Learning another language is a journey. No two stories are exactly alike. There are many
aspects that affect a learner’s proficiency level. Because of that, levels of proficiency vary
greatly among language learners. In this study, we explore the case of Bassemah (a fictitious
name). Through hearing her personal account of her own individual journey to becoming an
English speaker, the reader will gain insight on the impact of motivation and attitude. Through
analyzing a five-minute segment of a transcript from the interview, the reader will begin to
formulate a sense of where the subject is, in terms of proficiency, and will have a concrete
understanding of the subject’s linguistic errors. All in all, the exploration should be interesting.
Bassemah was born in Alexandria, Egypt on August 15, 1978. She and her sister, who is
six years younger, were raised by both her mother and father in Egypt. Both her parents are
highly educated, as well as she and her sister. Her father is a Ship Architect Engineer. Her
mother has a degree in Literature and could have been a teacher, but was employed at a ship
insurance company instead. Her parents met because her father’s father was a client of her
mother’s grandfather. Her father’s job is in a highly paid, specialized field which gave him the
opportunity to travel, particularly to the United States before she was born. As Bassemah
explained, in Egypt, education at a university is paid for but what one qualifies for is based on a
grade they receive in their last year of high school. Bassemah had wanted to go into a pharmacyrelated field, which is one of the highest-ranked fields one can obtain, but unfortunately she
scored slightly lower than the allowable score. She did qualify for engineering, but was not the
least bit interested in any field related to engineering. Instead, she chose accounting. She
completed her degree in accounting and worked in the shipping industry as well.
Language is an interesting topic in Egypt, as well as within Bassemah’s family. In Egypt,
many people speak many languages. The industries in Egypt are connected with Italy, France,
Germany, as well as Asian countries. Her father speaks 4 languages; her mother speaks 3; her
sister speaks at least 3, and technically, Bassemah speaks 3 languages. What influences the
languages spoken has much to do with the industry. For instance, tourism and textile industries
may require minimal fluency in Italian or French. English seems to be a dominant second
language on par with French, German, and Italian. Students generally are exposed to second
language in middle school and can choose a particular language to hone in on in high school. For
Bassemah, English was a class she took just like any other in middle school. She could have
chosen another language, or even art, in high school, but as luck would have it, she chose
English. Her reasoning for that decision was that she had no art skills and had already taken
English. She did not take any English courses during her years at the university because her
program was more accounting-based. Once she completed her degree, she worked seven years in
the shipping industry with her father, as an account. Although she had numerous interactions
with clients who spoke only English, her exposure to and usage of the English language was still
very limited due to the nature of the work. Many clients preferred to utilize email because they
were working with numbers.
Although her parents spoke English and she had exposure to English since fifth grade,
Bassemah did not practice English until after she had already been in the United States for 3
years. To explain further: it is common in Egypt for women to be married off through some form
of “fixing up” or family-involved arrangement by the last year at their university. Not lacking
any beauty, Bassemah chose to wait till she was 27 to be married. This is not surprising because
her mother was considered “old” when she was married as well. She met her ex-husband through
a family acquaintance while he was in Egypt on vacation. He portrayed the image of someone
worthy of marriage: he had been working in the states as a pharmacist for 12 years, was
educated, had money, etc. She had not known until later that his visit was specifically to find a
wife with strict traditional Egyptian values. He was very much in a hurry to wed, but she slowed
things down. She wishes she had slowed things down more so she would have seen that he was
physically and sexually abusive, that he would be controlling, selfish, and demeaning. In
hindsight, she was concerned over some evidence of anger issues right before the wedding, but
was reassured that the stress of jumping through the hoops of legality was the cause. She
married, conceived soon after, and left her family bound for the United States her father had
described to her.
When she arrived in 2006, she was not allowed to communicate with any Americans
because they were too “open”. She had a very different feeling about Americans than her now
ex-husband did. She felt that there was good and bad everywhere, even in Egypt, and she felt her
husband was hypocritical because he was a drug-user. She was only allowed to communicate
with people at the Egyptian community church which gave her no opportunity to practice
English. She was amazed at how many of them had been there many years, yet had no fluency in
English. She attributed her now ex-husband’s lack of fluency, as well as those in that church, to
their attitude regarding learning English. Many of them were afraid to make mistakes because
they felt Americans would look down on them. She held strong her convictions that there is good
and bad everywhere and as a result, has met some amazing Americans who have helped her
tremendously. She is not afraid to make mistakes when she speaks, unlike her ex. As a result, she
has surpassed him in fluency, despite the major gap in years as a resident. Her fluency in English
gained its momentum in 2009 when she had to go against her ex-husband in divorce proceedings
to maintain custodial rights of their son who is now five.
She is now enrolled in a highly regarded university for accounting. Although her degree
in Egypt is in accounting, the United States utilizes a different system than Europe, so she needs
to take additional courses to fill in the gap. She is diligently putting herself through school in
hopes to make a better life for her and her son.
As previously mentioned, Bassemah arrived in the United States in 2006. It is important
to note here that she was not able to practice speaking English until 2009. In two years,
Bassemah has gained a tremendous amount of fluency that has surpassed many other people in
her social circles, namely her ex-husband and the members of the Egyptian church she attended.
As she indicated in her transcript (See Appendex A), at the point where she had first met her exhusband, he had already been in the United States for 12 years. His level of proficiency was
limited to “basically doing the basics” (Line 54, Appendix A). Two years after their divorce, she
believes she is “doing better than him” (Lines 52-32, Appendix A). She attributed his lack of
proficiency in English to two reasons: 1) a negative perception of the American culture (which is
social distancing); and 2) fear of making mistakes. His negative perception can be seen where
she stated that he does not have any American friends, that he “does not like the culture here”,
that he thinks “it’s so ruin”, and that “they are so open” (Lines 4-10, Appendix A). His fear can
be seen as an underlying element of the social distancing, as well as a protection of his image
(Ellis, 1997, p. 39). As Bassemah stated, he does not “want to socialize,” that “he has a lot of
ego. ‘I’m a pharmacist.’ ‘Nobody should be correct…’, and that if somebody joked with him and
tried to correct him, he would not “accept that” (Lines 61-67, Appendix A). She contrasted
herself with him throughout the interview, which can be seen on the transcript when she
described her own performance, her response to others’ corrections of her speech, her stance on
correcting others’ speech, and her positive interactions with Americans.
She believes that the members of the Egyptian church she attended also have been
impacted by fear of making mistakes, such as when she stated, “They think…people [will] make
less of them, that Americans [will] make less of them…” (Line 87, Appendix A). Bassemah
pointed out that many of them “have been staying here for fifteen years and they don’t even
know how to put a sentence together” (Line 84-86, Appendix A). For this reason, it appears she
has engaged in social distancing herself, mainly from them (Ellis, 1997, p. 39). She recognizes
that the attitudes of her ex-husband and the members of the Egyptian church have had a negative
impact on their proficiency levels, whereas her attitude has resulted in a positive impact.
Clearly Bassemah’s motivation and attitude have contributed to her success as an English
Language Learner. In determining which type of motivation she has subscribed to, it is evident
that her success can be attributed to all four types, which according to Ellis (1997) are:
instrumental, integrative, resultative, and intrinsic (pp. 75-76). Ellis (1997) described
instrumental motivation as wanting to do something for a “functional reason” (pp. 75-76). Not
only did Bassemah want to interact and socialize, which is evidently part of her character, she
had to learn English for the function of the divorce court proceedings to gain custody of her son.
Ellis (1997) described integrative motivation as wanting to do something because you are
“interested in the people and culture represented” (pp. 75-76). Bassemah enjoys interacting with
different people and cultures. In her interview, Bassemah described her frustration when she first
arrived in the United States and was not allowed to socialize with people from other cultures.
She stated, “…which I didn’t like because that was not my life I Egypt even…” (Line 18,
Appendix A).
Ellis (1997) described resultative motivation in terms of success, that “learners who
experience success in learning may be more, or in some contexts, less motivated to learn” (pp.
75-76). Bassemah is willing to make mistakes and be corrected. Because of this, she is learning
the language quickly, especially in comparison to her ex-husband and the members of the
Egyptian church she attended. She recognizes this as success. In addition, she has American
friends who are supporting her achievements and giving her encouragement and feedback. By
their standards, she is doing really well as an English Language Learner. This acknowledgement
has an incredible amount of influence on her success.
Ellis (1997) described intrinsic motivation as learning that “involves the arousal and
maintenance of curiosity” (pp. 75-76). Bassemah is curious about the meaning behind American
expressions and whether she is sending the intended message when she speaks English. This was
seen during the interview when she asked about the meaning of “What’s up?” The feedback I
gave her reassured her that the expression is confusing even to native English speakers. It could
be interpreted as pertaining to what someone is doing at that exact moment or what they have
been doing lately (in general terms). The motivations described by Ellis (1997) have a tendency
to overlap and affect one another as well. For example, Bassemah was given productive feedback
on the meaning behind the expression “What’s up?” and will most likely use it at some point in
her discourse with a native English speaker. It can be speculated that because she has insight into
its meaning, she will use the expression correctly and will find success. This sense of success
may result in more resultative motivation; she may be even more motivated to learn.
Strategies are what learners use to assist themselves in their own learning. According to
Ellis (1997), “Studies have shown, not surprisingly, that successful learners use more strategies
than unsuccessful learners” (p. 77). Ellis (1997) states that there are three types of strategies: 1)
cognitive; 2) metacognitive; and 3) social/affective (p. 77). Ellis (1997) described cognitive
strategies as “those that are involved in the analysis, synthesis, or transformation of learning
materials” (p. 77). Bassemah demonstrates this strategy in many ways. One example is the one in
which she analyzed the meaning of the expression “What’s up?” in her interview.
Ellis (1997) described metacognitive strategies as “those that are involved in planning,
monitoring, and evaluating learning” (p. 77). Bassemah demonstrates this strategy in several
ways. One way was how she evaluated herself on how well she understands prepositions.
Another way she uses metacognitive strategies is evaluating how well her intended meaning gets
across to the listener. She stated in her interview that when she finds that she used a word wrong,
she will stop using it until she knows exactly what it means. To be able to think about what the
way she is learning involves metacognition, which both of these examples exemplify.
Ellis (1997) described social/affective strategies as those “concern(ing) the ways in which
learners choose to interact with other speakers” (p. 77). Bassemah demonstrates this strategy in
the way she seems to consistently ask for clarification, especially through her use of the
discourse marker “know what I mean?”
Bassemah’s use of the English language does not impede comprehension; therefore, the
errors she produced during our interview would be considered local, rather than global. Aside
from errors, Bassemah utilizes many forms of discourse markers, as well as some pronunciation
features, that are noteworthy of mentioning.
Misinformation was a type of error Bassemah made often, although the examples of
misinformation varied. The first example of misinformation was in using a comparative
adjective. This was seen in Line 2: “We are more close than the Chaldean.” Her choice and
arrangement of the words are not ungrammatical; however, a preferred statement might be: “We
are closer than the Chaldean.” Another comparative adjective error is seen starting on Line 19:
“Egypt is not like…Saudi Arabia because…I don’t know that you know that…Saudia is more of
a strict…” It might be preferable to say: “…Saudia is stricter…”
Another example of misinformation error Bassemah had was with conjunctions,
specifically with coordinating and subordinating conjunctions. The example for coordinating
conjunction is seen in Line 15: “I was not allowed to go out and outside and go grocery
shopping.” A preferred statement might be: “I was not allowed to go out or outside or go grocery
shopping.” An even more preferable statement might be: “I was not allowed to go out or even
outside to go grocery shopping.” The example for subordinating conjunction is seen in Line 19:
“Egypt is not like…Saudi Arabia because…I don’t know that you know that…Saudia is more of
a strict—and…” A preferred statement might be: “…I don’t know if you know that…”
Bassemah had misinformation errors with prepositions too. This was seen in Line 2: “We
are close on each other.” A preferred statement might be: “We are close with each other.”
Prepositions and verbs was another example of misinformation that Bassemah used. In
Line 3, she states: “… my ex-husband get here from twelve years before me…” when a preferred
statement might have been: “…my ex-husband got here twelve years before me…” This would
change the verb to its past tense form and omit the word from. The word from appears to be an
addition that is not needed.
Verb errors were one of the highly seen examples of misinformation, varying in many
respects. In Line 9, she said: “and he got to…he just make me think we shouldn’t…” In looking
at make, I could consider it an omission error of /-s/ for the 3rd person singular verb. Instead
though, I consider the past tense form of got used just prior to this error. I presume from that
evidence that she meant to have make in its past tense form: made. Another verb error, dealing
with the conjugation of the auxiliary verb be, was seen in Line 14, “…it be two…” instead of
“…it was two…” Also, in Line 17, she said: “I was basically no social life…” instead of “I
basically had no social life…” Some errors were subject/verb agreement errors, such as in Line
21: “women has” instead of “women have”.
Some verb errors are difficult to distinguish intent. For instance, Line 55 said: “And he
even get to the extent that he tell you…” This could be corrected as: “he has even got to the
extent”; “he is even to the extent”; or “he even gets to the extent”. Another example is in Line
57: “he tell you”. This could be corrected as either “he will tell you” or “he tells you”. Line 60
also is an example: “…all the Americans are deal with me…” Here, the corrected form could be:
“…all the Americans are dealing with me” or “…all the Americans that deal with me.” My
guess on this one is that she had difficulty with the relative pronoun that and substituted it for
are.
Omissions were another type of error Bassemah made during her interview and just like
misinformation, the examples of omissions also varied. The omission of /-ed/ for past-tense
verbs was seen throughout, such as in Line 7 when she said explained her ex-husband’s view:
“…he does not like the culture here…it’s so ruin...” Ruined would be the correct form. Line 5
also gives an example: “I was pretty astonish…” instead of astonished. Line 13 is another
example: “… I stay here from two thousand and six up till two nine…” instead of stayed. Last,
Line 37 said: “My ex-husband want put him in that school…” instead of wanted. It is also
interesting that here she not only omits the /-ed/, but she also omits the word that should come
after wanted, which is to.
Another example of omission error was the omission of a word, rather than a morpheme.
For instance, in Line 55 it said: “…he just like behind the computer.” In this statement, it needs
to have a verb, such as “he works”, “he sits” or “he is”.
The research on past tense suggests that English Language Learners will acquire the
grammatically correct form of past tense, whether regular or irregular, at various times and that it
is difficult to pinpoint the point of proficiency the learner is at with the English language (Ellis,
1997, p. 24). Ellis (1997) stated, for instance, “Thus when learners begin to use past tense
markers (either irregular markers as in ‘ate’ or regular markers as in ‘painted’), they do not do so
on all verbs at the same time” (p. 24). Ellis (1997) also stated, “Thus, in the case of past tense, at
any one time a learner may mark some verbs correctly for past tense, fail to mark others at all,
and overgeneralize the regular –ed and the progressive –ing forms with yet other verbs” (p. 24).
In using these research findings with Bassemah’s transcript (Appendix A), it can be assumed that
she is progressing in her acquisition of these forms of past tense and will most likely continue
her progression until a point of fossilization (Ellis, 1997, p. 29). Fossilization, according to Ellis
(1997) can be defined as: “The processes responsible for the cessation of learning some way
short of target-language competence. Most L2 learners’ interlanguages fossilize. [29]” (p. 139).
As previously mentioned, Bassemah uses many forms of discourse markers extensively:
“Ya know”; “Ya know what I mean”; “like”; “basically”; “alright”; “okay”; “I mean”; “I think”;
“See”; and “So”. In fact, during the five-minute segmented portion of the interview, she used the
above forms of discourse markers 38 times. “Ya know” was used 6 times; it can be seen on Lines
4, 6, 17, 27, 59, and 85. “Ya know what I mean” was used 7 times; it can be seen on Lines 5, 8,
29, 55, 59, 61, and 68. “Like” was used 11 times; it can be seen on Lines 6, 16, 31, 38, 56, 70,
and 71. “Basically” was used 2 times; it can be seen twice on Line 17. “Alright” was used 1
time; it can be seen on Line 30. “Okay” was used 2 times; it can be seen on Lines 22 and 41. “I
mean” was used 6 times; it can be seen on Lines 31, 43, 60, 61, 68, and 69. “I think” was used 1
time; it can be seen on Line 63. “See” was used 1 time; it can be seen on Line 68. Last, “So” was
used 1 time; it can also be seen on Line 68.
The research on discourse markers, that Croucher (2004) cites, shows that there are
“three informal functions for discourse markers” and they are: “1) to fill pauses in conversation,
2) to act as nervous glitches in speech, and 3) the markers have become part of our collective
lexicon” (Davis, 1992, cited by Croucher, 2004). It appears that any of the three functions could
pertain to Bassemah’s situation. The pace at which she speaks is relatively fast, so the discourse
markers could be used to fill in the pauses. She does not appear to be nervous when she speaks
but they could have at one time served the function of nervous glitches. It is also quite possible
that, through nervous glitches or from imitation, she acquired the discourse markers and they
have now become part of her lexicon, as Davis (1992) suggests. In trying to determine the
precise function(s), it became evident that this exact type of information could not be ascertained
at this time. According to Schiffrin (1987), cited by Croucher (2004), “Unfortunately very little
academic research has been done on the three informal functions of discourse markers.” It
continues:
Two questions in particular remain to be addressed by linguistic or
communication researchers: (1) how often are the markers used? and (2) are
markers a conscious of unconscious decision? Furthermore, the impact markers
have on perception and credibility has not been addressed. These areas are of keen
interest because discourse markers often function informally and are considered a
part of the human psyche and intellect (Schiffrin, 1987).
As pronunciation goes, I noticed on Line 13 that the word thousand was pronounced
sousand. Without researching this area, I could assume that it is an example of an L1 transfer
error. Through numerous accounts of L1 transfer errors discussed in class, it is quite possible that
in the Egyptian dialect of the Arabic language, the /th/ in words like thunder and thick are
pronounced with /z/ or an /s/ sound instead. This was not a predominant error in her speech,
therefore, it was not delved into, as some other features were, such as past tense usage, discourse
markers, motivation, and strategies. Another minor point to mention, in terms of pronunciation,
is her misplaced primary stress on the words socialize and socializing, as seen on Lines 11, 15,
and 43.
I found some inconsistencies in the interview sample I analyzed which are worth
mentioning. The first example is on Line 5: “…he didn’t have any American friend—not even
one!” In this example, the plural form /-s/ is omitted from friends. At first I categorized this
simply as an omission of plural form /-s/, but then I noticed that on Line 40 where she said: “I
have a lot of American friends who are awesome and they’re helping me.” I then wondered if
this might be a mistake rather than an error. I then considered the context of using any versus a
lot to describe the amount of friends. I have concluded that this is indeed an error, but that the
error appears in words that may seem ambiguous in number to a non-native English learner, such
as when used with any.
Another example ties in with my last statement about ambiguity in number, but has more
to do with subject/verb agreement. In Line 58, she said: “Nobody are” instead of “Nobody is…”
In the context, she was talking about many people offending her ex-husband, so in her mind, she
may have envisioned many people. This might help to explain this error of misinformation.
Another inconsistency I noticed was also with subject/verb agreement. In Line 57, she
said: “…because they offending me…because of my accent.” A preferable way of saying this
could either be: “…they offend me…” or “…they are offending me…” If she meant the latter,
then I find it odd because she used they’re on Line 40 and 84 and they are on Line 88. Because
she used they’re and they are correctly in other instances, I believe she meant the former version
of “…they offend me…” Another aspect to consider is whether the fact that she was paraphrasing
things said by her ex-husband influenced this error, especially since he is not deemed to be that
fluent.
The last few examples appear to be similar in that they are misinformation errors where
Bassemah’s seems to be indecisive in her language choice. For instance, in Line 17, she said:
“I’m just like gonna come go with you…” which could either be “I’m just like gonna come with
you” or “I’m just like gonna go with you.” Whereas this example focuses on indecision of word
choice, another example of indecision which focuses on word location can be seen in Line 55:
“He does not even need even to…because of what he does…” Here she does not commit to
having the word only once, either prior to or after the word need. Instead, she uses it in both
locations.
As an interviewer, I really enjoyed working with Bassemah. She was eager to give me
whatever information I needed right from the start. There was no hesitation on her part; she was
very forthcoming on any and every issue in her life. She spoke very fast with few pauses and
spoke at great lengths. I selected a few points to interject to elicit more information that
coincided with where the discussion was already was. For the most part though, we followed a
list of prepared questions which she gave elaborated responses to.
I was proud of myself for how I took on the role of the interviewer and resisted the urge
to interject. I kept my input at bay by only saying “Yeah” or “Ah” after lengthy responses, to
show that I was still part of the conversation, if only minimally. Other than that, my input was
reduced to questions, some of which were planned and some of which were not. For the ones that
were not planned, I found that my questions were broken up a bit with Bassemah’s interjections
of “Yes!” and “Exactly!” and that they often trailed off in an incomplete form. This was okay
though because it occurred right as Bassemah took off again with her in-depth responses.
Through this exploration, the reader should recognize that learning another language is
truly a journey. It is quite doubtful one could ever find a story identical to Bassemah’s. Many
aspects affected—and continue to affect—her proficiency level. Despite her obstacles, Bassemah
showed how motivation and attitude can make the difference in language acquisition. Her
linguistic errors vary—and yes, there are quite a few—but, her proficiency level is certainly
progressing at a faster rate than what one might expect for someone who has only been
practicing a language for two years. She is an amazing person.
References
Croucher, S. M. (2004). “Like you know what I’m saying: A study of discourse marker
frequency in extemporaneous and impromptu speaking”. www.national
forensics.org/journal/vol22no2-3.
Ellis, R. (1997). Second Language Acquisition. New York: Oxford University Press.
Linguistic Data Consortium. (2003). Filler type: Discourse marker (DM). Retrieved from
https://secure.ldc.upenn.edu/intranet/Annotation/MDE/guidelines/2003/dm1.html
Shiffrin, D. (1987). Discourse markers. Cambridge: Cambridge UP.
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B:
The community…Egyptian community or Middle Eastern community—we are
more close than the Chaldean…we are close on each other so when I came over here—
although my ex-husband get here from twelve years before me—he had his degree,
his…his equivalency, he worked in CVS, ya know…and he didn’t have any American
friend—not even one! Ya know what I mean? And I was…I was pretty astonish,
really…ya know? I was like (sigh) I heard from him the weirdest thing like…he does not
like the culture here…it’s so ruin, which I didn’t like from him because, again, we
have…we have the bad and the good in Egypt. Ya know what I mean? No, you teach,
and…and I…and he got to…he just make me think we shouldn’t believe though that,
‘no, no, no, no, no, we don’t talk to them’, ‘they are so open’, and ‘no’, so I was
basically between his family—he has his mom, dad, and brother here and they don’t
socialize as well with anybody other than…and going to the Egyptian church which is all
Egyptians. So, I stay here from two thousand and six up till two nine which would’ve
been the divorce started so, you can tell be two years because the divorce started at the
end of O-nine. I didn’t speak English at all because I was not socializing. I was not
allowed to go out and outside and go grocery shopping. And I was like, you know what?
I’m just like gonna come go with you, ya know? So I was basically no social life, it’s all
Egyptian, which I didn’t like because that was not my life in Egypt even. Lots of people
think we have like a very close…Egypt is not like…Saudi Arabia because…I don’t know
that you know that…Saudia is more of a strict—and they are becoming not more of a
strict…the women has to go out (motioning her hand over her arms indicating the sleeves
of a shirt) even if you are Christian. In Egypt, it’s not like that, okay? And even the
Muslims, it’s their choice…if they could or could not be veiled.
J:
Yeah
B:
It’s…it’s…the restriction just holds to not wearing, ya know…shorts on the
street? Definitely they don’t…You…you can’t do that. You can do that on the beach in
Egypt, that’s okay. You can wear your bathing suit, that’s okay. You know what I mean?
So we have still…people go out…we have bars, alright? We have everything. People do
drugs in Egypt. Like I mean, the bad and the…you can’t just like say ‘no, the community
or the society is very open’ and…and …you take it from here and…and…
J:
Yeah
B:
…and do that, and even they opened a school just to put the kids—which I was…
I went to fight this summer in court because my ex-husband want put him in that school
and I…it’s like, no, for me, you know what? I’m living here. I respect the people here.
There is the good and the bad (inaudible)…there is the good and the bad. I have a lot of
American friends who are awesome and they’re helping me. They are so good and they
are (inaudible). Okay, and this guy is living here…(motions to her son in the next
room)…my son…I can’t put him in. I’m not against my country, but I will teach him
what I have been taught. I mean, I can’t tell him you can’t socialize with people here.
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J:
Now, your ex, is he…does he speak…um…Arabic (motioning to her son in the
next room) to him?
B:
Yes, and…
J:
…more? Or like does he do English more? Like what do you think?
B:
He’s speaking in English, but his English is not—I think I, I’m doing better than
him? Eh…I mean I got to know right now why…because he’s not practicing. He’s
basically doing the basics, you know what I mean? He does not even need even
to…because of what he does…he just like behind the computer? And he even get to the
extent that he tell you, “I’m not talking to the clients because they offending
me…because of my accent.” Nobody are gonna offend you because of your accent.
Know what I mean? No, that’s not true. No you have, uh, it depends on the person, you
know? Because I find, I mean, all the Americans are deal with me and I sometimes say
the funniest thing EVER and uh, I mean, nobody offend me. You know what I mean? It’s
just the reason you do not want to socialize, you don’t want to speak wrong…he has a lot
of ego. ‘I’m a pharmacist.’ ‘Nobody should be correct…’ Like if somebody even…uh…I
think…joke with him and try to correct him…
J:
Ah.
B:
…You know what I mean? And, he’s not gonna accept that. See? So, I mean—
but, that’s wrong---I mean, if you are…if I’m in Egypt and I have clients who come to
me from the other…like on the phone being like trying to say hello in Arabic and then
you say it wrong, I would just like joke and correct them. Would they think this is
offensive? I don’t think so.
J:
(inaudible) So are you saying you have to be…uh…willing to accept…
B:
Yes!
J:
…making mistakes?
B:
Exactly!
J:
…and…and not, not be offended if someone…
B:
…and all of the Egyptians though…guess what? They’re living here and when I
used to go to church, you know…they don’t speak English and they speak it awful bad
although there are people who have been staying here for fifteen years and they don’t
even know how to put a sentence together because they are afraid to speak it out. They
think that they are offended that the people make less of them, that Americans make less
of them because…