Tag / arabic
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Syria Still Burns
In the summer of 2016, I studied abroad in Qatar, taking an Arabic class with a group of expatriate professionals. Our teacher was named Ustaaz Muhammad, who had fled Syria and the war with his wife, being on the wrong side of the Assad regime. He was a patient and thoughtful teacher, and in our…
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Translating Violence
It was 7 p.m. I had just gotten off the phone with family. “Are you doing okay?” “Yeah. I’m fine.” “Okay, I just wanted to make sure. Sheng lu yi si zheng zai naoshi. 圣路易斯正在闹事” My mother was referencing the recent protests that had erupted in response to the St. Louis verdict, where the court…
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“I’m Sorry. Do You Speak English?”
BY JOE LENOFF The United States is an economic and military powerhouse, with business interests that span the globe and security concerns that reach just as far, yet according to Gallup, only 34 percent of Americans speak a foreign language “well enough to hold a conversation”. This may sound encouraging, but compared with Europe, where…
