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CPS Students To Learn Arabic
More Chicago public school students will have the opportunity to learn Arabic, thanks to a federal grant.
Two thousand students in ten schools are currently learning the ancient language.
A three-year, 888-thousand dollar US Department of Education grant will allow Chicago to expand the program to three more schools.
Mayor Daley announced the funding at Durkin Park Elementary in the Scottsdale neighborhood, where students in kindergarten through fifth grade are learning Arabic every day.
Daley says the knowledge is important in a global economy.
Feryal (free-YAHL) Alzubi teaches Arabic at Durkin Park.
She says some parents resisted initially, but she convinced them this is an excellent opportunity for students and stresses that she only teaches language and culture – not politics or religion.
Daley says he’s not worried about discrimination against Arabic speakers in light of the Ft. Hood shootings, saying people are killed with guns daily and an entire group can’t be blamed for the actions of an individual.
Obama.
Who cares? Arabic is a language. Its taught lots of places.
And by the way yw editor, as predictable as your response was, Obama doesn’t determine what’s taught in Chicago classrooms. But of course, this is step 1 in his effort to remake the U.S. as an islamic republic, right?
J-O-K-E.
Now that I look at it in a different light- good one.
Written or spoken? They’re fairly different languages.
It’s important to have people at home who understand the language of your enemies. Mostly now, we rely on arabic-born translators for defense translation. It would be much better to have American born-and-bred arabic speakers.
ronrsr: I agree, there however there’s are many sfaradi, actually egyptian jews that are fluent in arabic.
whoa! that didn’t come out right! I must’ve been thinking in arabic.
there are a lot of lebanese, syrian, egyptians and tons of jews that speak arabic. So what is the problem? I still do not like it just knowing that they are very antisemtics the arabs.
w
hy should i speak it
I meant that hashem offered the jews the tora in hebrew and arameic! Just so you see its also a holy languae
I think it is great that more people will learn Arabic. It will allow us access to the original writings of (among others) Rabbi Saadiah Gaon, Rabbeinu Bachya, Rabbi Yehudah HaLevi, and Rambam, without having to rely on translation!
tamazahall, are you saying that Aramaic is a holy language? If so, is Aramaic the same as Arabic? I thought they were different languages.
Anon there very similar! If you understood them ask any posek im no posek and thell tell you im right.
Ooh I would LOVE to learn arabic!! Its such a fun language!!! All my grandparents are fluent in it but I never even hear them speak it!!
Tamazaball: what are you talking about?? Arabic is SO not holy! Aramaic IS! Arabic is such a bad language, everyone knows that!
BS”D
LOLOL I love the teacher’s surname! Shaatra, do NOT ask your grandparents what al-Zubi means (if it does mean that in Syrian dialect and I am sure it is spelled differently from the nivul peh that I am thinking of)!
I took one semester of Arabic at college and could not handle it because of the alphabet. I think had there been a word processing program in Arabic at the time I would have been OK; it takes artistic skills to write Arabic if you weren’t brought up with it and I am no artist.
The problem is not teaching Arabic, it is the Federal grant money and the rationale behind it. Arabic should be taught – but whenever possible by refugees from the Arab countries (Kurds, Lebanese notzrim, Arabic speaking Jews if any are left) who can also impart the sad history of minorities under Arab fanaticism. When I tried to study it, it was for the sole reason of being able to pick up a copy of Al-Ahram or Al-Ahabel and know what they are saying about us.
shaatra,
If Arabic is such a bad language, how come so many important sefarim were written in it?
And how is Aramaic holy? None of chumash is written in Aramaic, almost none of Navi, and just a few sections of Ketubim.
Hamse!! Just kidding
Tamazaball:don’t go there lol!!
Charliehall: I always learnt in school that aramaic wah holy…and what I mean by arabic is such a bad language is that there are SO many curses! Not curses like bad word curses, curses like “you should die and ur tounge should be cut off” type of curses…
Really shaatra??!! Maybe people want to say the bad words in Arabic because they don’t want others to understand them?
Mybat what do u mean?
BS”D
Wallak Aravit ata rootze lilmood? Just drive with any “ars” or “pushtak” in EY and you’ll pick up the important words (none of the following are obscene) Ya ahabel, naal andinak, yahrab abuk, ya qalb ibn khinzeer…(the conversation would then veer way outside the outer limits of propriety even in an NHL mikveh).
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