I have finished with my final class here in Egypt and it didn't come a moment too soon. Actually it has gone by really fast and time seems to just be speeding up.
I also just finished with my big general test, the OPI (Oral Proficiency Interview). It is like the ACT or SAT of Arabic, in that any job that has a need of an Arabic speaker will look to this test to get an objective measure of my Arabic skill. Unfortunately, but not devastatingly, it did not go so well. I was signed up to go on the 4th or 5th day, but someone who had signed up for the first day got "cold feet" as our instructor Dil stated in an email and so I changed places with him.
I came into the interview with a distinct plan of how I would handle the OPI, based, I thought, on the advice from our instructors concerning the OPI throughout the semester. Unfortunately, this plan "turns out to be a terrible idea" according to another e-mail sent from Dil, who used my OPI as a particular example of what not to do in order to score well. I was upset for a while, but I made my peace quickly. I did poorly on our practice OPI, for different reasons (mainly being really nervous for having to it in front of Dil) and was pretty upset then, but I made my peace then, which made it easier now.
I've been working really hard on focusing on the positives of this trip, of which there are many: including, firstly, that we've made it through with very few major problems. Amir has been great and we've spent a lot of great time together as a family, but more centrally to the purpose of the trip, I've also really improved my Arabic. I have put a lot of time into it, and if I stop comparing myself to others, I'll see that I am a lot better now than when I started, and that's what it's all about.
I googled this test on the internet. It said this:
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Worse, the scale does nothing to address the omnipresent issue of diglossa in the Arabic language. Is it really possible to attain anything higher than a 2+ without knowing elements of both فصحى (MSA) and عامية colloquial? The scale does not address this. Instead, agencies like the State department will offer tests and give ratings in either in selected عامية (Iraqi and Egyptian, currently) or فصحى, treating them as entirely separate languages."
So I failed the English OPI because I could not tell you what this all means.
Keep your spirits up.
Luv,
Mum
There's a purpose for everything. Give yourself a credit for the great things you do.
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