'Speaking' a language

My roommate here knows a whole lot more Arabic than I do. She's in 3rd year(ish) and I'm only in first. But who does our family *think* speaks better? It seems to be me. I've made an effort to figure out some of the local dialect, while she's been really focusing on the standard one. Result? They don't always understand her. It's pretty funny in some ways, and I'm sure frustrating.

At UT they take the approach that students should learn standard as well as one of the most commonly understood regional dialects - Levantine (Lebanon/Syria) and Egyptian. Most people say that sounds like too much work, and I hear it does try to take over your life, but now I can see much better why. For any other language (or almost any?) when you learn it, you can go and speak with people. You may sound a bit too formal, but they'll understand. With Arabic, they might understand, but might not. And even if they do understand, they may not be able to carry on a conversation like that.

Today I have had a CRAZY bad headache and had to try to communicate in Arabic despite it. Ouch. But I've managed to make due, mostly, though I don't think I got across that there is nothing wrong with my stomach and I am not sick from something I ate. Whatever, we do what we can!