Taking a Douche In Arabic

A student of mine with his wife are planning to take a trip to some Arabic speaking country. He speaks better English as he studied in college, she has a better memory.

We were talking about her roommate being in the shower and she was locked out of her apartment. She is explaining to the super to let her in.

My roommate is taking a shower.

In Arabic that would be زميلتي فالبيت بتاخد دوش

The Arabic word for shower is Doosh which sounds a lot like something you also do in the bathroom-- a douche. The guy started laughing and I got it, so we laughed. the wife played along for a second, a minute later we had to suspend the session early becasue she was a bit embarrassed.

A week later another student asked me about the shower...I gave them the verb for to bathe (يستحم)...she wanted to know what it means to say shower...so I said...alright. I worked hard on the straight face and she has not noticed.

Why So Serious Grandpa?

Jad in Arabic means too things:

Jad (جاد.جد ) means serious like in something serious or a serious person

هو انسان جدي He is a serious person

Jad (جد) also means grandfather. Usually grandfathers are supposed to be serious

جدي يحب الكلام عن الناس My grandpa likes to take about people
A student pointed that to me.

Confusing Arabic Words To Memorize

Those words came up in my today's lesson

It's all in the accents and the vowels, they tend to make all the difference in a language like Arabic
Qabil قبل/Qabal قابل /Qabiila قبل The first is before, the second is to meet, the third to to accept
'Aqleeyah عقلية/Aqalyah أقلية Mentality and the second is minority.
Sama'a سمع /Shama'a شمع To hear/to listen is the first one. Wax/Candle is the second. If you Want to Listen to Me Remove the wax from your ear

The Story Behind This Arabic Tutor Blog

Teaching Arabic to American students has been such a rich experience. I have met people from all walks of life. There are the spooks, the diplomats, the kids and of course the curious bunch. Some even study this langauge because they are students of theology and want to better understand the culture and the religion that goes with it--OK some Arabs are Christians.

I will write about the little things that happen to me while teaching this rich langauge, funny tales, and all those stories that go with learning a new language. Including funny sounding name in Arabic that sound like an insults in English. This is DC, the place where most those studyn my langauge hope to end up at...

Some of my students show up on time, others seem to be on a different time zone, but most show up! Some give me a last minute cancellation, others I have to cancel on due to unforeseen tutoring or translation assignment.

for example, i have a three year old student who is hell bent on wanting to learn the Arabic world for butt, do you I teach him? I don't feel comfortable doing it, but he wants to learn that word, why should I get on the way of his education. Let me know if I should...