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Do Almost All Muslims Speak Arabic? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6588 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes  Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 25 of 29 29 September 2014 at 8:50pm | IP Logged | ||
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This is interesting, because as an outsider who is little familiar with the Arabic language, it seems very "religion-oriented" to me. This is probably largely because the news about Arab countries here in the West are largely focused on terrorism and religious law. We rarely hear about other things happening in the region, and we get zero exposure to Arabic secular culture like Egyptian movies and TV shows. I associate Arabic very strongly with Islam, and though I'm interested in the language from a linguistic standpoint, being a slightly antitheist atheist (I don't want a flamewar about this, please), this "religious" quality of Arabic culture turns me off a bit and makes me fear that if I'd start studying the language, I would have trouble finding culture that I enjoy.
I've always suspected this prejudice to be false, but I've never made an active attempt to find out. I'd love to hear some thoughts on this from Arabic speakers and learners. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Tollpatchig Senior Member United States Joined 4013 days ago 161 posts - 210 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Maltese | Message 26 of 29 29 September 2014 at 9:25pm | IP Logged | ||
You aren't alone, Ari. Since I've started with Maltese, I'm becoming more interested in learning Arabic (at a much later date since I have other languages waiting in the wings) but I haven't made it a definite on my list because I too am an Atheist who doesn't care much for religion and like you the "religious" quality of Arabic is kinda keeping me away from the language. I can't separate the language from Islam, and it really feels like the two are intertwined. Just wanted to let you know that you aren't the only one with these conflicting feelings about Arabic. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6067 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 27 of 29 30 September 2014 at 1:13am | IP Logged | ||
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Ok, let me tell you a small story. Please bear with me.
My country was once part of a Caliphate. A real, historical one. During more than half of our History the leitmotiv of my people was to (re)conquer land from the Moors (the "infidels"), both here in Europe and overseas. We are still geographically close: once, I left Lisbon in the morning with a group in a couple of 4x4s and arrived at Chefchaouen (that's in Morocco) by nightfall, and that included a ferry crossing and a few stops. Yet, in spite of a few exceptions, up until recent years the general attitude towards the Arab world was a bit... distant. The Moors were the bad guys from History books, remember? When I tried to learn Arabic back in the early 90s, I found myself in a desert (pun intended). Apart from a handful of people (literally), no one knew the language, and no one else was interested in it. It would remain like that for a decade more. Back in 2000, a young Tunisian with a master's degree in literature visited Portugal and was invited by a major University to teach and, at the same time, to work on his PhD. He moved in October 2001, to begin his school year. By then, he was a bit afraid about the way he would be welcomed, given the fact that it was a month after 9/11. If he had known Portugal by then, he wouldn't have worried. People found cool that he had chosen to come here. One guy. One teacher. End of story. I met him a few years later. He became, as you may have guessed, my Arabic teacher. Now he's also my friend. He comes from a country with a relaxed attitude towards religion, which he shares. He has lots of Portuguese friends. His integration was swift and complete. We've been to a lot of dinners and other events together. I've met a few of his Arab friends living here. Nice people. When I started having classes with him, there were always one or two guys who came to learn because they were Muslims (usually people from our former colonies of Mozambique and Guinea-Bissau). They all gave up after a short while, since we never used materials from the Quran. My teacher is fanatic (the word applies here) about books and literature. We've had many conversations about the Arab world and its culture, and sometimes politics and religion are unavoidable, as his country of origin (he has double nationality by now) has spearheaded the so-called Arab Spring. I get a lot of information from him about the cultural scene: for instance, it seems that Egyptian soap operas are having their "throne" challenged by Turkish ones (dubbed into Arabic). It seems Turkish actors are especially appreciated by Arab women. :P He was also the one who said that Syrians are so proud of their classical culture that most will be willing to talk to you in MSA (because it's a "purer" version of Arabic), even though they use the Levantine dialect among themselves. Some books he recommended also helped broaden my view on Arabs, like Edward Saïd's Orientalism and Hourani's A History of the Arab Peoples. I'm going to stop here for now, as it's already a long post. I hope I've helped to give you a bit of information about Arab culture and Arabic language. There's more I can write, from an interested Westerner's perspective, if you're so too (interested, that is). 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| iguanamon Pentaglot Senior Member Virgin Islands Speaks: Ladino Joined 5268 days ago 2241 posts - 6731 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French) | Message 28 of 29 30 September 2014 at 2:25am | IP Logged | ||
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Obrigado, Luso, for sharing your perspective. There is a small but vibrant Arabic speaking community here on the island, and throughout the Caribbean and Latin America as well, primarily of Palestinian/Levantine origin. Most are Muslim, though some are Christian. One of them is my neighbor and friend. We have had long talks together sitting by the pool in the late afternoons. He is a good, decent, intellectual man and never tries to proselytize or condemn.
When I have been invited to family dinners and celebrations on occasion, I have always been treated with great respect and kindness. I have learned a phrasebook level of Jordanian Arabic from a free Peace Corps course. They love that I make the effort. I may even seriously take up Arabic one day myself, inshallah, ojalá, oxalá, however; I know it would be a quite long term commitment. Still- "Homo sum, humani nihil a me alienum puto". Another great culture awaits to be explored. I wouldn't let stereotypes, generalizations due to a very noisy minority and the media dissuade me from that. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Henkkles Triglot Senior Member Finland Joined 4259 days ago 544 posts - 1141 votes Speaks: Finnish*, English, Swedish Studies: Russian | Message 29 of 29 30 September 2014 at 2:00pm | IP Logged | ||
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Actually my being an 'antitheist atheist' or whichever neat little pigeonhole I best fall in is a reason to learn Arabic for me, not the opposite. I know there are secular Arabic speakers out there, but it still is in many places a taboo to come out, it is even somewhat of a taboo in the United States to come out as a non-believer from what I gather. I would really like to talk to secular arabs about these things.
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