Missing letters of the alphabet
As previously mentioned in this post, I am currently taking an Arabic course and that I initially noticed (among other things) that they don’t have letters V and P in the Arabic alphabet. But they have “ba” and “fa”. Hence, instead of pronouncing Gavin as it is read, it becomes “Gafin”, while “pizza” becomes “bizza”, etc. Once you observed the pattern, you can easily adjust with the pronunciation part. But writing in Arabic is absolutely a different (and challenging) area.
Off the class, I had a not so ordinary yet funny conversation with some colleagues:
Canadian: Recently I was in Domino’s Pizza and I tried to practice my Arabic and I ordered, “One chicken b-izza, please!” Oh my, I’m good.
Me: Haha. I’ll try, too, next time.
Indian: I’ll try to speak in Arabic when I’m in the airplane (pronounced as “er-plane”) soon.
Canadian: You say, apple.
Indian: E-pol
Canadian: Hmmmm…
Me: Maybe, you don’t have A in your Urdu.
Canadian: Yeah
Indian: We have. It’s just that my English is British.
Canadian: Same here. But I can say “A”. Wits, what’s your English?
Me: I speak both American and British English. But most of the time, it’s American. Automatically becomes British when I watch Harry Potter (LOL).
Canadian: Yeah, I think.
Indian: (points to the Canadian) But you hardly know how to accent on aaa and ooo and iiii properly.
Canadian: Okay… (laughs)
Indian: (points to me) I think Filipino alphabet has no letter F. I met a Filipino and he kept on saying “Por you, Por you…”
Me: (Smiled) There is, of course. But P and F are interchanged by some “rarely”, same with V with B.
So on.
We were like kids that kept on discussing the lingual limitations of each nationality. We, therefore, concluded that there’s no such thing as incomplete alphabet, even for the Arabic. Needless to say, no tongue is too perfect. 
di kaya si manny pacquaio ang narinig nya?
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I think, for the likes of you who are learning a new and a whole lot different language than the one you’re used to, coming up with “no tongue is too perfect” comes along in the learning process. I noticed (in your article) that it makes your studies/communication more exciting. ^_^
Would you mind sharing some phrases/sentences you’ve been using?
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i am so glad por you wits…lol. Learning is always pun.
.-= kayni´s last blog ..Meet Pinky =-.
sooooo cool! I want to learn a new language too tuloy.
But I think my tongue might fail me.. Haha!
.-= cza´s last blog ..The View @ CPK =-.
learning new things is always interesting; although i usually get envious and amazed how even the local people have their own dialects whereas i can only speak english & our native tongue; much more to know how to speak other language. i think it’s so cool! =)
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Wifey and I were having almost the same conversation this morning. Since I grew up with Capangpangans all around me, I have trouble intercahnging words with “p” and “f,” and “v” and “b.”
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My husband always say Octo-ver. I’ve stopped correcting him because he doesn’t change. Hahaha!!!!
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Apir… no tongue is too perfect
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ang galing! congrats. bukas makalawa super galing ka na mag arabic. hehehe
.-= eds´s last blog ..Quick note! =-.
lol kakatawa. Parang bulol yung arabic sa pinoy. Nakakalito na rin. Now I can say arabic. Fafa Fiolo. Parang masagwa yung fiolo. lol
Yah. I noticed it too. B for P. A Saudi colleague even kiddingly named me LENSON instead of Nelson. I find Arabic easy to learn (and I wonder why it really didn’t interest me). Medyo ‘phlegmatic’ lang sya. Parang I always have halak kapag nag-a-Arabic ako with kh- words. Hehe.
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