Most of the movies I’ve seen at the Arab Film Festival have been in Arabic with English subtitles. I’ve been reading for many years, and yet every time I watch a movie with subtitles I am exhausted.

I realize one of the reasons is because I think I can understand the language if I pay close enough attention. I don’t know Arabic, never studied Arabic and I don’t believe it’s a language you can pick up easily—at least if the squiggly lines and the reading from right to left is any indication.

Yet I still listen for words that sound like the subtitled word at the bottom.

One of the movies I saw had both Arabic and English subtitles when the dialogue was in Hebrew. Another movie had English subtitles but it was in French and Arabic.

I admit I was proud of myself when I could tell the difference between the languages.

Sometimes the subtitles just don’t help. For example, I was planning to go see Rabia’s Journey, but as I was reading about the film, I noticed one important piece of information. The film is in Arabic with French subtitles.

Now my Arabic might have improved with all of the films I’ve watched (well, I might recognize it when I hear it again), but my French is rusty. Unless the film talks about an apple, I’ll miss quite a bit. It’s been nice that some of the films are in English—so that I could just listen and watch.

The Arab Film Festival will conclude in the Bay Area on Sunday the 28th. In Berkeley, it will go out with a few shorts, one of which I look forward to seeing: Winterland. This film is a Norwegian film about a Kurdish Iraqi immigrant living in Norway.

I believe this film is in English; after all, some of the Norwegians I’ve met speak better English than I do.

However, I am concerned that I might have to brush up on my Norwegian and Kurdish.