Get Ready for Action!!

Before you begin your mission, get a pen/pencil, some paper, and download the mission brief:

  • Download Mission Brief

  • Pen/Pencil

  • Paper

Why is Tunisian Arabic so different from the Arabic spoken elsewhere?

Hello shipmate! Long ago, pirates rampaged around the Mediterranean, stealing from everyone they met, and taking prisoners everywhere they went. The prisoners in the Mediterranean developed their own Lingua Franca – a special language which was a mix of different languages from Mediterranean countries. This allowed them to talk to each other when in captivity. You can hear someone singing in a Lingua Franca by watching the video below. This Lingua Franca is a mix of Arabic and French words.


Listen to the audio in the video, and write down the Arabic words and the French words.


Tunisian Arabic is a little like a lingua franca. Walk around the palace and listen to the words you can hear in each room. Translate the words into Tunisian Arabic (try not to use a dictionary or Google translate - instead, think about what Tunisian Arabic words they sound like). Write the words down in a list for each room.

The words you’ve been listening to are all words which arrived in Tunisia at different times in history, even though they sound like and can be written in Arabic.


Now, write your own song using the words from this mission (as well as other French or Arabic words if you need to!), in your own Lingua Franca.