#I wish I’d gone in for linguistics 😂

[dreamerwriternstargazer]

Most random thing today but I noticed that the salesman at the shop I saw this bag at was Filipino

(Bag in question)

(No I didn’t get it it’s a kids bag and 135 SAR I’m not blowing my money on that… I think.)

And when I decided I wouldn’t get it I realised wait he’s Filipino

I turned to my mum and quickly asked her what thank you was in Tagalog bc I forgot and she told me

I nodded politely at him and said I had changed my mind, but salamat!

I turned to leave but he called out asking where I was from and I looked back and he looked really surprised and pleased I think

My mum and I hurriedly explained we were from England but Filipino

Idk it’s just sorta funny, I’ve actually been too nervous to use any Arabic even though I have known exactly what to say in a lot of situations (maybe I’ll get more confident over the days Insha’Allah) but being surrounded by so many people from so many different countries I feel this need to…. Idk something about, I want to show a little respect and courtesy to their culture. I feel incredibly curious and incredibly… I don’t know the word but maybe something along the lines of friendliness? Even towards colder treatment I mean I feel like it’s a bit understandable, I’m too English and Filipino but I understand the basic annoyance with dealing with foreigners who don’t know your culture or language. I mean yes we’re all joined by the culture of Islam so that’s something really good and connecting but it feels… off to me, to not make more of an effort to know the culture

And I also know Filipinos appreciate that a lot because I’m Filipino and if I were him I would be pleasantly surprised to hear my language from a customer I just wasn’t expecting him to be as cheerful as he was XD Filipino spirit I guess

After today I’ve gotten a pretty good idea of a lot of the key phrases I can work on in Arabic so I can at least try speaking a little and just in general try to learn a few key phrases in Tagalog and Indonesian as well, like “excuse me” and “thank you” and “do you need help?”. I’d try to for Desi languages but idk how to be polite in Desi 💀 also. I don’t dare try speaking with my accent publicly.