My Visit With Mirvate: Communication

Like I said in my last post, we needed to do some work before we could go to Lebanon. Just like we needed to book our plane tickets, we needed to be able to communicate with the people in Lebanon, or else our whole trip would be pointless. After all, some of the most enriching experiences on my trips to foreign countries is interacting with the people there, and getting to know their culture. My family decided that to be confident in speaking Lebanese, we needed to come up with the 10 most commonly used phrases in English, and then translate them into Lebanese. Here is what we came up with:

1. Hello - مرحبا (nar-haad-ra
2. Thank you - شكرا لك  (shi-kar-i-li-ka)
3. OK - موافق (moo-wey-filk)
4. How are you? - كيف حالك (kay-fa-haar-like-e)
5. Can I have the... - هل يمكنني ان يكون (yump-kin-na-a-loo-gee)
6. Can I use the restroom? - هل يمكنني استخدام المراحيض (y-yump-kin-na-en-ya-am-an-sten-da-a-el-al-mor-a-hi)
7. Goodbye - وداعا (wed-a-han)
8. Where are we going? - الى اين نحن ذاهبون؟ (el-a-ain-an-u-ha-le-he-gu-na)
9. Can you give me directions? - هل يمكن ان تعطيني الاتجاهات؟ (hay-u-kim-an-a-to-tree-lee-ah-he-te-j-had)
10. What time is it? - ما هو الوقت؟ (na-hu-a-locht)
11. Nice to meet you! - لطيف لمقابلتك (le-traif-lee-mo-ca-de-la-tica)

Now that we now a little Arabic, all that's left until we leave is exchanging currencies, and that will come next post.