I'm learning Arabic! There is something fascinating about learning a language that can take the shape of different animals and is read in the opposite direction.
Why Arabic? I've always been somewhat linguistically talented. I always thought "surely it must be harder than this" and then complicated things. But when I've had a good teacher it has been a breeze.
Arabic is the official language of 22 countries and was widely used in Africa in the large universities that existed in pre-Colonial times. Like any other language it had developed and changed and grown.
I was watching a documentary by Henry Louis Gates Jr (Wonders of the African World) and although my education had included extensive African History, it was put together by Europeans and told from their perspective. I was fascinated by the stories that were NOT told, the great University at Timbuktu, and the literature being held in private libraries written in an older form of Arabic (which contradicts the theory that Africans were largely illiterate).
What wonders and secrets are hidden in those texts? Are they medical journals? Is there a diary that would tell us what life was like? Is there some history written there that is not yet known?
See why I have to learn Arabic? Lemme go back to learning my letters!
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