Learn arabic anyone?
For those in the Denver metro area, today at church they announced that a local imam is willing to teach classical arabic if we can get 10 people together. It'll be a once-a-month type of thing, very low-key. I'm not sure I'll have time, but I'll see when it is and if I can show up. Anyone else interested?
Classical arabic is what the Quran is written in, and is sort of the lingua franca of the arabic world. It is one of those quasi-living languages, like Latin was in the middle ages, where people often learn to speak it as a part of their education and might even converse in it, but no one grows up in a household where it's spoken, and it's more often used in formal documents and writing than in conversation, although it's not unheard of for it to be used as a spoken language between say an Iraqi religious leader and an Egyptian religious leader who share no other language.
Basically, if you spoke classical arabic and you were travelling in countries with a high muslim population you could probably find someone who could understand you everywhere you went. Not that Americans travelling to Islamic countries is a terribly good idea these days.
I'm interested mostly because I like language. Let me know if you're interested in hearing if it actually happens or not.
Classical arabic is what the Quran is written in, and is sort of the lingua franca of the arabic world. It is one of those quasi-living languages, like Latin was in the middle ages, where people often learn to speak it as a part of their education and might even converse in it, but no one grows up in a household where it's spoken, and it's more often used in formal documents and writing than in conversation, although it's not unheard of for it to be used as a spoken language between say an Iraqi religious leader and an Egyptian religious leader who share no other language.
Basically, if you spoke classical arabic and you were travelling in countries with a high muslim population you could probably find someone who could understand you everywhere you went. Not that Americans travelling to Islamic countries is a terribly good idea these days.
I'm interested mostly because I like language. Let me know if you're interested in hearing if it actually happens or not.