Two different worlds

To give you a little insight on where I learned my second language I will explain to you a little about my family first. When I was little I was always at my grandparents house and they are from Lebanon. My grandparents moved from Lebanon when they were very young, but they still carried over the traditions from there country. We as a family make big Lebanese dinners every Sunday as a family tradition, brought over from Lebanon. . So, as a little kid I began to pick up on what they were saying in Arabic. When i got a little older, my grandpa use to speak to me in Arabic all the time. To help me better understand I would memorize  the dialect he would use when he talked. Although I do not speak it fluently I can still have small conversations with family. Now, in my household we speak two different languages. My moms side of the family speaks Arabic and my dads speaks English. We primarily speak English as a family but ,I do often speak to my ami-امي (mom) or gdeti- جدتي (grandma) in Arabic.  If I’m writing a letter formally in English I will use phrases like “Dear, whoever this may concern” and “Sincerely, Carson Nolan”. If I’m talking to a friend or texting a friend I will often use “slang”. Usually, ill text a friend and say “Hey, wyd?” which is short for what are you doing. I also might say ” Alright gtg bye”, which is short for got to go. But, when I talk to my mom and grandma in Arabic I usually will always say “ahabk” أحبك  which means I love you. I also might say “namel an ykon ldik um gayed”أمل ان يكون لديك يوم جيد, which means I hope you have a good day. I never use Arabic when I write for a few reasons. One reason being it is a very hard language to learn to write and also because people from the Arabic decent only write when they are formally trying to communicate with someone. 

I have heard many people say Arabic is a nasty language and when speaking it we always sound mad. Azizi ia kan hzaa alkolk-عزيزي أيا كان هذا قد يتعلق ( Dear whoever this may concern), I respect your opinion but to defend a language I speak I think it is a gmilh-جميله (beautiful) language. Ive also heard many of my friends say that it is “terrorist” talk. Talking to my friends who have made this comment, traga، kent albelhaa – تراجع ، كنت البلهاء(back off you idiots). Ana ahab allghah alti atklm ( I love the language I speak). The only reason I still continue to practice Arabic is for my grandpa. Anh lm yiad mana ، و# lkenamel an tegal menh fkhor ( he is no longer with us, but I hope to make him proud). Alarbeh hi lghah gmilh ( Arabic is a beautiful language), and I hope to see more generations learn it throughout my lifetime.