The context at that point was innocent enough. I was called over to the corner of the play room where about fifteen kids and an unknown adult were crowded around the couch with my fellow intern as he spelled our names and surnames for them. While he speaks French and is picking up Arabic quickly, the rapid Darija was unintelligible and I was called to translate (or rather gist) the questions being rapid-fired in his direction.
After explaining that no, we weren’t Spanish, and no, we weren’t siblings, the man asked if we prayed to God. Being a Christian, I replied that yes, I prayed. And here’s where the other intern, who was rather more aware of context, assumed an expression hovering between deer-in-the-headlights and I-just-wet-myself. The man proceeded on an intense campaign of proselytizing. He paused every few sentences and insisted that I translate his message for the other student.
I must admit that I was so thrilled to understand an entire conversation in Darija that I was willing to rather gloss over the sudden intense discomfort of the situation. I was, after all, seated on the floor surrounded by a ring of attentive and enthusiastic children and facing a couch-panel of even more intent interlocutors. It was something like being a defendant in an allegorical trial as the prosecutor expounded the deficiencies of my faith and urged me to the right road.
Then suddenly they were all repeating something and telling me to say it. Rather bewildered, I listened and tried to repeat it, imagining it to be some new phrase. The kids began to chant it, crowding in even more tightly as the man, poised as on the verge of success, prompted me to say the entire phrase…
Have you ever noticed how, when attempting to pronounce words that are only vaguely familiar while under pressure, you tend to focus on the sounds alone and then, just as you really get the pronunciation down, you suddenly comprehend the meaning? Well, I listened to the barrage of noise and all my mind was bent on analyzing and repeating those sounds. After all, I’m here to learn sounds…
Well, I successfully produced the whole string of sounds… and then comprehension dawned. I’m not sure if it coincided with, or was a product of, the sudden outburst of uproarious applause and kisses between declarations of khuti! (my sister!). All of this was followed by a rapid speech explaining the formula for a good Muslim life…
Did I mention that context was important? For instance, when being intensely proselytized, it might not be wise to repeat a formulaic phrase, especially when your interlocutor is so intent upon you saying it. After all, you might end up interning in a house full of people who think you’re a newly-converted Muslim.