Hi! كيفك؟ça va?
This is how Lebanese people greet each other. Why using three languages? (Arabic, English and French). It’s simply because our ancestors were Phoenicians. So we, Lebanese, coming from Phoenician roots, it’s in our DNA to explore and to get to know other cultures. Furthermore, as a result of the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire, in 1920, “Smuts” who was at the time the Former Prime Minister of South Africa, said that France will mandate Lebanon and Syria. So we were very influenced by the presence of France in our country which resulted in our cultural similarities, to the extent that we became a French-speaking country. Lebanon today is known for its food especially for “Fattoush” a salad that is made of many greens and this word was acquired from French Soldiers back in the 1920’s. They were ordering a salade “faite de toute chose” but back then, most Lebanese only spoke Arabic and pronounce it as fattoush. Another dish is choraba – “شوربة” which is chaud au repas, and it means a hot soup, and many more.
In our daily life, we use many French and English words instead of Arabic. After our independence, the relationship between us remained well.
On the other hand, an important thing that “Macron” came to Lebanon and honored the iconic “Fairouz” after the tragedy our country faced on august 4th.This gesture showed our great relationship with France.
In our country there are people from different nationalities and we are extrovert and lovely people, we like to get to know them, and we offer them to stay at our home and they become part of our family.