ON TUESDAY EVENINGS, people can’t help but slow down on the path running through Mockamore Café in Marina Mall. Between stores or perhaps on their way to some other eatery, passers-by sense that something out of the ordinary is taking place at this coffee shop, where the tables are surrounded by extra chairs and lively conversations.

Those who come to a full stop are greeted with the twin queries of what languages they bring with them and what languages they hope to take away.

Tucked away in a quiet corner of the mall, Abu Dhabi Speak! participants engage in a commerce of languages every Tuesday night, from 7pm-9 pm. The group’s premise is simple: to offer all people — regardless of background, skill level or even commitment — the opportunity to practice the language of their choice. There are no official teachers or rules, just a collection of individuals willing to share a truly impressive array of languages. And should one come asking for a language that nobody present speaks, the group reaches out to the hundreds in its network in search of someone who does.

Rosa is founder and chief organiser of Abu Dhabi Speaks!, though there are no official titles for even the most actively involved members, she says. Instead, she introduces herself and two other regulars, who have arrived early to help set up, by their nationalities: “I am Rosa from Argentina, South America. Ahmed is an Arab representative from Palestine. And Karen is from the US,” she says. “And depending on who comes, we organise the groups.”

Rosa, an accountant by profession, moved to Abu Dhabi with her husband four years ago. She started making the rounds at local coffee morning events but soon came to feel that she was repeatedly encountering “the same kind of people” at such gatherings. Around the same time, Rosa, a native Spanish speaker, and an English-speaking friend decided to start meeting regularly in order to help each other practice English and Spanish. In the ongoing tradition of Abu Dhabi Speaks!, word spread and the group expanded to include other languages.

“An Arab friend said we are in an Arab country so why don’t we include Arabic,” she recalls. “So then it was Arabic, English and Spanish. Then all these ladies said, ‘what about us? We are French, Serbian, Russian and so on.’ So I said ‘okay, let’s do something all together,’ and Abu Dhabi Speaks! was born.”

The group’s format is fluid and continues to evolve with time. Since its founding in 2010, Abu Dhabi Speaks! sessions have lengthened to two hours, with most participants devoting the first hour to one language and the second to another. Those setting up groups try to include a native speaker in each bunch.

“It’s been all sorts of things,” says Karen, who jokes that she joined Abu Dhabi Speaks! because she didn’t want to attend any coffee mornings.  “It started out as topical or thematic. Sometimes Rosa would organise games. The idea is to keep making it fresh, because people have come and gone, members can be new or repeats—we try to adjust and offer things based on their level.”

Karen, an architect from the US, moved to Abu Dhabi two years ago and was having a hard time finding an opportunity to speak the UAE’s native language. “I have an independent private tutor for Arabic, but I need some place to practice it and that’s what was so compelling about Abu Dhabi Speaks!,” she says. “Here I was learning all this Arabic, but it’s stunning how everyone here speaks English, no matter what circle you’re in. This is my once-a-week chance to dig in.”

People attend the sessions with different goals in mind and Abu Dhabi Speaks! hopes to accommodate them all, explains Rosa. “Some prefer a casual chat and some really want to learn properly and take notes,” she says, describing how certain attendees will use academic workbooks or bring newspapers to translate. “We try to facilitate an atmosphere where people can feel comfortable. Here, anyone can sit even in a one-to-one chat and feel safe because we are all learning and it is like a big class.”

The open, collaborative atmosphere of Abu Dhabi Speaks! holds an undeniable charm for its participants. Many of them come not only to improve their language skills but to socialise with the diverse, ever-changing crowd that convenes at the café every Tuesday evening.

“It’s like this is the missing link in Abu Dhabi,” says Ahmed, a lifelong resident of the UAE. “You can find lots of nationalities, lots of different cultures, but you need the event or the meet-up that can gather all those nationalities in one group, which is happening here at Abu Dhabi Speaks! This is an amazing chance to learn about other languages, cultures and nationalities.”

Ahmed is a financial consultant who speaks fluent Arabic and English, yet still finds himself picking up useful tips from his friends at Abu Dhabi Speaks!  Chatting with Jennifer, a Canadian who speaks English, French, German and Arabic, Ahmed reminds her of a phrase she once helped him straighten out.

“One Tuesday I had the day off, and I said ‘I have an off day’. And Jennifer was like, ‘no, you don’t—you have a day off’,” he recounts. Now he says he will always remember that “an off day” means a bad day. “For me, I feel that this is better than formal learning sometimes. You won’t forget it, because the learning is connected to an event that happened.”

Jennifer enjoys the opportunity to give back to those who are helping her. “Because someone is teaching me Arabic, I always feel that it’s only fair that I help with English,” she says. “And the people here are really nice. You meet a whole bunch of people—that’s what I like about it.”

This Tuesday night, about twenty people have shown up. As the session kicks into gear, several groups of four to six attendees (divided by skill level) decide to work on Arabic. English is the common tongue for most of these groups, but one pair is using French as its fallback language. Joachim, a first-time participant at Abu Dhabi Speaks!, spends the first hour brushing up on his Spanish with a native speaker.

“Spanish and Farsi are two languages I am interested in learning,” he says, listing English, Arabic and his native German as the languages he is already comfortable speaking. “Spanish isn’t so tough for me because it’s reasonably close to what I’m used to from home, but the Farsi bit is challenging,” he concedes. Joachim is the first participant to ever request Farsi at Abu Dhabi Speaks! and, as luck would have it, this Tuesday is the first time a native Farsi speaker showed up. The regulars are not surprised. “That’s how it works,” says Karen.

In October, Abu Dhabi Speak! will permanently change venues to Roul’s Café in Central Market. The group is also starting morning, ladies-only sessions.

—aisha@khaleejtimes.com