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Is Arabic underestimated? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| hp230 Tetraglot Newbie TunisiaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 3694 days ago 30 posts - 63 votes  Speaks: German, Arabic (classical)*, French, English | Message 25 of 75 09 July 2015 at 6:51pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
I've already said that there are exceptions. However, I still insist that the quality of the writings has dramatically dropped. There are no more famous names as it was 50 years ago (during and after the colonization period of the arabic world especially). Anyway, I may be wrong but that's my humble opinion. In fact, even the reading community is shrinking day after day. A recent study have shown that the average number of books a Tunisian reads per year is 2 pages!!!! my god!!!!. (This so embarrassing but it's the truth) So, you can see why I'm being "hard on myself" :'(. About the history thing, it's true that Mecca, Damaskas and then Baghdad were the centers of power of the Islamic picture, but we can not forget the role of north africa in spreading the religion and the language with it. Ifriqiyya (north africa now) was the key to conquer the Iberian peninsula after all, and even after the fall of Baghdad, Ifriqiyya got its independance and in the period of 200 years many great things were established within the islamic culture. Even after it was conquered by the ottomon empire, the relationship was almost limited to paying taxes and designating governers. Now if I may add something to the Tatars story, my piano teacher (who is Ukrainien) once told me that the center power of the Russkievska empire have changed from Kiev to Moskou (which was only a small village) due to the mongolo-tatar invasion, Imagine that didn't happen, many things would change obviously. Adding some action to the picture, the fall of Baghdad was really really weird, just 20 days and everything was gone!!! History is cruel, sometimes hutful to tell but always good to know. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| cod2 Groupie United Kingdom Joined 4555 days ago 48 posts - 69 votes | Message 26 of 75 09 July 2015 at 7:30pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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I read all this chest-beating about Mongol invasion of Arab land with bewilderment.
I take it none of you have heard of what Muslim invaders did to India and Hindus for hundreds of years before the British rescued India from the certainty of becoming yet another Muslim country? No? The wanton slaughter, rapes, the slave-taking, the pillage, the temple-desecration, the forced conversion,... Not heard about those either? The Mongol invasion gave the Arabs perhaps a small taste of what they did to hundreds of other countries - far away from their own land. Let's stick to discussing languages, shall we? Edited by cod2 on 09 July 2015 at 7:44pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| Chung Diglot Senior Member Joined 7157 days ago 4228 posts - 8259 votes 20 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Polish, Slovak, Uzbek, Turkish, Korean, Finnish | Message 27 of 75 09 July 2015 at 7:50pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
Why? We were trying to flesh out how a language with such a long recorded history, and association with a powerful and wide-ranging civilization is arguably less popular than Japanese or Korean, among other "smaller" languages.
That's nice, but how does that relate to the blow to Arabic's prestige?
Indeed. 9 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| ScottScheule Diglot Senior Member United States scheule.blogspot.com Joined 5229 days ago 645 posts - 1176 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Latin, Hungarian, Biblical Hebrew, Old English, Russian, Swedish, German, Italian, French | Message 28 of 75 09 July 2015 at 8:22pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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As Chung says. Cod2's comment seems best ignored as irrelevant to the thread topic.
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| cod2 Groupie United Kingdom Joined 4555 days ago 48 posts - 69 votes | Message 29 of 75 09 July 2015 at 8:30pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
Whereas these lines below allegedly are very relevant to the thread.
Like I said, stick to languages. If you want to discuss history and politics, then perhaps you should have less delicate sensibilities. Edited by cod2 on 09 July 2015 at 9:26pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4890 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 30 of 75 09 July 2015 at 9:32pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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On paper Arabic should be a world language. The only way to understand why it
isn't is to look into history, culture, and current events. Like I said, stick to languages. If you want to discuss history and politics, sure, but then don't have such delicate sensibilities. It seems like it's been a polite and interesting thread so far. I'm seeing different viewpoints, which is great; I'm not seeing any 'delicate sensibilities.' 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| ScottScheule Diglot Senior Member United States scheule.blogspot.com Joined 5229 days ago 645 posts - 1176 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: Latin, Hungarian, Biblical Hebrew, Old English, Russian, Swedish, German, Italian, French | Message 31 of 75 09 July 2015 at 9:37pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
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Cod2, all those comments are relevant to the topic of why Arabic is unpopular. Yours was not. Your comment was an attempt to claim some kind of parity between Mongol invasions and Muslim conquests, which, hell, may even be true--but that doesn't make it relevant. If you have something to say about why Arabic is not as popular as some think it should be, feel free to say so.
Please note, I don't object to discussing history and politics. In a thread on language popularity, those are big factors that need to be discussed. I object to your comment's relevancy--not its subject matter. Edited by ScottScheule on 09 July 2015 at 9:39pm 5 persons have voted this message useful | |||||||||||||||
| cod2 Groupie United Kingdom Joined 4555 days ago 48 posts - 69 votes | Message 32 of 75 09 July 2015 at 9:43pm | IP Logged | ||||||||||||||
No, they are not, and they don't become so just because you claim so. To me they are emotive chest-beating that shows a certain political agenda which has no place in a language board. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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