Indeed the Arab world is lagging behind on many fronts. That is something of our own doing, and we should take it into our own hands to fix it rather than wait for the authorities or others to do so. But is that really the reason people are abandoning their own culture ? Are they expressing deeper thoughts or producing more advanced work if they communicate with each other in English ?

I agree with you, i bet most of those who choose to communicate orally in English do so because they think that will make them identified with Americans who are seen as more sophisticated and more advanced than us, specially with our own mentality. But we also must not ignore that many people simply do it just to show off.

I don’t know what to say at this point. This is really a difficult subject. To me, there seems to be a lack of initiative in the minds of the youth in the Arab world. We seem to want things to be done for us rather than take the initiative to create them if they are not available. For example, culture and language are the products of the citizens who use them. So, there is no single third-party that is supposed to come up with that, and enrich the culture.. do you know what i mean ?

to put it in a very banal way, a child that wants to say ‘mum’ instead of ‘mama’ or ‘dad’ instead of ‘baba’ is a child that wants to create an image of her/himself different to its own reality. Even greeting people by saying a cheerful ‘hi’ instead of a cheerful ‘salam’ or ‘mahraba’ is more than a greeting. I think it is a way to signalize that maybe you are more progressive, open-minded or belong to a certain social status. Whatever it is, I think it is about identity and identifying….

I think the answer to your question and to my question is very complex…I don’t think I can answer it either….(it was more meant as rhetoric ;))

My thoughts are, that there is a gap between the western world (which identifies itself as such) in being ‘progressive’,’ democratic’, ‘civilized’ …etc. and the rest of the world. This gap is not only a perception of the west, we also perceive it, it affects us, it’s fed to us (through media, history and so on) and it puts us under pressure….on the other hand our culture does not seem to have been evolving for a long time (or is it?) and evolving on the surface does not count! That what I meant by suggesting that modern Arabic culture is failing to involve young people and offer them something authentic of their own… so using English is perhaps more a symptom of that than a reason…

(sorry for the long answers..it is indeed avery interesting subject!)

I hate to do this, but let me answer your question with another question (maybe this will help me understand your question by contrast). What is it that the English language and the American culture offering the youth in the Arab world ? This is exactly your question but sort of asked from the other viewpoint.

I have been reflecting for a very long time on this subject and maybe I can only speak from a personal experience, but I feel that wanting to use another language, respecting another language and a culture more than your own (even showing off with it for that matter) is a sign of being alienated (or disconnected) from your own culture language etc. it has to do with identity and to what degree you can identify yourself with what is around you. Maybe I’ll try to put it simply in a question, what are the answers that the Arabic language and culture is offering for young people in order to give them a strong sense of identity and make them hold on to it?

Yes, somehow I am suggesting that our culture and language hast become too full of clichés, is stagnating and maybe has seized to be enough! Don’t mean to be offensive I am just trying to look at it in philosophical way! on why and how come…that would be a long discussion I suppose!

CW: Thanks for stopping by. I don’t want to be misinterpreted as advocating closure and no discourse (not that you said that). I agree with you on some stuff, and disagree on others.

Yes you and some other people don’t think of it as showing off, but this only a small part of a larger phenomenon. I am not sure what you meant exactly in your second to last paragraph, but are you hinting that people who speak English and identify with the west are alienated in the Arab world .. (say Amman) ?! If so, i respectfully disagree. The whole country (if not the entire Arab world) is turning like that, so how could they feel alienated ? Can you elaborate on your point please ?

i think that there are just as much rejection to anything western as being foreign and colonial as there is love to it, having said that I also must say that I dread as well the hoards of Arabic (and Indian as well!) crowds tourists dressed in Arabic clothing looking very Arabic and communicating in English. It’s embarrassing and it just does not feel right. So I agree there, but on the other hand I remember being at school in Amman and communicating with my friends mostly in English. It was not about showing off or about wanting to be cool, it just came natural as the language we were being taught in at school and the language we could relate to was English. So whose fault was that?

I think it is a little deeper than that though, I think it’s about how Arabic language and identity (and culture as well!) is capable of dealing with how the world is changing, it’s about involving young people in their own culture instead of alienating them with all those tiresome repetitions of the same clichés. Maybe it’s about offering them an open, authentic and universal young culture that would make them want to hold into their own instead of giving it up.

So now ana Kaman fashet albi..but seriously I loved reading your post in both languages it was hilarious. By the way I moved from English to german, and german speaking people have exactly the same problem with English words creeping into their language..

Adoosh: شايف يا زلمة !! الواحد عن جد صار لازمو فضفضة

Ola: LOL!! Welcome back Ola … and … .. you were free to read whichever version you wanted .. as i mentioned to Summer previously .. i think the English version came out to be a bit funnier inadvertently.

NoSH: معك حق 100% .. للأسف أعتقد أن هذه المشاكل تولدت لنقص إنتمائنا لهويتنا وأوطاننا.

Maioush: … Welcome Back !! and thank you ….. oh and congrats for your upcoming nuptial.

KJ: معك حق .. أنا أيضاً أتفق معك على أن الكثير يعاني من هذه المشاكل نتيجة حرص الأهل على تعلم أولادهم الإنجليزية وفي بعض الأحيان نسيانهم بشكل غير مقصود للعربية. ولكن علينا أيضاً أن لا نتجاهل أن نسبة معتبرة من الناس يفعلون كذلك عن قصد بدافع الظهور بمظهر أجنبي وللفشخرة وشوفة الحال. …… أما بالنسبة للملابس … أنا أيضاً أتفق معك ، الكل حر بما يبلس ما دامت لا تضر بالأدب العام … ولكن كل ما أردت أن أقوله أنه لا يجب علينا أن نختار ملابسنا فقط من داعي التقليد الأعمى بدون أي تفكير.

وأنا دائماً مضايق لئن ما بعرف احكي عربي مظبوط ولا إكتب..

ودائماً غيران من أصحابي، بيحكو وبيكتب شعر ونثر.

لكن الحمدالله شوي شوي عم عود حالي إكتب وإقرأ عربي… صرت دون بل عربي بعض الأحيان واكتب حتى لو بالعامة.

أعتقد البينسا أصله واحد غبي. ضروري تعرف الإنجليزي لأنه هي اللغة إلي ماشى بالمعاملات وال شغل . لكن تنسى أصلك مشان العالم تفكرك كول، إنت بدون شخصية.

مشان اللبس كل واحد حر … طالما محترم المجتمع إلي إنت فيه وماهو ضد إلي إنت تربيت عليه.

Kiddinnnnnngggg, hold it hold it Great job

Just for the record, I might be commenting in English but I read the Arabic version You know it needs less mental processing…

I haven’t been active blogging-wise lately so I haven’t visited your blog for sometime, but it seems to have new interesting stuff that I’ve missed out on…

Summer:
لا مش هيك القصد … الفكرة إنو هذه عقدة الخواجا
والتعصب لكل إشي أجنبي و التنكر من كل إشي عربي مش منيح

As for the English side of the post … too bad, i personally thought it was much funnier .. maybe because i wrote the Arabic side first then the English one.

تسلم يا قويدر. معك حق في ناس أول ما تطلع إجرو على الطيارة خلص بنسى أصلو وبنسى حالو والعربي وكل إشي. بس أنا صراحة كان قصدي في هذه التدوينة أكثر جماعتنا في الدول العربية اللي مفكرين حالهم في أميركا وما بيحكوش إلى بالإنجليزي وبيحاولوا ينسوا أصلهم و إنهم عرب

Mohammad Irshid:

الله يخليك يا تقني. معك حق والله … للأسف كثير من الناس حتى في الأردن صاروا يتشاطروا في الحكي بس بالإنجليزي والتنكر لأي إشي عربي … إشي عن جد محزن.

تحياتي