Egypt anchor asks Arab how he speaks Arabic

Egypt anchor asks Arab football fan how he speaks Arabic

An Egyptian sports anchor has been mocked on social media for asking a football fan from West African state Mauritania where he learnt to speak Arabic.

MENA

2 min read

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25 June, 2019

Mauritania's official language and main mother tongue is Arabic [Twitter]

An Egyptian sports anchor has been mocked on social media for asking a football fan from West African state Mauritania where he learnt to speak Arabic.

Medhat Shalaby made the gaffe during an interview with the Mauritanian student ahead of the country's debut match at the African Cup of Nations.

"You learnt the Arabic language in Mauritania?" Shalaby asked the religion student.

"Yes of course... ," he responded.

"You learnt it a long time ago or recently?" the anchor then asks.

"I learnt it when I started my education," the student responded, before Shalaby inquires if Mauritania is an Arab-speaking country.

Shalaby's ignorance about Arab League member Mauritania has been mocked by social media users.

The largely-desert country is seen as the bridge between North Africa and West Africa. Its official language and main mother tongue is Arabic, with French also being widely spoken, while other minority languages are also widely spoken as a first-language.

The Mauritanian football team is making its first appearance at the ongoing African Cup in Egypt, but lost their opening game 4-1 to Mali.

The debutants looked a little out of its depth on Monday as they lost 4-1 to Mali.