Arabic in New York City
Sabera Asar and Areefa Arafin
The aim of this paper is to investigate the
use of Arabic, a LOTE used in the
Brooklyn Heights section of Brooklyn. We specifically examined the
Atlantic
Avenue area, which is a large commercial center in which Arabs shop and
socially
interact. We wish to analyze how pervasive the Arabic language is on
several levels, including the commercial, social, political, and religious
level. Due to a lack of time,
we could not go to the Court Street area, which is a largely residential
Arab neighborhood. We realize that the term "Arab" consists of many
countries of the
world, each with their distinct dialects and cultures. However, from our
research
among the people themselves, there is no segregation among the Arabs for
one
country. In a way it is a "mixed Arab" community with Arabic as the LOTE
that links
them together so strongly. From our observations, Arabic seems to be the
language
of social, religious, and commercial life. However, this language is not
useful in
other spheres of life like government, and in some ways medical and
educational
services. The Arab people are very much aware that they are a minority
and those
who cannot speak any English (which is rare) make an effort to learn it.
One reason
for this awareness can probably be attributed to the fact that they are
co-existing with various cultural groups including Hispanics, African
Americans and Chinese Americans, as was evident in our visit to the area.
As for our own personal relationship to the
municipality investigated, I, Areefa, have twice visited the area to shop.
I didn't know much about the services provided in the area for Arab
speakers. I was familiar with Arabs before the project but none in that
area. I speak Arabic as a second language (which came in handy at certain
points). I, Sabera, had no connection whatsoever to the people or the
community and was interested in finding out more about this area. I had
never heard of an Arab neighborhood in New York prior to this point.
According to the Census Bureau, Arab
Americans are defined as people who trace their ancestry to North African
countries like Morocco all the way to western Asia like Lebanon and Saudi
Arabia. Their cultures and traditions are not necessarily the same but
their common tie is the "Arabic heritage" and the Arabic language. Arab
immigration to the US started in the late 19th century, the early ones
were mostly from Syria and Lebanon who became merchants. After WWII many
people emigrated for political reasons including some Palestinians. From
1975-1980, there was a high immigration rate of Arabs to the US. These are
all foreign born. Most of these immigrants are educated.
We found that although the Arab community is
well-accommodated for on
the commercial scene, the level of accommodation on the government is not
as deep.
For example the Post office in the area provides no support for LOTE
speakers.
One woman put it nicely when she said, "They don't provide services for
English
speakers, let alone people who don't know English." There are no brochures
in
LOTE and there are no signs that aren't solely in English. But this might
be because
there is no real need for vast LOTE use among the Arabs. The majority of
people
interviewed spoke English fluently. This lack of Arabic use was also
evident at
Precinct 88, where one of the police officers informed us that there is
hardly a
problem in the Atlantic Avenue area with monolingual Arab speakers; the
majority he
had encountered spoke English. But in the precinct itself, when the need
arises,
translating services are provided for Arabic and almost every other
language. There is a specific department that can be called on when a
translator is needed.
Not only is the police department
accommodating of LOTE, the school in the area is as well. In the closest
primary school, P.S. 38, pamphlets are posted in English,
Arabic and Spanish. The flags painted outside the school indicate the
diversity of the
students who go there. Although there is a good size population of Arabic
speakers,
there are also Spanish and French speakers. There are a few ESL students,
but most
of the students in the school can speak English. There are no bilingual
classes, although one used to be offered in Spanish a few years ago. There
is also Al-Noor, which is a private religious school located on Fourth
Avenue. They offer Arabic and religious classes along with a standard
academic curriculum. Even though the community is very diverse in the
area, some Arabs prefer to stay with their "own kind". One student stated
that she has always been at Al-Noor and that she feels more comfortable
there because she doesn't have to defend her culture to non-Arabs. But
Al-Noor is very diverse in itself including students from American born
converts to Indians to Africans to Arabs. There are 600 students with
grades K-12. There is also a school called Al-Aksa, above the mosque,
Masjid Farooq. We spoke to a young Yemeni girl who stated that she loved
the school. It was easier for her to speak Arabic than English, which
shows the acceptance of Arab speakers in her school.
As evidenced through the school district,
the precinct and the post office, government services are provided for
LOTE speakers, especially Arab speakers, only when absolutely necessary.
The same goes for the medical services provided in the area.
Borough Medical Center provides interpreters for Chinese, Russian and
French, but
not for Arabic even though the majority of residents are Arabic speakers.
In fact, 9114 Arab immigrants were admitted and lived in Brooklyn from
1990 to 1994. So the fact that interpreters are not provided for Arabic
speakers might indicate that the Arabs who do come in can speak English,
but we were assured that hardly any Arabs came in to seek treatment.
Diagnostic Health Services, located in the same building provides
translators for Spanish, Haitian and French, but most people who can't
speak English come in with a relative who can. Atlantis Medical Center
offers no interpreters at all. The doctors are not Arab and cannot speak
Arabic. The majority of the doctors are West Indian. Dr. Shwartz's medical
office is smaller than the others, but he receives patients from a variety
of ethnic backgrounds, including Arabs, Hispanics, and Jews. This might be
due to the fact that he can speak French, Russian, Spanish and some Arabic
and his secretary can speak Russian and German. Dr.Schwartz is a rare
example of the accommodation of the Arabic language in the medical centers
of the area.
On the other hand, the commercial area has
more freedom to express itself in an
LOTE. We met M.S. Zohny, the Egyptian owner of Islam Fashion with three
stores,
one in upper Manhattan 95 th St., on in Astoria and one on Atlantic Ave.
He does
wholesale and retail and ships nationwide. He came here in 1979 so he's
lived here
for about twenty-one years. His three children were born here, the oldest
being
fifteen years old in high school to the youngest who is ten. He and his
children know both English and Arabic, to the point of fluency. Sometimes
people come in to ask about Islam. This shows how friendly people are
with him and how well established he is in the community. After Sept. 11,
he got a threatening letter. He replied, "If I get another threat I'm not
afraid to just take my family back to Egypt." Yet, his children, he said,
want to stay here. He sells religious books in various LOTE's like
French, Spanish, Arabic, and German, as well as Arab/Islamic women's
jilbabs or long overcoats and scarves (hijabs). He also
sells Arab clothing called the jalabia (long white gown). Much of
his inventory is not made here but imported from countries like Jordan,
Egypt, and Saudi Arabia. Atlantic Ave. is lined with stores like his.
There are also supermarkets and butcheries
that sell halal (religiously sound) meat and other products as well
as traditional Middle Eastern foods like olives and feta cheese and
baklava. One such place is Fertile Crescent. The workers are Egyptian
and so is the owner. They speak limited English as they have only been
living here two years. They also have a big incense (ataar) stock.
We noticed their coffee blends included Belgian, French, Columbian,
Jamaican, Italian, Yemen, and Swiss. Is it a reflection of the community?
In some ways it is. There are a number of restaurants in the area. There
is Bedouin Tent Restaurant where the owners have been living in America
for twenty years. Then there is American Middle Eastern Cuisine, which is
an interesting blend of both cultures menu from French fries and burgers
to kabob and shawerma (grilled lamb or beef on a turnstile). The owner
came here when he was nineteen. His children were born and grew up here.
The restaurant workers have people who speak LOTE including Arabic,
French, Russian, Spanish, Chinese, and Italian. Their cuisine somewhat
reflects that mixture of peoples. In fact the two workers we interviewed
were Egyptian and Chinese. One worker summed up her view of the area
saying, "It's like the United Nations here."
There are a couple of bookstores which sell
books mostly in English and Arabic, but also in Urdu, Spanish, French,
Russian, Malay and other languages. Wafa Translator Services showed us
two newspapers one from Yemen called Al-Arab al-Ghad (The
Arabs Tomorrow) and another from Egypt Al-Akhbar (The News). They also
publish Al-Ahram (Egyptian) in English and Arabic, Al-Raie
(Jordanian) and others in Arabic. These all are imported. Papers can be
found in groceries and bookstores.
As for the religious aspect of the
community, there is a Lebanese Church on Montigo St. and a Lebanese church
called Our Lady of Lebanon Maronite Cathedral on Remsen St. Brooklyn. At
least some parts of the service are done in Arabic. Another church where
LOTE is spoken is Bethel Word of Faith Church on Atlantic but the LOTE
they speak is Spanish. Also there's the Lutheran Church with mostly
Swedish and Caucasian worshipers on Pacific St. Their service is in
English. Masjid Farooq is on Atlantic Ave. among the Arab stores. Prayer
is done in Arabic, of course. However, Jumuah or Friday prayer is
done in Arabic and then translated to English because the congregation is
mixed with Arabs and African Americans, Pakistanis, Indians, Africans,
etc. They do not have English classes, but do have Arabic classes on
weekends for children and adults. Much of the commercial area evolved
from the original construction of the masjid since they knew people going
to the mosque would have a need for Arab products.
There is Wafa Translation and Services on
479 Atlantic Ave. It is an organization
which is commercial but also a linguistic group. They do translation for
consulting, immigration services, insurance, shipping, videos and
cassettes, and learner permit tests for the following languages, Arabic,
Russian, and French. One of the workers has lived in America for 29
years. He informed us that Arabs were in this area as early as the '20s
so they have families now 2nd or 3rd generation. The two people we
talked to were from Algeria and Palestine. The Palestinian has lived in
Brooklyn for a long time and his family lived here for ten years. He was
on a visit. He had moved back with his family in order to be around his
own people. Apparently, the Arab population in America was not enough. In
their office people come in to translate paperwork in English to any of
these languages or vice versa if they cannot understand English. It can
be a useful service to LOTE speakers to fill out any legal documents
otherwise not understandable in English. During our visit we met some
people who have a working command of English to get by on a day-to-day
basis but it would not be sufficient to understand an application or type
a letter. Another service we encountered is the Blue Nile Insurance
Agency and Law Office, 527 Atlantic Ave. We spoke with a Nigerian lawyer
who does not speak Arabic. However, his partner of the insurance agency
is Sudanese, therefore speaks Arabic. He has many Arab clients, sometimes
because they can't speak English, but many times only because they know
him through community events. The YWCA on 30 3rdAve. is not a national
group but a community one. They are a fitness center for all ages and all
backgrounds as their sign says. They get customers from every part of the
mixed community including but not limited to Arabs. Their activities
range from swimming, taekwondo, basketball to health classes. They have
living quarters for single women, none of which are Arab. The person at
the desk said that he knows many of the storeowners who are Arab and some
come regularly for sports. They also have Montessori Day Care Center with
Caucasian, Hispanic, Chinese, Arab, Indian and African American children.
One major nationality group is the Arab American Family Support Center on
4th Ave. They have an Arabic-speaking staff and is a social service
agency serving the Arab immigrants to NYC. They encourage leadership and
promote unity and ways to reap the benefits of the 'American dream'. They
have a Big Brother/Sister Mentor Program where Arab-American college
students serve as role models for younger children. They offer services
like English language classes, counseling, crisis intervention, emergency
services, advocacy, translation/interpretation, parenting education,
citizenship preparation, end information/referral services for health,
education, housing, legal immigration, employment, job-training, and
child-care needs. So they are pretty comprehensive in scope. There's no
doubt they are addressing the needs of LOTE speakers. However, Arabic as
an LOTE is not put into the same category as say, Spanish, for
bilingualism.
The Arabic language has integrated through
the commercial, social, and religious
scene. But the government still has not accepted Arabic as an important
LOTE to provide
services for. This might be due to the fact that the majority of Arab
immigrants to this country were well educated, and could speak English.
This is supported by the fact that the people we spoke to came in to the
country 10 to 20 years ago. This is the period of the return to LOTE
tolerance described by Ofelia Garcia in New York's Multilingualism:
World Languages and Their Role in a U.S. City. The immigrants of this
era, between the 1960's and 90's, were well-educated people, mostly
professionals, who came to the NYC for economic reasons. So because the
majority of the Arab immigrants were bilingual, there was no need for the
government to provide LOTE services to them. The schools, on the other
hand, are catering to newer immigrants, who may or may not be bilingual in
English and Arabic. So they must compensate for this language difficulty
by providing information in Arabic. The use of Arabic in the commercial
and social scene is best explained through the fact that although many of
the people do speak English, the friendly atmosphere invites them to
revert to their mother tongue. It is where they came from. Language is a
link to their heritage, and therefore, they try not to lose it.
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