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M. Obama: "butterfly" in 20 languages | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| anothername Triglot Groupie Brazil Joined 5062 days ago 96 posts - 195 votes  Speaks: Portuguese*, Spanish, English | Message 17 of 36 25 March 2011 at 3:51am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
Hmm, I think the "arab=islam=jihad" kind of association is so narrow-minded that I never thought I would read it in THIS forum, in which people are interested in learning about different languages and cultures. It's very disappointing, I must confess. And this is not a matter of political correctness. Abdalan has a very good point. There are also plenty of very negative stigmata that can be linked to the anglo-saxon culture from the eyes of the non-US/UK world, like "axis of evil", "colonialism", and much more. And some of them has a considerable degree of truth, as well as "jihad" is not totally away from some arab realities. So, I really believe it's unneeded to emphasize negative ideas on western or middle-eastern cultures in this forum. The age of crusades is gone, and language learners should go far beyond these communication barriers. 6 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| Abrown Diglot Newbie United States Joined 4994 days ago 12 posts - 15 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish | Message 18 of 36 25 March 2011 at 6:01am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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I think there is something to this although the basic concept of it is rather shallow. Suppose you go to another country and everyone speaks another language (very common in the US) and you are bombarded with the new language you have to learn, it would even be a relief to hear someone say a few words in your native language. If I went to Spain and was only speaking Spanish and constantly having to either catch all of the words I could or fake my understanding then I would be relieved if someone said "Hello, how are you?". But I have known many Spaniards to speak fluent English too so I think this case is a little slanted. :)
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| Cthulhu Tetraglot Senior Member Canada Joined 7224 days ago 139 posts - 235 votes Speaks: French*, English, Mandarin, Russian | Message 19 of 36 25 March 2011 at 5:11pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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CaucusWolf: Lebanon has the highest percentage of Christians among the entire "Arab World" by a large margin, but even there Christians are a minority living with a Muslim majority. A substantial minority granted, but still a minority; furthermore, a considerable number of the Christians in Lebanon, as in the rest of the Arab World, belong to non-Arab ethnic minority groups.
Anothername: Something like 90% of Arabs are Muslim, and jihad is an important concept in Islam. It's also a word which is greatly GREATLY misunderstood and misused in the west. Personally I can't think of a better Arabic word for everyone in the world to *learn* rather than just assume they know what it means like so very many do. Yes, even better than butterfly. Edited by Cthulhu on 25 March 2011 at 6:33pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| Juаn Senior Member Colombia Joined 5346 days ago 727 posts - 1830 votes Speaks: Spanish* | Message 20 of 36 25 March 2011 at 7:33pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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I don't understand what kind of perspective knowing an isolated word in 20 language is supposed to provide. I guess its worth lies in giving Mr. Obama's family the absolute most cost-efficient and effortless pretense at sophistication.
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| anothername Triglot Groupie Brazil Joined 5062 days ago 96 posts - 195 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Spanish, English | Message 21 of 36 26 March 2011 at 1:15am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
Yes, Jihad is a greatly misunderstood and misused word in the west. That's PRECISELY why I assume it was used in this forum by some posters in the "mainstream US media" misunderstood/misused/still-current usage of it: "holy war". Quite a derogative meaning, in my view. About the percentage of arabs who are non-muslims, it's true that it's about "only" 10%, but, even so, "only" 10% of 400 million people is still 40 million, which is a very large amount of people, so it's not meaningless at all, and, for these 40 million (more than countries like Argentina, Poland and Canada), jihad is not supposed to be such a central word. But you want to just ignore them and pretend all arabs are muslims and consider "jihad" important and these 40 million are irrelevant, that's ok for me. As a side note, since we like numbers: this is usually very surprising to the mainstream western belief, but less than 20% of the world muslim population is arab and/or speaks arabic. Indonesia, India, Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, China (yes, they have many), Nigeria... if we count just these countries' muslims, they easily surpass the arabic world, and the vast majority of them don't even try to speak arabic. So, the "equation" arab=islam=jihad is wrong from the start, simply because the islamic world is much bigger than the arabic world. Also: about Lebanon, I don't consider 40% of the population to be irrelevant either. What you call "minority" can also be called "almost half", it just depends of what you want to perceive or make perceive. 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| leosmith Senior Member United States Joined 6551 days ago 2365 posts - 3804 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Tagalog | Message 22 of 36 26 March 2011 at 1:40am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
Yes, I was hangin' with my homey Dan Rather (Kenneth to me) when I decided to post this. I was going to type "harem" but I thought the whole (Iron) Butterfly - In the Garden of Eden - Jihad association was too ironic to pass up. But I have seen the error of my ways, and I'd like to switch to "harem" now. Is it ok? Is there still time? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| Juаn Senior Member Colombia Joined 5346 days ago 727 posts - 1830 votes Speaks: Spanish* | Message 23 of 36 26 March 2011 at 2:46am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
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I have personally seen term jihad translated as "holy war" in history and sociology books published as far back as the 1930s. One erudite and particularly insightful, liberal-leaning historian whom I greatly admire regarded the Muslim conquest and subjugation of India as the worst atrocity to be found in all recorded human history. This was written before the Second World War though. Edited by Juаn on 26 March 2011 at 3:20am 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||
| anothername Triglot Groupie Brazil Joined 5062 days ago 96 posts - 195 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, Spanish, English | Message 24 of 36 26 March 2011 at 2:56am | IP Logged | |||||||||||
In fact, hashish in a harem with a habibti would be perfect, with Iron Butterfly playing in background. Sounds like good haram. Yes, there is still time to switch. And you can also switch the hashish for an AmberBock if it fits your mood better. But it's safer to keep Michelle O. away from the scene. (Edited: the Michelle O. part is not necessarily a bad idea) Edited by anothername on 26 March 2011 at 3:00am 1 person has voted this message useful |
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