Arabic. Yes, that's what I will be passing on to you today. End. So this is egyptian arabic. Yes, that's what I will, I will be passing into you today.

Speaker 3: 2:48

Okay, all right, like if you are visiting like a local market in morocco, for example, or in jordan, and if you are dealing with like people, they might be like highly educated if you start speaking like standard arabic, or what we call it the fosha arabic. I don't know how much of this is going to be. It's not about understanding, because they understand it, but it's how much they are going to be expecting you, as a foreigner in the country, to be speaking standard Arabic. So, between the accent, between the foreign pronunciation, and it's not the common language they are using every day, I guess it's going to be more challenging. But if you will say something in Egyptian Arabic or in the dialect of the country you are visiting, I believe that you have higher chances of being understood. They are going to appreciate it regardless the fact that you are trying to speak their language. That's going to be the main thing. They are going to be amazed and appreciating that you are trying to speak their language.

Speaker 3: 3:45

So, it's just like we're trying to give people like higher chances of being understood or passing the message they are trying to like. If they are trying to ask a question or ask for direction or something, then just give them a higher chance of being understood.

Speaker 1: 4:00

Yeah, it's good we're going over Arabic, because right now we're in Finland and that's the language as all Americans know, that's the language of the country of Finland is Arabic, particularly Egyptian Arabic, so it's good that we're learning this so we can go out and make use of it immediately in Lapland. Oh yeah, y'all. Good luck with that.

Speaker 2: 4:17

Yeah, so y'all, last week we recorded learning Japanese when we were in Switzerland and now that we're in Finland, we're recording learn Arabic. So you're a Romy when you're with us. So, john, I've got. Before we dive into language for like specific words, just a quick question. I remember visiting I believe it was Egypt. We were told, not by you, but maybe and maybe it's just the women, but as we're like walking down the street that we shouldn't just like make eye contact with people, so is that like a woman thing? Is that an Arabic thing? Was that specific to wherever we were at the time?

Speaker 1: 5:00

It's probably they told you they meant to.

Speaker 2: 5:04

I mean, that's what Rory and I, when we're walking around, whether we're just taking a walk on a trail or going to the store we're going to make eye contact with people and say hi, I'm like I don't know exactly it's going to be.

Speaker 3: 5:19

I don't know how to answer this because it's going to depend on where you are. So, for example, if you are in a tourist area and like people are trying to show you their like tourist products and stuff, they are expecting you to communicate this way with them. But if you are just like walking in the street, I believe yeah, we don't do much of like eye contact all the time or just like saying hi to everybody you see on on the, if you are just like taking a walk, or if you are getting into the subway and you start greeting everyone, I guess that's going to be like yeah. But if you are like getting into like an office, for example, if you are like a doctor office and people are there and you say hi just like a general one, not with an eye contact with every single person of them, I guess that's normal and expected.

Speaker 3: 6:07

Hey, yeah, when we do that eye contact, I believe it's just like gonna have more signal of like I want to have like a personal like, uh, communicate, starting a personal conversation. Maybe that's why you were told that to avoid the, the direct eye contact, because that might be misunderstood. Yes, like hey, let's talk. It's almost like an invitation to start a conversation instead of just walking or keeping your direction. That's it, yeah.

Speaker 1: 6:37

I do remember one specific instance when we were visiting might have been a friend of yours home, their house, and it was in an apartment building and we were walking up the stairs and a girl was coming down the stairs. She was probably in her 20s or late teens and she, very specifically, when she saw me coming, she looked down and away and would not make eye contact. And I think I'd asked you about that and you said young girls or whatever, something about that. What's tell me about that?

Speaker 3: 7:04

Yeah, it's for the same thing, like what I'm telling you. If she is going to be looking to you and smiling and stuff, this means hey, I'm starting a conversation and she doesn't want to send that message, especially to someone from a foreign culture. But even if it's just like an Egyptian man, she doesn't know, most likely she's not going to be trying to send a signal or a message say like, hey, let's be friends.

Speaker 3: 7:29

if she doesn't know this person. Yeah, right, so I guess that was just like a sign of respect, just like. Hey, like I'm not inviting you to my personal space with you yeah, I'm not inviting you to my personal space, basically, just like. Hey, just like I'm going on my way and that's it.

Speaker 1: 7:45

Yeah, it was real, it was very clear. That's a good point, because it was very clear, you know, because, as an American, I was wanting to go up and you know, just walk up and nod my head, you know, as we pass people, because we like to be friendly and say hi. But we're not flirting, we promise, yeah, she looked down on the way and I thought that was a very specific message to me. Yes, it was.

Speaker 3: 8:05

Okay, yeah, but this doesn't mean, if you said hi or if you smile, that she's going to be like completely like aggressive, or anything like this.

Speaker 3: 8:22

No, it's just like she's not trying to start that conversation or send you a wrong signal. But if you said like, let's say, if you, by the time you knew how to speak Arabic and you said something like good morning or something like this, most likely she would have responded with the same word and then she would continue walking. It's not going like hey, we are enemy. That's not the message at all. That's yeah okay, cool.

Speaker 2: 8:42

So let's dive into how do we greet.

Speaker 3: 8:45

Okay, we have greeting for the morning and we have a greeting for the evening and I believe that's it. I mean, like I don't think we have like someone for the early afternoon, late afternoon, it's just like morning and night and that's basically. They have some other names, but I don't know if they are used in greetings, other names but I don't know if they are used in in greetings. So in the morning we say sabah and the word khair means goodness, means just like something good. So sabah, it's basically good morning. If it's in the evening, we are going to say masaa. The same word is just like the word sabah and masaa. That's what, what they change morning and evening. Okay, good morning is going to be sabah al-khair, sabah al-khair, that's good morning.

Speaker 2: 9:37

One more time, slowly with the sabah thing.

Speaker 3: 9:41

Yes thing, yes and oh. By the way, in Arabic we have what I call it like three levels of the letter h. Okay, because the reason I call it letter h? Because most of foreigners they hear all these three Arabic letters and they either write it or repeat it as a letter h, but they are actually in Arabic. They are three different letters.

Speaker 3: 10:03

So we have the regular standard H, like the air sound, like he, for example. And then we have another one, which is the one used in the word good morning, which is it's not from the nose, it's from the throat, it's like sabah. And that's the one we are using in the word good morning, okay, sabah, okay, that's mean means morning, and then the. The last one is the one it's like mostly from the nose. Is that like the sound here? And that's the one in the second word in good morning. So in the first word we have the second h, or the middle h, which is صباح, and then in the second word we have the third one, which is الخير, khair. So sabah, al-khair.

Speaker 2: 11:07

Great Okay.

Speaker 3: 11:10

And for evening or night, it's going to be masaa, masaa, masaa al-khair the same exact word from the good morning meeting, greeting Masaa al-khair. That's good evening okay and basically, if we literally, can say hi, okay, just like when, if it got complicated, just like say hi and you're gonna be okay, you're good yeah oh, you know yes I don't know, I yes yes if we directly translate, we're basically saying morning good and then evening good. Correct, yes, okay.

Speaker 2: 11:51

All right Cool Water down the wrong pipe.

Speaker 3: 11:54

Usually this happens when you practice el cheir a lot. Yeah, so expect that.

Speaker 2: 12:00

This is where I can learn this language. I feel like I would damage my vocal cords in German. Okay Okay, all right, can learn this language. I would damage my vocal cords. Okay okay, all right. If we're gonna visit an arabic country, what else might we need for greetings or just getting around?

Speaker 3: 12:16

okay for greeting, like when we say hi or hello. It's different when you are going to someone or getting into a place or when someone is coming to you. Okay. So if you are, let's say, in a hotel and you have a guest taxi driver or anybody who's coming to meet you in the hotel, but you are receiving them a simple greeting, it can be just like ahlan, it means welcome, or hi, it can be used this way when you are receiving someone.

Speaker 3: 12:50

Okay, if you want the first h right that you said yes, you're right, yeah ahlan, so that's a, so that's a regular english h ahlan, there is no, there is no, it's just the regular h. So yes, so you can say also ahlan. Some many people to say ah, also many people say it's also a very, very common, it's just like an extra greeting, like you are very, very welcome, something like this. So it's, but ahlan by itself is good enough. So ahlan, ahlan, you can, yeah, you can repeat it multiple times, or you can. You will hear people are repeating this word multiple times when they are greeting someone and say like ahlan, ahlan, ahlan, it's just the same word. You're just like repeating it multiple times.

Speaker 2: 13:33

It's just like intense welcoming here, very excited to welcome you very excited to receive you.

Speaker 3: 13:40

Oh, I like the rhyme of the Ahlan Wahlan Ahlan, ahlan, ahlan, ahlan. Yeah, it's just like you keep repeating it. So Ahlan Ahlan, ahlan, okay. But if you are going to visit someone or you are going to their place, I guess it's going to be the time of the day greeting. It's going to be like the Masaa al-Khair or Sabah al-Khair when you are getting into their places, because usually the host is welcoming the visitors. So when you say Ahlan, it's basically when you are the host.

Speaker 2: 14:12

Now, do you have to wait for them to say it first, or can you? If you're outgoing like me, can you just say it?

Speaker 3: 14:18

Yeah, I don't think you are going to need to do any waiting. As soon as they open the door, the Ahlan, ahlan, ahlan, immediately. So, yes, that's gonna be. That's just gonna be like, hey, we are welcoming you and that's gonna be immediate. Yeah, yes all right.

Speaker 2: 14:34

The arabic people are very welcoming people. They are very welcome that's true.

Speaker 3: 14:38

Yes, all right, speaking of welcome, do you say?

Speaker 2: 14:42

like. Thank you and you're welcome.

Speaker 3: 14:44

Shokran is the thank you Shokran, so it's like an S-H sound. So it's like shokran, shokran. Yeah, you can say shokran, absolutely, yes. Yeah, the word thank you means shokran, and again you can say shokran, shokran, shokran, yeah you can repeat that several times as well.

Speaker 1: 15:04

John, I love the way you said that. You said the word thank you means shokran instead of shokran means thank you. That was awesome. Yes, the word thank you means shokran. That's awesome. It is, of course it does.

Speaker 2: 15:23

Okay. So if I just said thank you and you said you're welcome to me, or I said chokran and then you said you're welcome, how would I say that? How would someone say that?

Speaker 3: 15:33

you're welcome. Okay, so just like to keep it simple. There are different ways to to respond to chokran, but just like to keep it easier to memorize uh we have the word afwan af one, and that can be it, because it rhyme with chakran. So if someone say chakran, you can say half one, like let's say, if you are giving someone a gift and they say chakran, that's the response for this one. Like say, hey, half one. There's like, don't mention it, it's more one and not wan.

Speaker 1: 16:09

Afwan, yeah, afwan.

Speaker 3: 16:11

Afwan Wan Wan. Okay, okay, and it's a word that starts with the letter ain, which doesn't exist in English. So it's close to the A sound, but it's not an A, it's a special character. It's called Ayn yes.

Speaker 2: 16:30

Afwan.

Speaker 3: 16:33

That's great. Excuse me Almost like, please. You can use the word lausamaat If you are going to ask someone something like if you need water, if you need anything from anyone, or if you need water, if you need anything for anyone.

Speaker 2: 16:47

Anyone accidentally bump into them, yeah, or?

Speaker 1: 16:50

or if your friend's wife gives you this thing called lax tea and you're at the pyramids and you're in a really bad situation yeah, you need to use this. I'm just saying not that that would ever happen with us.

Speaker 2: 17:03

no, no, no, no. I did that to me. No, I'm just saying not that that would ever happen, not that that's happened with us. No, no, and your wife Not that John's wife did that to me.

Speaker 1: 17:07

No, I'm just saying, you know, it could happen True.

Speaker 3: 17:15

If you like, hit someone or something and you want to say, excuse me, that's a little bit different than when you are asking for something from someone. Gotcha, okay, respectively. Gotcha, two different things, okay, okay. So if you are asking someone to help you with something, then you will use the word لو سمحت, لو سمحت. So let's say, if you need water or ask any question, you will say I need this, لو سمحت. Or then you will ask your question or your request, whatever you are asking. If you are ordering food or something, then it's just kind of like asking in a polite way it sounds like the second H, the middle.

Speaker 3: 17:57

That's correct. Yes, yeah, you are trying to keep up with her. Yes, and that's a good one to memorize because it can be used in many different situations and it shows respect and it was understanding of the culture as well. So it is, and it's not very difficult, it doesn't have that or anything, so it can be accomplished easily.

Speaker 2: 18:21

yeah, so then, if we're going to accidentally bump into somebody and we need excuse me for that, then what's that one?

Speaker 3: 18:30

if the mistake or the problem already happened. I guess it's going to be I am sorry instead of excuse me. So it's going to be as if, as if, as if, okay, so that's if, like, if you step on somebody's shoes or something, so like, like, as if, okay, but if you want them to make a space for you, like as in, excuse me, you want, like to….

Speaker 2: 18:54

Right, let me pass and get by.

Speaker 3: 18:56

Then that's a third one. It's going to be bad, isn't it Bad? Isn't it Bad? Isn't it bad? Isn't it bad? Isn't it so, like if you're gonna tap on someone's shoulder and ask them to move so you can, like, exit a subway or something bad, isn't it bad, isn't it?

Speaker 1: 19:20

How would you spell that in English, for example?

Speaker 2: 19:23

Bad like B-A-D, and then Iznak I-Z-N-A-K.

Speaker 3: 19:28

Yeah, is that what you said? Bad again, it has that letter Ayn, which doesn't exist in English. So, actually, like younger generation, if they are texting phonetically it's Arabic word, but they are using Arabic like English keyboard. Instead of that word, that letter, they are going to use the digit three. Okay, because the Arabic letter for the letter Ayn, it looks very similar to the digit three, but the opposite direction. So they use it to indicate hey, we are using that Arabic letter Ayn. Yes, so it is special. It is a special Arabic letter, but you can use double A's to indicate this is not just like Ba, it has the Ayn sound, so it's going to be Baed. I'm trying to write it down here.

Speaker 2: 20:20

So B-A-E-D almost Baed, yeah, baed, and then Eznak, e-z-n-a-e-d, almost Bad, yeah, bad.

Speaker 3: 20:24

And then is neck E-Z-N-A-K. I would say Is neck, and there's like two syllables here Bad Is neck, bad is neck Great.

Speaker 2: 20:35

Okay, nice. What else might we need to know to get to be a respectful traveler in an Arabic country?

Speaker 1: 20:42

Or a successful traveler. Do we need like? I don't?

Speaker 2: 20:46

understand or do you speak English?

Speaker 3: 20:49

Yes, hugs and kisses and that's easy. Yeah, tell us about it.

Speaker 3: 20:56

Usually, like the opposite genders, they don't hug each other unless they know each other. So if you go visit like, let's say, you started a relationship with your tour guide and you became friends and he invited you to go visit his family you don't go either when you are getting into the house or when you are leaving, and hug everyone, including his female family members. That's extremely. It's going to be different based on where he is from family education. So that's a little bit of something to avoid unless you know this person and his family and they are okay with that. And same thing for the woman not to hug all men of that family unless they know that they are okay with that and they understand what exactly it means. Because that that it is a sensitive issue.

Speaker 3: 21:47

Yeah, because that's not a common thing in most of our country? Yes, yeah, because you know very yeah, but it is very normal to see like two men or two women, arabic people. They are greeting each other and and are shaking hands and hugging each other or kissing. That's just the normal greetings between them. What else?

Speaker 2: 22:09

Would we reach out a hand to shake their hand, to say hello. My name is and we would. Would we shake their hand? Is that kind of the normal?

Speaker 3: 22:17

I would say, yeah, that's not as sensitive, like. The worst case scenario is like if some of the families they are really traditional or they are very religious, they might say I'm sorry, I don't shake hands with opposite gender, but it's not going to be any sensitivity, it's not going to be like something that will make everybody uncomfortable in the room. It's not like this, no.

Speaker 2: 22:40

Okay.

Speaker 3: 22:41

Yeah, actually, if they rejected that, they would be apologetic. Well, whether what they say, like I'm sorry I can't do this, but they would like understand, like you don't mean anything bad or you don't mean, you don't mean any disrespect to them, they are not going to see this.

Speaker 1: 22:56

Yeah, yeah Is it. Is there a? Thing?

Speaker 3: 23:08

in Arab culture with, like if you were to meet the family and you don't know whether to shake hands or what, if you just sort of do a like, a, a bit of a not a bow, but just a nod, like nice to meet you, yeah, yeah, that's absolutely understood. It's like, it's a it's understood gesture. But shaking hand, it is also like it's very common in Arab countries now, you missed.

Speaker 1: 23:20

You mentioned the kiss. Is that a bit like what? What they call the bizu, where it's on the, on the cheek, like in europe?

Speaker 3: 23:26

yeah, yeah, just like a like, check on it like this, and that's just, it can be between men and men or women and women, and it's just like type of greeting.

Speaker 1: 23:34

Is it normally both cheeks, one cheek? Does it vary that?

Speaker 2: 23:39

different from one country to country same with the french countries, then yeah, Some countries they are only two, others they are three.

Speaker 3: 23:50

So that's going to be something you need to ask when you visit the country, at least like pay attention, count when you see it happening.

Speaker 1: 23:58

So you ask how many times can I kiss you? Is that the?

Speaker 3: 24:03

Please don't start very nice to meet you, that's another thing yeah, even if, like men or women, they like kiss each other in irk, but they are not expecting you to practice that when you are just meeting with them or when you are visiting with them. So that's a that's another thing. The people are not very sensitive to those things. When you are like starting, they understand there is difference. They understand that is you're just trying to find out how things work in that country. So there is no, yeah, it's not gonna be. Like, hey, you should have just four times, not three. I mean, like, how can we start this friendship now? I mean, like we are starting on the wrong foot here.

Speaker 1: 24:48

We're fed a very specific diet of information about the Middle East and the Arabic people. So would you say that, in general, they are not looking for offense, like they're not looking for something that you've done that is offensive. They're not on edge all the time Because I felt like it was a very welcoming, a very open, friendly culture, like blew my mind.

Speaker 3: 25:12

Yeah, yeah, that's absolutely correct and that's straight. I mean, I work with a lot of people from America, europe and different other like countries coming to work and inside the Middle East, and even when you are dealing with people, they are not like they don't even know how to read and write Arabic, like if they are totally uneducated, they have no idea about cross-culture processes or anything like that, but still they can absolutely tell if you love them, you respect them or not, even if they don't understand a word you are saying. When you don't know how to talk to them and I witnessed this firsthand. I see people they are like this family coming from the South here and in America. They have no idea how even to say hi in Arabic. Say hi in Arabic and from day one they are welcome to be to be treated as family member by their like taxi driver or their doorman, and they are just like both sides.

Speaker 3: 26:12

they don't speak any of each other language, but they are friends and they are family and there is great connection. And I saw the opposite people. They come with like all the education they can get about the culture and they know stuff about our country and our culture that we don't even know and they are that well educated and sometimes they teach us even some Arabic words that we don't know. I mean yeah, and then when I search, yeah, you're right, yeah, that means this, but still, when they are leaving, they are just treated as foreigners. They didn't have that connection. So, yes, if you are visiting any of the Arab countries and you have nothing but love and respect to the people there, I don't think you should worry about any of the sensitivity there. But if you did something or said something that it's not culturally acceptable or appropriate, most likely they're going to receive it with a lot of like laughing and they're like, hey, don't do this again. That's gonna be about it, yeah right.

Speaker 2: 27:14

This means this and this, but it's not gonna be like hey, please leave, like we can't have you here, like no, I don't think that's gonna be the case yeah, yeah, there's gonna be grace, and as long as we come, with respect and love, yes, and wherever we travel, that should be kind of the approach, which is why we want to learn some basic things, because that shows respect when you try to speak the language even just a little bit yeah, the main thing does it.

Speaker 3: 27:42

it can be like an oversensitive area is religion, regardless of christian or islam, like when that's something. You need to be a little bit careful not to be like intentionally try to be disrespectful to what people, what people believe, because, across the board, all the people from the arab countries, they are religious, even if they are not practicing their faith as they should. Still, when it comes to religion and faith, they are like that's a very important aspect of their life. So that's, I would say that's the only thing that it's like they don't take it lightly, but again, they are not on the edge, they are not like just like waiting for the slight thing. So, no, that's not the case, but it is an important item for everybody's life. Yeah, definitely.

Speaker 2: 28:28

Any other phrases we need to know before we close out today's episode. Well, toilet, everybody needs to know that one, oh, everybody needs toilet and water.

Speaker 3: 28:38

Okay, I guess the best word to use is ham-mam, and it is very important to have that two-syllable thing, hamam. It has like an M and then it's starting with another M, so it's hamam, that's bathroom or the restroom. But because if you said hamam, that's peasant, that's just like it comes to a completely different thing. Yeah, that's a bird, so it's important. A completely different thing. Yeah, it's a bird, so it's unmanly. Yes, because you're going to be like on the edge. And then the other side, the other person, is just like do you think that maybe you like hunting or you're hungry, you want food, and so that's not the time to mispronounce an Arabic word. You urgently need food or to hunt? Yes, but again, that's an Egyptian Arabic. I don't know if there's different words for different Arabic countries, but I believe it's going to be understood across the Arab region.

Speaker 3: 29:42

And water, water is maya, it's not ma, it's ma, maya, maya, maya. Another verb you can use and that will help. You can say like to drink, which is yashrab. That's the verb. But if you want to say I want to drink, you say like to drink. That's the verb. But if you want to say I want to drink, you say like, and if you said and you stop this, it doesn't mean tea or coffee or anything, it just means I need a drink of water Basically.

Speaker 2: 30:18

So water means and then I want to drink. Is how you say that.

Speaker 3: 30:24

I is, I is to drink, is how you say that? Ais ashrab, ais, ashrab Ais means I want, or I would like, and again, when we use, we can use it with the word we learned before, which is please, it's lausamah. So ais ashrab, lausamمحت. That's beautiful. You have a complete Arabic sentence now, not just words, whole sentence.

Speaker 2: 30:51

Okay, real quick Coffee and tea.

Speaker 3: 30:56

Coffee أهوى. Again, it's like for the Egyptian Arabic. We're using it a lighter character which sounds more like an A أهوى, but the correct standard Arabic. We are using it, a lighter character which sounds more like an A Ahwa, ahwa, but the correct standard Arabic for that it's Qahwa, which is not a K sound, but it's a deeper K sound. It's Qahwa, but Ahwa is good enough. Ahwa starts with an A sound. That's understood. Ahwa, ahwa, ahwa. It starts with an A sound. That's understood. Ahwa, ahwa, Ahwa.

Speaker 3: 31:26

Tea is, I believe, in most Arab countries. When we talk about tea, they mean the black tea. They don't mean green tea. They don't mean mint tea or hibiscus tea. Those are different drinks with different names. Tea is black tea, basically. So that's something to be aware of. Like, yeah, any tea will be good, you're going to get a black tea, basically. So that's something to be aware of. Like, yeah, any tea will be good, you're gonna get a black tea. So, if you don't, yeah. So tea is shai. So it's very, very similar to the word chai, but it's shai, shai, shai, shai, shai. The word for tea, shay, yeah, okay. So it's going to be S-H-A, maybe Y, it's going to be like Shay.

Speaker 2: 32:09

Shay, yeah, okay, perfect. What about yes, no and goodbye.

Speaker 3: 32:14

Goodbye, let's use ma'a salama or bye-bye. Many people like to say bye-bye, so bye-bye, or ma'a al-salama, ma'a al-salama, ma'a al-salama, ma'a al-salama. I would say you would use ma'a al-salama if someone is leaving you. Okay, like, let's say, if you are in a restaurant and someone is leaving, and then you would say ma'a al-salama If you are leaving, I guess it's going to. You can use Ma'a Salama as well, but it's bye-bye. I guess it's going to be more common to say bye because you are the person who is leaving.

Speaker 1: 32:54

So for English speakers it's always safe to say the bye-bye.

Speaker 3: 32:57

Bye. Yeah, it's very understood. Okay, good and hide are very well understood. You can pull back to those two when it gets complicated. Good, good and yes or no. Yes is aywa, no is la'a, but I guess it's going to be different based on the situation. So, but in general, yes means aywa and no means la'a.

Speaker 2: 33:26

And we learned that song la'a La'a, yes. That was the one song we learned. I will forever remember you teaching me that song. Yeah, we just kept hearing it out in the town.

Speaker 1: 33:42

And I always thought it was very popular. Then, yeah, it was good, it was a super fun song. I always thought iowa sounded like the state of iowa very yes, that's true.

Speaker 3: 33:52

Yes, it's just like it's iowa instead of iowa, and that's hello or goodbye.

Speaker 2: 34:00

That's that the yes.

Speaker 1: 34:02

Say it slowly for me A-Y-W-A.

Speaker 3: 34:06

A-Y-W-A. Okay, yeah, it is. It's exactly like Iowa, but it's a little bit lighter. At the beginning it was like A-Y instead of A A, so A-Y-W-A. Okay, let's say that if you want to say your name, that's because that's. It doesn't have variables. It's just like either if you are saying or a man is saying it or a woman is saying is that stays the same compared to the question. If you are going to ask someone about their name, then it depends on the gender of the person you are talking to. So my name is it's going to be Ismi, and then you put your name. Okay, ismi. Ismi means my name. Yes, ismi Is Mi. It's easy. Yeah, it's almost like Ismi.

Speaker 1: 35:00

Exactly. Yes, ismi, ismi, rory, yeah, and then you go Exactly.

Speaker 3: 35:11

Yeah, if you want, as you can say, ismack or Ismack if you are talking to a man, ismack if you are talking to a woman, and then you add the question A Okay, so that's one. So Is add the question A OK, so that's what. So Esmec A or Esmec A? Great, yeah, I can dig it. Yeah, but I guess, if you, just if you shared your name, most likely they are going to tell you their name without you asking. So, you saved yourself a question in Arabic. You don't have to learn this one.

Speaker 2: 35:42

That's right. What can we get by with?

Speaker 1: 35:47

Absolutely Bye-bye, good start.

Speaker 3: 35:51

Bye-bye.

Speaker 2: 35:53

You can spend your mental energy on the other words, in this episode Absolutely. Well, this gets us started. Thank you so much. John, I really appreciate you taking us to the Arab world and giving us a little introduction.

Speaker 1: 36:08

Yes, quite literally all those years ago and now. Love it.

Speaker 2: 36:12

Love it, love it Very happy to be here.

Speaker 3: 36:15

Thank you very much for having me. Thank you, absolutely Okay, bye-bye.

Speaker 2: 36:26

We hope we've inspired you this episode, so join us next time. Please subscribe to rate and share our podcast with your friends or you know whomever? And please like and follow us on Instagram, youtube and Facebook.

Speaker 1: 36:35

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Speaker 2: 36:46

At wwwtheromiescom, that's right, that's. T-h-e-r-o-a-m-i-e-scom. We'll be there until next time. Yeah, thanks for listening, bye.