Arabic (page 3)
Beginners’ Arabic II (ALMC 204): Culture Module
Bethany Suitor
For my cultural portfolio, I did the tea module on Khallina.org. I learned a lot (katheeran), but the most exciting thing I learned in this module was how to make hibiscus tea (karkadeh) in a Sudanese way. The typical way to make hibiscus tea (and the way I have always made it) is to boil the leaves. However, the Sudanese way of making karkadeh is to leave the leaves sit in cold water for two days. I read it’s supposed to be richer in flavour so I am excited.
I looked at and read every section in the module, but when I came across “Step 4” I was very excited. There was a chart of the different tea recipes existing in different Arab regions, and it asked what tea you would like to try. Immediately when I read about the karkadeh tea I exclaimed, “that one!” I already drink hibiscus tea almost daily. I buy the leaves at a health food store and boil them and either drink it like that or refrigerate it and add it to my black tea (specifically orange pekoe) in the mornings. I like tart flavours, so naturally I was excited to see hibiscus tea is part of a specific Arab culture. I remember reading in the Alif Baa textbook that it’s important to “own” the words to help remember the vocabulary. I can definitely own hibiscus tea, so I will always remember karkadeh and that it’s popular after Ramadan in Egypt.
Secondly, in the “Your Turn” section of the module it was incredibly interesting to read about the dispersion of the word for “tea” around the globe. Like many cultures that are across the sea, I drink tea throughout the day and always in the morning, after supper, and before bed. Since tea is such a big part of my daily life, it was interesting to read its history and its names across the globe. “Tea if by sea, and cha if by land” was a concept especially interesting to learn about. I had already made the connection between South Asian “chai” and Arabic “shai” when I first learned the word for “tea” in Arabic. I knew the similar names for “tea” had to be connected, so to learn about that in depth was interesting to me.
I also recognized words in this module and learned new things. I recognized the basics such as: sukkar, haleeb, maa’, aswad, and akhdar, but another word I recognized was “thelj”. I either didn’t know before, or forgot, that “thelj” can also mean ice. When I saw it spelled, I knew it meant snow, but when I found out in terms of tea it means ice, I got excited. That will also help me remember “thelj” because I can own it (since it relates to tea directly).
The new things I learned had to do with using “with” in Arabic. I knew that “bi” meant “with” in Arabic, but I forgot that “bi” is used in terms of how you do something (drink tea, write, etc.) and that “ma’” is used when you’re doing something with someone. This module helped me to always remember the differences between those two, something that went over my head before. Also, I learned that I can combine “bi” and “laa” to write “bilaa” and make the word “without”—something I didn’t realize before.
Something that was challenging for me was when I listened to the song “Here’s a sweet cup.” There were lyrics posted below with English translation, transliteration, and Arabic. I thought I would recognize words that I saw in English such as: my son, my love, our friends, and love. However, I didn’t recognize any of them. I’m pretty sure for “son” they used “walid”. Even “tea/shay” was spelled differently. I was so confused. Then I clued in that it was a Moroccan song and that they use a different dialect. The takeaways from that were learning that “tea” in Moroccan Arabic is “ataay” which is ironically closer to the English word. I will also hold on to the words “na’naa’” and “’anbir” which mean “mint” and “amber” since those are easy to remember and have relations with my beloved tea.
Bibliography and Pictures