Dubai Forums Dubai Discussions Dubai General Chat

http://www.ef.nl/epi/

In most of the world, English can take you far. As far as I can remember only in Spain I had problems making myself understood. The most interesting encounters are between well willing people trying to make themselves understood, but donot have a common speaking language. Next to that I notice that foottie is a bounding factor in most of the world. When nobody speaks English or Dutch, and I want to make known I am from Holland, windmills, tulips donot get the message across. Cruijff, Ajax or Gullit does.
International sign language can also be interesting. Different gestures can mean different things in different countries. In one country it can be normal, and in another it can be offensive. This can even be the case inside a country, but in different hoods. I remember trying to signal to a car behind me that I stand still, because the bridge is closed, hoping he would stop honking. The guy behind me didnot take that lightly and went to my car. He shouted at me with his head inside my car. I wanted to ask him why is he is doing so ugly, but the words in his dialect came out as me asking him why he was so ugly (he was very ugly by the way). You have to be careful. I also know that rubbing your hand on your chin is considered very offensive in Italy.
I am not aware of any 'funny' gestures in the UAE, so if you know any please share. The only preculiar word was inshallah, which IMO translate best as 'not today'.
I am very surprised by the way of the low ranking of English in the UAE, because I never had a problem.

Sometimes I'm embarrassed by my inability to speak different languages. Even the lowliest construction workers in Dubai have a better grasp of foreign languages than I do. We English are so lazy.
Football is definitely an international language. People in Dubai always ask where you are from and when you say English, they ask if you support Manchester United or Chelsea. I'm sure that some people think there are only two cities in England and they are Manchester and London. Of course I'm at pains to tell people that I do not support United but I'm a noisy neighbour. Unless you follow Ferguson you may not get it.

I think it's best not to make any hand gestures in Dubai. People have been arrested for less.

Inshallah is the same as mañana. Tomorrow. Tomorrow never comes.

--- Nov 08, 2012 ---

FlyingDutchman ,

Well I dont know about hand gestures, but I saw this movie some years ago; quite a good one. I forget the name, but there is this group of 3 or 4 young hispanic men who get together and initially indulge in petty theft, and later get into bigger things like drugs. But in the beginning of the film there is a scene where the alpha male of the group is bragging to his mates how he can excite any girl by sticking his tongue out at her and moving it vigorously from side to side. He demonstrates this to them, and then says just watch me, as he makes his way towards a beautiful blond on the beach. The camera is behind him as he goes up to the young woman while his friends watch in suspense. Then there is the sound of this resounding smack as the angry young lady slaps him on the face and walks away! Its quite hilarious. But that's not hand gestures, more like tongue gestures, I presume

As for Inshallah, actually its a wonderful term for getting rid of a nuisance fast! It means "with the will of Allah"! It could mean anything from "not today" to "never".
You may be aware that Muslims are always waiting for Allah to do things for them. That's why they try to please Allah with all that braying
Its like me saying by the will of the Simulators.

I think you are referring to one of my favorite movie scenes, Scarface Al Pacino.

Yes FD, I think you are right. It was Scarface