Big Glasses

I have three interpreters assigned to my team. Each one has his own personality and they are all great to work with. Depending on the area we go to, they need to be able to speak either Kurdish or Arabic…and in some cases Turkomen. I know some basic words of greeting for both Kurdish and Arabic. For example, with Arabic, if you want to say hello, great to see you, and my name is CPT C, you would say (say it with me) …”Ah sah lam a lay koom”(hello and great to see you)….” “Kife hah lik …momtazzz?” (How are things … excellent?” ) . In Kurdish, you would say the above English words as follows: “Choy nee Bashi” (are you doing well?)…”Zorr bash” (I am doing well).

So there you have it…you can now speak both Arabic and Kurdish! Well, enough to create a good first impression anyway. One of our interpreters has a name that is difficult to pronounce but he wears big glasses…so we call him “Big Glasses” and he does not seem to mind. However, everytime I hear his new name it makes me chuckle a little. I mean imagine calling one of your friends “Big Glasses” or “Large Nose” or something like that.