Humans Of Coffee World

First Day and Fourth Languages

Winter break is over.

And ironically, (Or rather: Typically) not a stitch of cold weather was in sight for Karachiites during the past two weeks. We have abandoned blankets and comforters for lighter coverings at night. I sleep with my ceiling fan on full. The hoodies and shawls that my Mom excitedly pulled out of storage for us, are mocking me from the closet. I actually saw my neighbor hanging around the block in bermuda shorts...(Which btw, is a sight I cannot unsee...*Shudder*)

Mom says we'll get one last winter sneeze (because that's how long winters last around here), if Quetta City in the north-west of the country experiences some serious snow-fall. Which doesn't make geographical sense at all, but this is something I've grown up hearing. (And probably my Mom has also grown up hearing)

Quetta ki hawa chalay gee toh Karachi mein sardi ayegi!...
(If Cold winds from Quetta blow downwards to Karachi, then we will get some cold weather!)

Anyhoo. I have to take a language course this semester, and I have options between, Chinese, Arabic and French.

I decided to test drive Arabic and French before choosing one. This will be the fourth language that I will properly be acquainted with. (I know Urdu, English, Sindhi (rudimentary),

French is a language I've always been fascinated by. And the course teacher seems really cool. So I'm definitely opting for that. I learned a lot today.

Bonjour.
Je m'appelle ShutupAndCoffee.
Je suis etudiante.
Je suis Pakistanais.
J'habite Karachi.
Enchanté

Basically, Enchante (with the fancy E) means, "I'm pleased to meet you/pleasure meeting you"

So I asked my Slovakian French teacher, a very Pakistani question;

"What if it isn't a pleasure meeting someone? What do I say then?"

He laughed nervously, "Well Mademoiselle ..err...umm... français people are umm..very polite. So we'll leave that for the next class, ouis?"

I'm hoping that the opposite of Enchante is Disenchante. Because I kinda told my friend that it was "Disenchante" to see her.

She was very impressed.

Arabic was kind of ridiculous by comparison. The teacher never related our introductory phrases to written words. So I cannot show off my Arabic prowess.

I only know,

"Ismee ShutupAndCoffee" (My name is ShutupAndCoffee)

And "Hayya Hayya" and "Haaza".

*Facepalm*

The teacher introduced himself in fluent (I am assuming it was fluent) Arabic;

"اسمي مجتبى وأنا أستاذ العربية بك . لقد تعلم العربية على مدى السنوات العشر
الماضية ."
To which a class clown intelligently replied:

"Ameen Sir. Ameen."

*Another Facepalm*

I guess anything remotely Arabic sounds like "Quranic Verses" to us Desis...

Français it is, for me then...

I greeted my Mom and Dad in French today, as soon as I entered.

Mom has since then, been bugging me to say something else in the language. She loves different cultures as much as I do.

How many languages have you learnt? How many are you fluent in?

Merci beaucoup pour la lecture de ce.
Au Revoir .