What do you think?
Rate this book
UAE 101 Stories & Cultural Learnings
A must-read for everyone who is interested in visiting, working or living in the United Arab Emirates. The book is a collection of 101 anecdotes and cultural tips to give a better understanding of and appreciation for the UAE culture and local customs. Far from being a mere list of impersonal notions, "UAE 101" is a precious reading, which combines individual experiences, local traditions, history and curiosities. The one of its kind perspective is given by the collaboration of the two authors and friends: A western expat and a UAE born and raised local.
- GenresNonfiction
159 pages, Paperback
Published November 1, 2018
8 people are currently reading
92 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
August 4, 2019
The back of the book says it is "a must read for everyone who is interested in visiting, working, or living in the United Arab Emirates." Taken at that, as a pre-arrival introduction to the culture, I think it does rather well!
What was most appreciated?
• The section on body language is interesting, especially because those communicative acts are easily overlooked when learning to communicate (studying Arabic).
• I appreciate the inclusion of some recipes under the section on local foods! The authors say that women typically cook (as I have found to be true, unless men are cooking a whole goat for biryani or grilling burgers in the desert) so, as a man who likes cooking occasionally, and seeing as my wife has dietary restrictions that prevent her from eating most local treats without substitutions (e.g. gluten-free flour), seeing the ingredient list has given some hope of treating her to some local flavors.
• Thankfully someone else clued me in on the "khashm" (touching Moses when greeting between men) but that section is excellent to know before being put in an awkward position!
• I also greatly appreciate the section describing the modesty standards for men and women.
What could be improved?
• Co-written by an Emirati woman and an Italian woman, the English was a little awkward in places but never incomprehensible. The authors have done very well to work cross-culturally and cross-lingustically to provide translations of locals' stories (in bold and italic text) throughout the book. It would have been nice to credit these contributors, though, to widen the representation from the authors' perspectives alone.
• I actually would have liked a little more Arabic, providing the script to accompany their transliterations into Latin characters for its English-speaking readership.
• For some reason a small symbol similar to a karat (>) and double-karat (>>) is used in place of the apostrophe and quotation marks, respectively, throughout the book. However, this is not strictly followed. For example, on page 89 the text reads [...] The "majlis," in Arabic, literary [sic.] means >>a place of sitting," and [...], combining the two symbols' usage.
• The Dubai International Arabic Calligraphy Exhibition is semi-annual (last occurring Mar-Apr 2019), and will come around again in 2021. It is not held annually as stated in the book.
Final assessment:
This book has some flaws but they're not too big. It's a great introduction to Emirati life and should, obviously, be followed up with what you learn by interacting with people. Real life is going to be more nuanced and "messy" than represented here but that doesn't mean you can't learn some very valuable information from this little book. Go ahead and give it a read!
What was most appreciated?
• The section on body language is interesting, especially because those communicative acts are easily overlooked when learning to communicate (studying Arabic).
• I appreciate the inclusion of some recipes under the section on local foods! The authors say that women typically cook (as I have found to be true, unless men are cooking a whole goat for biryani or grilling burgers in the desert) so, as a man who likes cooking occasionally, and seeing as my wife has dietary restrictions that prevent her from eating most local treats without substitutions (e.g. gluten-free flour), seeing the ingredient list has given some hope of treating her to some local flavors.
• Thankfully someone else clued me in on the "khashm" (touching Moses when greeting between men) but that section is excellent to know before being put in an awkward position!
• I also greatly appreciate the section describing the modesty standards for men and women.
What could be improved?
• Co-written by an Emirati woman and an Italian woman, the English was a little awkward in places but never incomprehensible. The authors have done very well to work cross-culturally and cross-lingustically to provide translations of locals' stories (in bold and italic text) throughout the book. It would have been nice to credit these contributors, though, to widen the representation from the authors' perspectives alone.
• I actually would have liked a little more Arabic, providing the script to accompany their transliterations into Latin characters for its English-speaking readership.
• For some reason a small symbol similar to a karat (>) and double-karat (>>) is used in place of the apostrophe and quotation marks, respectively, throughout the book. However, this is not strictly followed. For example, on page 89 the text reads [...] The "majlis," in Arabic, literary [sic.] means >>a place of sitting," and [...], combining the two symbols' usage.
• The Dubai International Arabic Calligraphy Exhibition is semi-annual (last occurring Mar-Apr 2019), and will come around again in 2021. It is not held annually as stated in the book.
Final assessment:
This book has some flaws but they're not too big. It's a great introduction to Emirati life and should, obviously, be followed up with what you learn by interacting with people. Real life is going to be more nuanced and "messy" than represented here but that doesn't mean you can't learn some very valuable information from this little book. Go ahead and give it a read!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
April 1, 2022
It’s supposed to be a guidebook and there is missing information to it in order to be a guidebook, it was slow and it only has general information!
March 24, 2025
This book is lovely when you just arrived in the UAE and would like to have a quick overview about the culture, food, people etc.
August 2, 2021
Zeer oppervlakkig, slecht geschreven, veel schrijffouten dus slechte redactie. Het feit dat dit boek werd goedgekeurd door het lokale “Ministerie van Informatie” was al een rode vlag en deze werd bevestigd door de ondermaatse inhoud. Het feit dat dit boek in elk lokaal museum te koop wordt aangeboden, al aan z’n 10e druk toe is en dat het hier gaat om een “revised and updated edition” maakt het geheel nog tragischer.
March 18, 2025
The information is very repetitive. If you edit it properly, there will be like 20 pages in the book.
Also, the font! It’s different on every page, differently spaced sometimes in one paragraph. It hurt my eye.
Overall, not much I have learned from this one.
Also, the font! It’s different on every page, differently spaced sometimes in one paragraph. It hurt my eye.
Overall, not much I have learned from this one.
January 3, 2022
1.5 stars [Geography]
(W: 1.6, U: 2, T: 1.75, L: 1.5)
Exact rating: 1.71
(W: 1.6, U: 2, T: 1.75, L: 1.5)
Exact rating: 1.71
May 8, 2022
In general good info. But it need an update. Few important facts in the book are not true anymore.
June 4, 2024
The grammar of this book was so horrendous it physically hurt the English speaking part of my soul
February 25, 2020
I bought this book in a rush. I didn't have time to peruse it, but I was instantly drawn to the cover. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
To be fair, the title 'UAE 101' explicitly says it's an introduction to Emirati culture. I was nonetheless disappointed that I didn't get a true cultural experience out of it. Additionally, I came across several linguistic flaws while reading it. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
I may not have learned a lot of new information, but that is largely due to the fact that I'm from the region. For visitors or newcomers, this could be an informative and useful guidebook.
To be fair, the title 'UAE 101' explicitly says it's an introduction to Emirati culture. I was nonetheless disappointed that I didn't get a true cultural experience out of it. Additionally, I came across several linguistic flaws while reading it. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
I may not have learned a lot of new information, but that is largely due to the fact that I'm from the region. For visitors or newcomers, this could be an informative and useful guidebook.
March 31, 2024
Some useful information and insights, but the writing could be better or concise - in many places, it is generic and / or repetitive.
August 4, 2021
I’ve been living in the UAE for 15 months & I’ve wanted to learn a lot about the country I now call my home.
I bought this book as a starter to that learning, & whilst I enjoyed the book, it definitely did not delve deep enough, for me, into the Emirati culture. I felt that a lot more could have been covered in each topic discussed and for that reason, I’ll need to look further for the information I’m looking for.
Although this doesn’t detract from the information given in the book, it is a bug bear of mine. There were a lot of errors within the writing itself; for example, using > instead of an ‘, or using both symbols at the same time! E.g. “...Sharjah, literally means
I bought this book as a starter to that learning, & whilst I enjoyed the book, it definitely did not delve deep enough, for me, into the Emirati culture. I felt that a lot more could have been covered in each topic discussed and for that reason, I’ll need to look further for the information I’m looking for.
Although this doesn’t detract from the information given in the book, it is a bug bear of mine. There were a lot of errors within the writing itself; for example, using > instead of an ‘, or using both symbols at the same time! E.g. “...Sharjah, literally means
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews