What's the funniest wrong thing you've said so far?

This is a fabulous question! As many of you know I’m learning a Berber dialect called Tashlheit, which is spoken mostly in the southeast region of Morocco. This is a multi-lingual culture, where one language is spoken on the street (Darija, or Moroccan Arabic) and another is spoken at home (Tashlheit in the case of my host family, or Tamazight in other regions of the country). French and Spanish are also widely spoken, not to mention the fact that my artisan broke out in Japanese yesterday!

As you may also know about Morocco: it’s a Muslim country and, while some secular people do drink alcohol, it is not openly consumed (except by insensitive tourists). The funniest thing I’ve said so far is “Ma tskrt?” which means: “Have you been drinking?” I’ve asked my (religious) host sister this question almost every day I’ve been with my family! The crazy part is that it also means “what ARE you doing?” So something very offensive is actually something quite innocuous.

There are two other very funny things I’ve said so far. When my host niece asked me if I had a boyfriend, I thought she asked me if I had any friends so I said, “bezzef!” which launched the entire dinner table into a fit of giggles. Unmarried women do NOT have boyfriends here (or at least none that they would admit having). Later, they brought over cousins for me to consider as boyfriends. Awkward . . . Another time I mentioned in passing that “I do not wash my friends” instead of “I don’t wash the dishes.” (imduklin vs. irukutn). This is actually only funny to us Americans, because in a hammam (public bath) one would wash her friends (or at least scrub their backs).

My training group’s favorite phrase is: is tgit ashishaw? (“Are you a chicken?”) As you might guess, we use it whenever someone is a little tentative about something. We’re constantly asking our Language and Culture Facilitator, (LCF), Amina, to translate ridiculous things. If there’s something you’d like to know how to say, just let me know.

If you’re wondering if Tashlheit is difficult, you’re on the right track. It’s insanely difficult, but after a month I feel like I’m beginning to understand the logic. It’s just that the whole language overflows with logic! I do feel ready for the language exam we have to pass in order to be sworn in November, so that’s good news.

In other news, I received my final site assignment! There's an airport nearby so there are no longer any excuses! Start pricing tickets (and setting wedding dates) so you can visit me! xo