Laugh Lines

Muchas Sucret

I recently returned from a 10-day trip to the Middle East. Anticipating this venture for several months, I purchased language software that would prepare me for all the meaningful conversations in Arabic that would take place. My enthusiastic beginnings soon waned to harried schedules and good intentions.

Upon arriving overseas, I determined that I would keep my normally extroverted self in check. “Watch what the others do, then mimic,” I said to myself. To some this would seem extremely reasonable and expected behavior, but to someone like me who finds silence annoying rather than golden, next to impossible.

On our third day, we stopped at a beautiful tearoom. My friends and I were served a beverage by a gracious Sudanese lady. Feeling that 68 hours in the country was certainly enough, I took the drink, smiled and said, “Sucret.” My Arabic-speaking friend to my left smiled and gave me a weird look.

I lipped to her, “What?”

She broke eye contact with me to receive her tea from the same woman. Then she spoke and said something that sounded like “shoo-krahn.”

I looked at her and asked her what that meant. She said, “It means ‘thank you.’”

“Thank you? Then what did I say?”

“From what I can tell, you called her a throat lozenge.”

All I wanted to do was say thank you. Was that so hard? Now totally determined to mesh with the culture and stop the giggling that took place at my expense, I decided to give myself another chance.

A bakery was located near another friend’s home. She suggested that we check out the inventory (never a bad idea in any country). The bakers were hospitable Lebanese who invited us to taste some of their creations. Enjoying the fruit of their labor, they looked at me and asked in Arabic if I liked it.

Nodding my head I said, “Si! Si! Muchas gracias.” Instantly, my husband looked at me and laughed. He whispered, “You just thanked them in Spanish.”

Spanish? Where did that come from? I can’t find the right words when I’m in Mexico; how come they show up now?

More giggling ensued. Now the phrase “muchas sucret” seems to be following me. Maybe I don’t have a future with Wycliffe Translators after all.

Pam and Kathy’s 7 Tips for Learning a New Language

Commit a block of time each day for language study, even if it’s 15 minutes.
Find a native speaker as an instructor if possible.
Purchase conversational CDs to get your ear accustomed to the lilt of the language.
Make index cards and keep them with you for quick review in the car or in a line.
Take a trip to a country that speaks the language. Immersion is the quickest way to learn.
Speak the new vocabulary words out loud. You’ll gain confidence the more you try.
See people smile as they hear their language being spoken to them.