A question from the audience

We've heard from quite a few people that Blogger hasn't been allowing them to comment on this site. Boo! We've made some changes to our settings and hopefully this will open things up -- please let us know if you're still having issues.

In the meantime, Liz in Oz's mom sent us a question and we figured what the heck, why not answer it in public? (Thanks Susan!)

The wedding clothes are gorgeous! One question: do you understand or speak the language of your family in Pakistan? How long did you live there?

The language issue is a funny thing. The two most widely-spoken languages here are Urdu and English. All of the street signs, for example, are in English -- a hangover from the British Imperial days. Funny enough, I just found out today that my father, who speaks Urdu fluently, can only read it at a second-grade level! This totally amazed me, since he grew up in this country and switches flawlessly between English and Urdu at will. Although his wife and siblings can all read Urdu, his situation is apparently not uncommon.

I definitely don't speak Urdu, but I can generally understand about 80% of a conversation taking place around me (which has been a huge surprise). I think it's a combination of being able to follow the flow and tone of the speaker, while also knowing a fair amount of keywords (many of which have been rapidly coming back to me in our short time here). My extended family's doing a great job of speaking as much English as possible around us -- which is fairly typical for them anyway -- but, as in all languages, there are some words that simply don't translate easily. For example: Mashallah (ma-sha-la) broadly means "may you not receive the evil eye." My cousins Saira and Farrah are hilarious and honest tour guides, and explained to us today that the worst evil eye (i.e. the most harm) can come from an overbearing mother who loves her child too much!

More on language: Urdu is similar/related to Arabic, which is the original language of the Holy Qu'ran. Saira and Farrah, their three sisters and all of their children are able to read Arabic (and therefore the Qu'ran) but cannot speak or understand the spoken language. My dad has to read the Qu'ran in English, as a translation. Saira also told us that in her family (as is the norm), they all have a command of at least four languages: English, Urdu, written Arabic and Punjabi, which is the local dialect of their province. Pakistan is divided into four provinces, each with their own language: Sindh (where Karachi is located), Punjab (where lots of my cousins, plus my dad's sister and her husband, live), Balochistan and NWF (North West Frontier). Bordering Afghanistan, NWF is home to about 98% of the events covered by the Western media. It's also roughly 1,000 miles from Karachi as the crow flies.

So yes: four provinces, each with their own language. Insane. Although people from Arkansas and California may not feel as though they're speaking the same English, I have a feeling it's a lot easier than what's going on in Pakistan. We were told that general government business is often conducted in English, sometimes Urdu.

Whew -- this was not a short answer. But to address the second part of Susan's question, my family lived here for about 9-1/2 years. That meant age 3-13 (ish) for me; my sister was born in the US but lived here as well until 1993, when my parents divorced and we headed back Stateside with my mom.