On the Embassy Prowl
Swedish embassy, in possession of by far and away the most captivating architecture. Like a medieval fortress before the Nile, sandwiched between what "was" the Iraqi embassy on its left (which appears either blown up or "under construction") and the Hungarian embassy on its right, which resembles a Bermudan resort. Zamalek is loaded with embassies, the Croatian embassy is around here somewhere. And I found the Greater Cairo Library. Friday morning is superb walking time. I must be off, for Friday prayers. Nearly noon.
posted by Sasha @ 19:51
2 Comments:
http://slate.msn.com/id/2120258/
thought of you. an interesting and irreverent article on the difficulties of learning arabic from slate.com.
ms. audet
Wild, thank you. Learning Arabic is most controversial in its variants, motives and difficulty.
I am set to study MSA, the language of the media, so what the Arab world sees on TV and reads in the papers. And generally comprehends. Although, the literacy rates in many Arab nation is far lower than reported. I had the option of learning Egyptian Colloquial Arabic (ECA) in conjunction with MSA, but opted not to. Knowing MSA is universal, but, who knows if I'll use ECA again. And, I could always pick up ECA on the streets, and, from what many people who have studied MSA told me, most Arabic speakers will understand MSA, although it's awkward.
There are also deep schisms between those who are studying Arabic for "pleasure," for reasons of humanitarian aid and concern, for military or government purposes, or, for the most dreaded of all, business. Fortunately, I can't put myself in a given bracket yet, but there is visible animosity between the factions. Each has different goals, and different views on the best means of learning.
And finally, difficulty. To be brutally honest, the consensus is, this is perhaps the hardest thing many of my peers here have ever undertaken. To a varying degree for each individual. I listened to the horror story of one poor guy who has spent the last six months attempting to learn at UPenn, before moving to Cairo last month, and he feels he can barely move beyond greetings still. And others who, even with two or three years under their belt, are still suffocating. But there are successes. Languages have always come naturally for me, although, the author of the article definitely proved that can be misleading. Who knows?
Great article though, I'll have to print it, pass it around.
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