last night of class
I'm super sleepy so I won't be saying much now.
Tonight was my last night of Arabic class. I thought next week was, which is why it was so dissapointing and depressing. I didn't really get it until now, but after obverving my teacher and his eagerness to meet everyone who's ever been in or lived in or is from the Middle East. I think that, although he has a lot of family here, he deeply misses his home and his people and tries to fill the gap with anyone who's been there and knows what he's missing. I also think the fact that he really has no homeland is a huge factor too (he's Palestinian) and it's kind of sad. He gave me his email and cell number though, so I could talk to him about further language instruction and about exchange programs or anything else. He didn't know I was a high school student, so when he found out he was super surprised and impressed that I care enough about learning Arabic and stuff.
But at least there's hope - it IS possible to learn good Arabic without being raised speaking it. He said the director of African Studies (or something like that) at UW Madison is this white American who speaks perfect Egyptian dialect. He said when he, a native speaker, talks to him he feels stupid and has to keep looking at the guy in disbelief that an American can speak like he does.
He also confused 'porcupine' with 'concubine'. LOL. BIG PAINFUL DIFFERENCE.
Tonight was my last night of Arabic class. I thought next week was, which is why it was so dissapointing and depressing. I didn't really get it until now, but after obverving my teacher and his eagerness to meet everyone who's ever been in or lived in or is from the Middle East. I think that, although he has a lot of family here, he deeply misses his home and his people and tries to fill the gap with anyone who's been there and knows what he's missing. I also think the fact that he really has no homeland is a huge factor too (he's Palestinian) and it's kind of sad. He gave me his email and cell number though, so I could talk to him about further language instruction and about exchange programs or anything else. He didn't know I was a high school student, so when he found out he was super surprised and impressed that I care enough about learning Arabic and stuff.
But at least there's hope - it IS possible to learn good Arabic without being raised speaking it. He said the director of African Studies (or something like that) at UW Madison is this white American who speaks perfect Egyptian dialect. He said when he, a native speaker, talks to him he feels stupid and has to keep looking at the guy in disbelief that an American can speak like he does.
He also confused 'porcupine' with 'concubine'. LOL. BIG PAINFUL DIFFERENCE.