Language has always, always been an interesting idea for me. In my younger years, I was obsessed with absorbing and consuming as much as I humanly could. Reading became less of a hobby and more of an obsession, a compulsion. At one point it became so extraordinary that I would inhale any book I found. It influenced and molded my day-to-day life and I found myself comparing anything and everything I did to events that had occurred in my most recent meal. Reading at this point had taken me.
Despite my infatuation with language, our first week in Abu Dhabi had me in shock. As a young, pale Irish boy, I cringed at the sight of the sun and the complex new English I was to learn. Prior to coming to Abu Dhabi, I had used Irish-English and had cultivated a thick and high-pitched Irish accent. To compare my voice at the time to that of a Hollywood leprechaun would not be completely off the rails. Prior to this, everyone I had met and interacted with, bar some exceptions, had used the same English and had had the same accent as me. Now, however I had to translate my teacher's explanations and had trouble with the diction and pronunciation of my peers. With every new person I met having a new English to decipher, it was difficult to mature in the battlefield of communication.
Despite my struggles, I believe that my stint here has determined the nature of my character today. In a place so international, it is difficult to escape untouched. I am a completely different character than what I was before. I am now more international, standard and I am no longer a rarity. My accent is international and I do not entertain with my words as I did in the beginning of my stay. I have been fit into the international cast that exists here. I do not see this as a loss, however. I see my transformation as a benefit. I am no longer confined to my English, I can now communicate in almost every single English.
This came to its conclusion the other day. I had jumped into a taxi while in the city, meaning that I had a half-hour trip on my hands, at the bare minimum. Stepping in, I gave the standard directions back to my house and got into the standard, clean grey car seat. We pulled off and the taxi driver asked how I was and after responding I asked him the same. What devolved was a profound, slightly racist, slightly homophobic, educative and overall one of the most interesting conversations I have ever been so fortunate to participate in. He told about his experiences with unjust and unfair passengers, how they abused him, shouted at him and how they would get what they were due "in the eyes of god". He told me about how another taxi driver he was friends with had tackled a teenager who had tried to skip out on paying his bill. He told me about how different it was in his Pakistan, how some of the children here had "bad blood". We stayed on the topic of youth for a while and he revealed later his definition of "bad blood". As the journey pulled to an end, we finished our conversation on the advice that I should not take my life for advantage.
Despite the content of the conversation, what struck me most was the circumstances in which it had taken place. Here I was, a half Dutch and half Irish teenager talking about the complexities of life with a middle-aged Pakistani taxi driver in Abu Dhabi. With such a muddle of nationalities and global identities, I found it incredible that the conversation had taken place. To me, this is the perfect example of how language has impacted my life for through its growth in me and its variety I was able to have an incredibly complex and fascinating conversation with someone who I would likely have been unable to communicate with, had circumstances been different.
Despite my struggles, I believe that my stint here has determined the nature of my character today. In a place so international, it is difficult to escape untouched. I am a completely different character than what I was before. I am now more international, standard and I am no longer a rarity. My accent is international and I do not entertain with my words as I did in the beginning of my stay. I have been fit into the international cast that exists here. I do not see this as a loss, however. I see my transformation as a benefit. I am no longer confined to my English, I can now communicate in almost every single English.
This came to its conclusion the other day. I had jumped into a taxi while in the city, meaning that I had a half-hour trip on my hands, at the bare minimum. Stepping in, I gave the standard directions back to my house and got into the standard, clean grey car seat. We pulled off and the taxi driver asked how I was and after responding I asked him the same. What devolved was a profound, slightly racist, slightly homophobic, educative and overall one of the most interesting conversations I have ever been so fortunate to participate in. He told about his experiences with unjust and unfair passengers, how they abused him, shouted at him and how they would get what they were due "in the eyes of god". He told me about how another taxi driver he was friends with had tackled a teenager who had tried to skip out on paying his bill. He told me about how different it was in his Pakistan, how some of the children here had "bad blood". We stayed on the topic of youth for a while and he revealed later his definition of "bad blood". As the journey pulled to an end, we finished our conversation on the advice that I should not take my life for advantage.
Despite the content of the conversation, what struck me most was the circumstances in which it had taken place. Here I was, a half Dutch and half Irish teenager talking about the complexities of life with a middle-aged Pakistani taxi driver in Abu Dhabi. With such a muddle of nationalities and global identities, I found it incredible that the conversation had taken place. To me, this is the perfect example of how language has impacted my life for through its growth in me and its variety I was able to have an incredibly complex and fascinating conversation with someone who I would likely have been unable to communicate with, had circumstances been different.
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