I think almost all the people in Dubai can speak English .
Am I correct ?
the message board for Dubai English speaking community
freeneasy1 wrote:In my opinion,urdu/hindi is spoken widely in Emirates than any other language.I've seen number of Arabs speaking this language and interestingly other nationalities like persians,philipinos,africans,somalies etc.
It seems that the emirates will soon have a new language which will be a mixture of Arabic,Urdu,English,Persian....
freeneasy1 wrote:Exactly Captain.That day i've seen an illiterate person in a shop who was speaking Russian,English,Arabic and Urdu as well as his mother tongue.I was amazed to see him indeed.
intpages wrote:I think almost all the people in Dubai can speak English .
Am I correct ?
Captain Australia wrote:If you are a westener like me and only hang around the Mall, pubs, business districts then yes, everyone speaks english. ..
Wednesday Jones wrote:intpages wrote:I think almost all the people in Dubai can speak English .
Am I correct ?
Out of interest, whay do you ask?
freeneasy1 wrote:It's amazing sometimes. I had a taxi driver the other day who spoke 5 languages. English, Arabic, Urdu, something and something (don't remember). Plus he was learning Philipino.
Damn, and he was driving a cab. He should have been working for the UN or something.
freeneasy1 wrote:In my opinion,urdu/hindi is spoken widely in Emirates than any other language.I've seen number of Arabs speaking this language and interestingly other nationalities like persians,philipinos,africans,somalies etc.
It seems that the emirates will soon have a new language which will be a mixture of Arabic,Urdu,English,Persian....
desertdudeshj wrote:Hmm..never ever thought how it would be to speak only one language. I've been atleast biligual most my life if not triligual. No big deal for a lot of people. I picked up English from sesame street even before I started K.G
At the moment I can speak, English, Urdu/Hindi ( almost the same thing ) Arabic, Punjabi, some basic Phusto and very crude German and trying to learn my what my wife speaks ! Tagalo !!!! and some malyalam ( have to speak that to survive in UAE) Since Mallus are the majoritiy here
Oh and I can curse in about a million languages
But thats nothing I know a dude know who works as a desert tour guide for Orient tours. Totally illiterate. Along with the common UAE languages of English, Arabic, Urdu and some native blah blah, Speaks Fluent German, Russian and Spanish now thats awesome.
I personally think the key to getting it right is to get the accent down correctly. You can get away with a minimal vocabulary if you have the accent right. But even with good vocabulary and a bad accent it gives the impression the speaker is not really fluent in that language.
Hulahula wrote:Don't forget the intonation
Took me 2 years to get all 5 tones correct when i was learning Thai. 1 of the few languages that has words with the same spelling, but mean completely different things when said in particular tones. Arabic was a cakewalk compared to it....
intpages wrote:Interesting .
What is urdu/hindi language ?
freeneasy1 wrote:intpages wrote:Interesting .
What is urdu/hindi language ?
The largest spoken language in South Asia.
Captain Australia wrote:No.
If you are a westener like me and only hang around the Mall, pubs, business districts then yes, everyone speaks english.
But on the way to Fujeriah one day I got lost in one of the industrial suburbs because I was trying to double back to get to the petrol station. I stopped and asked a few people for directions and they could not speak a word of English.
Plus out near my work I often give lifts to either labourers or security guards when they are hitching on the side of the road. It's out in the middle of nowhere and usually very hot so I feel terrible cruising past them in my air-con car. Many, probably at least 60% can speak barely any English. The usual 'hello, what is your name' etc is usually fine, but every now and then I get someone who clearly knows NO English. Interesting.
What I'm try to say is that for the people you will likely meet, everyone will speak English. For the people that you won't meet, most wont speak English, but those people make up a sizeable portion of the population here.