Saturday, September 8, 2012

Translating Arabic English to English

I am on the phone with the appointment desk at our hospital, making an appointment for our daughter's 4 month check up. We have already settled on the date and the time when the person on the oder end says "Forfakseen?". From the tone I can hear that it is a question, but I am struggling to understand, so I ask him to repeat it. "For fakseen?" he says, now I know he says "for" something, but what on earth is a fakseen?! My puzzlement is obvious, because without asking he says "For fakseen or just check up?" That's when the light in my head finally switches on "Yes, it is for her vaccines" I say.

Although I lived over here for well over a year and I dealt with persons of Arabic origin for years before that, the accent when they speak English is still something that I am struggling with sometimes!

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