So, my Arabic studying has commenced. I went and bought a bunch of books geared towards teaching little kids to write Arabic. Many of them have goofy pictures of turtles and genies and such, but they've proven pretty useful to me so far. The alphabet doesn't seem too hard to learn, but I've come across a few problems. First, there are vowels that I didn't know existed. For example, there's a letter for the sound "Aa" as well as for the sound "Aaaa." That's not too complicated, "Aaaa" is just "Aa" but a little longer! But then there's "aaaAAA," which is just totally beyond me. People tell me that I'm not pronouncing it right, so I guess I need to practice some more. Also, there is no word for "Is" "Am" or "Are" only for "Were" "Was" and "Will Be" which is kind of confusing. It's a very different language than French, Spanish and English, but the limited experience that I've had with writing has been very fun.
I've been adamantly trying to get Mr. Meddeb to respond to me in order to schedule an interview, but he is a very busy man, so I'm not sure how that will work. Everyone here is very friendly though, so I'm sure if I can't set up an interview with him, many people will be able to help me with my research. I'm going to a library with a local college guy named Hatem this week to look for/buy some books, including a French copy of The Stranger, if I should be so lucky to find it.
Can't wait to read all of you guys' posts and I hope you're all having as much fun as I am!
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4 comments:
Hey Duncan...glad to hear you're having a great time. Send some pictures.
aaaaaahh....
Interesting.
Duncan, if you add cccccchhhhhh to the aaaaaaa you will have a Scottish accent. I am so glad that you are having a good time. We miss you around here.
Carolyn
Duncan,
You sound like you are having a wonderful time, really learning as much as you can and absorbing the culture. Have you come accross any great contemporary Tunisian writers?
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