#arabic: heritage language + i know they have my dialect + i know the arabic professors at my school are excellent

[columboscreens]

ive been rewatching columbo eps on prime video (idk where to get the other season after 7 :c) and i'm just done with A Case of Immunity, the one with the Suarian Kingdom and the whitest middle east guy i've ever seen ? And like. I'm not a fan of that episode, but. I feel like i'm missing a lot of political or historical context for that episode ? And I wanted to know if you knew more. Thank u, I'll get back to my little guy show now.

you're not missing much.

the latter portion of original columbo was marked by an increased desire to show him in radically different contexts--between a man on international waters, an arab diplomat, a IRA liason, a CIA agent, and a mexican matador, it suffices to say columbo got around a little more as time went on. and due to the growing US interest in the middle east throughout the 70s (most of europe's imperialist/colonialist tendrils had vacated, cold war alliances were being made, israel, oil, etc.) i suppose they thought people would want to see something topical. they also didn't want to piss anybody off, so the Very Real Country of Suari it was.

the role of hassan salah was originally intended for ben gazzara, but he was scrapped by the network for being too expensive (much to peter falk's consternation). mine too, really, because though hector elizondo did a fantastic job, i think gazzara would've played a better arab. he was sicillian, but i wouldn't be surprised if he had actual arab heritage, as sicilians very often do. his surname is arabic as hell--غزارة is arabic for "abundance", which ended up as a loanward in italian to mean "noisy".

ultimately though, the middle east is an ethnically and geographically diverse region containing a wide variety of looks and skin tones. for one, i and my entire family are lebanese. my skin is rather pale, my grandfather was tan but had pale blue eyes, my aunt is nearly blonde, etc. so elizondo's countenance may not scream "arab" nearly as much as gazzara's, but levant, maghreb, or gulf--he's not all that unbelievable either.

funnily enough, in middle ages arabia, those with blue eyes were associated with duplicitous and untrustworthy behavior....

i guess something that does kinda make me roll my eyes is the treatment of the language. to their credit, the characters do speak and write real arabic in the show, albeit...poorly. obviously it's a 70s tv movie, who cares about accurate glottal stops, but they spent like eight grand to rent a learjet for one of the scenes, and the arabic is real and (mostly) intelligible, so clearly somebody translated it. would it have killed them to hire a dialect coach?

we did get some extremely jewish-sounding arabic out of peter though. so. all is emphatically forgiven

the one thing that truly rubs me the wrong way about the episode is that it's noxiously sympathetic to the american political ethos of the time, which as we well know could do no wrong. watch columbo OWN this EVIL diplomat donned in traditional garb who wants to retain his country's DISGUSTING traditional ways while the new, hip young king who was probably forcefully instituted by american troops in a coup you'll never learn about is COOL and LOVES AMERICA and will lead his oil-filled country on camelback into a beautiful sunset of BEING COOL and LOVING AMERICA. there's NO WAY this could go south. STOP looking at iran NOW

(speaking of which, the state dept. rep who bursts columbo's bubble, kermit morgan, might or might not be a nod to kermit roosevelt jr. who played a central role in the CIA's ousting of iran's mosaddegh in 1953)

...least he's honest

anyway, in retrospect this episode isn't the series' finest moment, but it's a decent watch--and believe me, far and away not the worst treatment of arabs hollywood has thrown at us over the years. i know i'd certainly take a dozen of these over whatever the hell they were churning out post-9/11.

wallahi i could've forgiven the weird culturally inaccurate bowing if they just put columbo in a keffiyeh...

[kaftan]

what's diglossia also HI tell me everything about this presentation omg

(re: this post)

HIII sure no problem ❤️

Diglossia is when two languages, or two varieties of the same language, are used by the same community in different contexts. Arabic is the famous example, which works out for me because I happen to be researching Arabic diglossia in particular. So, in Arabic, you have a prestigious, formal variety that we call Modern Standard Arabic (MSA for short), and the less prestigious colloquial variety that's used for everyday conversations. The colloquial variety differs a lot by country; there are more than 20 Arabic speaking countries, each with very distinct colloquial dialects.

Modern Standard Arabic is the same wherever you go due to how it's been standardized. More importantly, it's the language of literacy; when you go to school in an Arabic-speaking country, you learn how to spell and read and write in MSA, not your colloquial dialect. (Other than that, there are a few other contexts where MSA is used: religious sermons, news channels, politics, formal speeches, and--wait for it--kids' cartoons.)

MSA differs significantly from all colloquial Arabic dialects, in all aspects: sound systems, grammar, vocabulary, the works. And the language of literacy being so different from the spoken language poses some unique challenges for Arabic speakers when they start to develop literacy skills. It's not like eg. English where learning to read and write is a natural extension of learning how to talk. Now, this gets even more complicated when you're a heritage speaker of Arabic, ie., when you grow up learning Arabic at home from immigrant parents/guardians. My research is all about the heritage speakers of a particular Arabic dialect (Moroccan Darija) and how literacy affects their language skills--specifically their grammar skills. Can literacy be beneficial for heritage speakers if the language of literacy differs significantly from the spoken language? Does that disconnect do more harm than good? Well, we're hoping to find out!

So anyway, my presentation was about setting up that question and then talking about how I plan to answer it (short explanation: getting a bunch of Moroccan participants with varying degrees of literacy skills, showing them a bunch of sentences in Moroccan Darija and MSA, some of which have grammar mistakes, and seeing if they know a difference between a grammatical and ungrammatical sentence).

There are a bunch of #academicsources in my presentation from my literature review, of course, if you're into reading more about this. :p

To conclude a VERY long post, I impressed the people I was supposed to impress with my research idea, and now I just cross my fingers that we get the green light from the review board soon! Then I believe I will share my progress and findings for all tumblrinas to enjoy.

[mithliya]

i guess as in liking it would be which language you associate more positive feelings with? i associate arabic with frustration and anxiousness so i dislike it more, but english with confidence and fluidity so i like it more

ohhhhhh um honestly its hard for me to say. i have positive & negative associations with both. i speak bahrani type of arabic and faced a lot of like.. ig racism over my dialect of arabic. but also its what my family speaks and its tied to my heritage so it brings up some positive feelings to me especially knowing that i have the best arabic out of my 1st cousins on my mom’s side, i feel like im part of sth so small & rare speaking a relatively rare dialect so it makes my arabic hold some value to me yanno. who knows how long dialects like mine will survive with the impacts of imperialism on bahrain & the hatred towards baharna… so generally i do cherish it in a way

[usaigi]

I wish people would let go of this absurd notion that Marc Spector doesn't speak Spanish and wouldn't be able to understand Jake. Where do they think Jake even learned Spanish in the first place if not his own house? Why would Marc not be able to speak it? He is literally Latino! He knows how to speak Arabic, why wouldn't he know how to speak his mother language?? Steven too for that matter. Anyway, sorry to bother you. Just needed to get this off my chess.

HONESTLY!!!! 👏👏😫

Whenever people says Marc’s not Latino it makes me so sad. Like not to play the “it’s giving me racism,” but like I don’t know else I’m supposed to interpret it. The casting director went out of their way to cast an all latine cast for little MK, teen MK and MK’s family. If the show producers wanted MK to just be ““mystery brown””(which in itself is problematic as it erases MK’s indigeneity) they would have casted anyone of any ethnicity who looked like Oscar Isaac. After over a decade, we finally get an indigenous Latino actor playing a leading role just for people to be like Marc(the body) is just American and Jake is the “Spanish one.”

Also, it does back to people not really understanding DID and thinking it is some kind of superpower. The body needs to learn a skill in order for an alter to know a skill. It way more believable that MK’s family spoke Spanish at home and that’s where Jake learned it from than Jake just being the alter who paid attention in High School Spanish class. I was a Spanish major, I had many non-native professors and classmates with excellent Spanish skills, who studied abroad, who knew Spanish better than I do but they still speak it with an American accent. Do people really believe Jake was out there meeting with a dialect coach so that he can learn how to speak Spanish with a native accent? Really?

Also also! If MK’s family did speak Spanish at home and the body has that foundation for Marc and Steven to know Arabic and French. Apparently, Arabic is easier to learn as a Spanish speaker compared to an English speaker, and French and Spanish are both romance languages.

I would understand if Marc has a preference for English, doesn’t speak Spanish perfectly and/or is triggered by Spanish because he associates Spanish with violence and trauma. But in doing that, it inherently ties Spanish with Latinidad and while I know and empathize with people who do have a complicated relationship with their cultural identity because of family trauma, I don’t think (yt) fanfic writers should just use this as an easy out for miscommunication. I’d be most interested to see someone explore Marc’s complicated relationship with his Latino heritage, learning to separate it from his identity from his mother and learning to love that side of him as well but only if it’s written by a Latine author who able to give it the proper nuance.

[thecairomuse]

Talk more about Egypt and the culture there please 🤍

Ooo I love this question, I could seriously talk about Egypt for hours.

Where to begin? There's so much to talk about.

Although I was born in Cairo, I have only ever lived in Egypt for 6 months a couple of years ago; I have lived elsewhere in the MENA region all my life. But no matter which country I was in, there has always been a prominent Egyptian community. My parents were born and raised in Egypt and I have manyyy Egyptian friends and I absolutely love the culture.

Obviously I can't talk about Egypt without mentioning it's rich history, but I'll keep it short because a history textbook will be able to tell you more than I can. A lot of ancient Egyptian practices are a part of modern Egyptian culture today. We definitely respect and are proud of our heritage; it really is a source of national pride for Egyptians. There are historical sites, still standing, all over Egypt, from Alexandria to Aswan.

Egypt is soo diverse, ethnically, racially and religiously. Many people are of Turkish descent due to the presence of Ottoman empire. You also have the Nubians in upper Egypt. The Berbers (North African ethnic group) in West Egypt. The bedouins in Sinai. Majority of people are either Muslim or Christian, although lots of other religions are practiced in Egypt. Most Christians are Coptic Orthodox but a small minority are from the Levant region (Lebanon, Syria, Palestine). Majority of Egyptians have a mixture of Arab, North African and (East) African blood. Egypt is regionally and culturally a part of the Middle East, (North) Africa, (West) Asia, the Mediterranean.

There is no one 'look' to Egyptians, some look Turkish, some look Mediterranean, some look Arab, you get the point. I know plenty of people with blonde hair, and blue eyes and light skin and people with dark hair, dark eyes and dark skin, and both are equally Egyptian. Due to the racial diversity in Egypt racism is not very common, at least not in the circles I run in, most people don't differentiate between lighter and darker Egyptians. With that being said, racism, like in many countries, is still prevalent in Egypt unfortunately.

The food is a cross between Arabic, Turkish and Mediterranean cuisines, it's pretty good.

Most of Egypt is uninhabited, 95 percent of the land to be exact. Most people live along the Nile Delta and the Red sea/ Mediterranean coasts. With a small percentage of Berbers living in western Egypt. The rest is pretty much a desert. Egypt is not ALL desert, in fact Cairo is a mega city and most Egyptians work in Agriculture.

Beach/ sea culture is really big here. Egypt borders the Red sea and the Mediterranean sea. The North coast/ Sahel is really popular for vacations, as for the Red sea you have manyyy towns, my favorites are Dahab, Sharm el Sheikh, and El Gouna. I could probably make a whole separate post on where to go for vacation in Egypt.

Egyptian cinema is the biggest in the Arab world and the Middle East. There is an abundance of Egyptian movies, most tend to be comedies or have a comedic element to them. The music industry is also one of the biggest in the Middle East. The most famous Egyptian singer is obviously Umm Kulthum. Other famous Egyptian artists include Amr Diab and Sherine. A lot of non-Egyptian Arab singers will sing in the Egyptian dialect because Egypt has the biggest population MENA and the Egyptian dialect is the most widely understood dialect due to the presence of the Egyptian cinema. Nancy Ajram shot to fame when she started singing in Egyptian Arabic instead of Lebanese Arabic.

There are lots of Russians and Eastern Europeans in Egypt. They tend to hang out in Sinai in coastal towns in the Red sea, like Dahab. So much so that restaurants will have three menus: an English one, an Arabic one and a Russian one.

Sports and Physical activity are very popular. Wealthier Egyptians will be part of clubs. Playing and watching football - no not American football - is very popular.

Egyptian Arabic is the only language that is widely spoken in Egypt. Most people know basic English but you won't be able to get around if it's not a super touristy area. All Egyptians know either French or German but since neither is spoken daily most tend to forget.

The country side in Egypt is very beautiful. Full of Lush greenery. Narrow Alleys. Tuk Tuks. Hospitable people. Very scenic. These towns tend to be quite poor though.

I think I mentioned most things. If there is any thing specific you want to know about, don't hesitate to ask!

I will be visiting Egypt very soon and will be sharing lots from my trip so be on the look out for that as well!

Egypt is such a beautiful country, with beautiful people and such an interesting culture.

[chicago-geniza]

want to write a "universal translator breaks" fic that disrupts the bridge crew's, shall we say, sapir-whorf hypothesis assumptions about each other & the languages they assumed the others spoke based on their positions in starfleet hierarchy, their planetside origins, their species. like--in my headcanon o'brien speaks irish gaelic, but that's not very common; he grew up on a gaeltacht in a fairly traditionalist family, proud of their heritage, a long history of place & deep roots in the land. as a post i just saw said: sisko *absolutely* speaks creole french. bashir does speak standard, but he's a heritage speaker of arabic, & code-switches often. worf knows klingon--it was his first language, & he kept up with it in school--but his "native" tongue is russian. odo speaks kardasi with a bajoran accent & bajoran with dr. mora's accent. he mispronounces words in kira's dialect, which she finds very funny--their dialects are mutually intelligible but do have several "false friends" that form the basis of some well-worn dirty jokes.

[tianshiisdead]

Huizu info dump

Okay so this info dump on the Hui ethnic minority of China, it's more for my own benefit than anyone else's. I've been trying to learn more through talking to that side of my family and doing research online so this is a convenient way to sort out and compile what I currently know and keep track of it for future references. I'll add on more info and correct in the future

In this post:

Background

Language (kinda)

Clothing

Food (a little bit)

Other

Background

Hui people are a unique ethnoreligious minority in China (and to a lesser extent, parts of Central Asia) who are descended from Islamic travelers along the silk road. Much of their heritage is a mix of Chinese and Central Asian in my experience, though some sources say many have Arabic or Persian roots, which I assume might apply to some other communities outside of my own. The Hui ethnic minority are primarily set apart by their adherence to Islam, and are one of the earliest Islamic people in China, spanning back over a thousand years, from as early as the Tang dynasty. Many Hui people are merchants or work in agriculture, scattered in enclaves across China, primarily Northwestern China but there are Hui people all over. This has caused many similar but distinct cultures and languages to rise up, all centered around Islam but with their own distinct traits. In my personal experience, Hui communities tend to be very isolated and don't encourage intermarrying. Many Hui communities also avoid certain Han holidays or modify them (ie my community doesn't celebrate any part of the Spring Festival/New Year outside of New Year's day), while primarily adhering to Islamic holidays. Due to the diverse communities across China, Hui communities can practice different forms of Islam and are influenced by different languages as well. They experienced periods of persecution in the Qing dynasty up to a sort of genocide in the nineteenth century, when they revolted against the Manchu government and were violently suppressed. Having experienced a level of religious persecution under the nationalist and communist governments, they regained a level of freedom post-cultural revolution, and the Ningxia Hui autonomous region was established. As the third largest ethnic group in China, there are many autonomous regions across the country, from the entire Ningxia province to small Hui towns.

The term 'huihui' was used in the northern Song dynasty to refer to present-day Uyghur people, however the term would later be used to denote Muslim people in China (including reverts/converts who are ethnically anything from Han to Tibetan), and then later on in the 1900s would start to be used specifically to describe the communities of present-day Hui people, descendants of silk road travelers and Muslims who migrated to and rose to prominence in China during the Mongolian ruled Yuan dynasty. Today, 'Hui' is primarily an ethnic marker, non-Muslim ethnic Hui are still considered Hui while Chinese Muslim reverts/converts may not be. Religious or not, Islam strongly influences Hui culture in general and many nonreligious Hui still adhere to certain religious traditions out of cultural habit. Nonetheless, some Hui communities are more strictly religious than others, as again the communities are very diverse due to how spread out they are.

One difference in Hui practices of Islam is the allowance of female Imams who lead prayers for women. Contrary to popular belief, this is a practice that has existed for many centuries and is not a communist scheme to infiltrate Islam with communist values.

Language

Most Hui people speak Han languages (that is, the local dialect/language of Chinese) however some communities have strong Arabic or Persian influences. An example is the Hualong Hui people of the Hualong Hui Autonomous County in northwestern China, whose language is heavily influenced by Arabic/Persian to the point where most sentences contain at least a few loanwords and the greetings are Arabic/Persian, whereas other Hui communities such as certain Shandong Hui communities speak primarily Chinese with few loanwords. Certain loanwords used across China include 'Ahong' for Imam, from the Persian 'akhong'(? idk for sure) Many Hui people learn Arabic at the local schools or practice Arabic calligraphy. There's also this Chinese romanization of Arabic called 'Xiao'erjing' or smthn that also exists but idk much about it

Clothing

Due to the nature of the historical communities, many Hui have generally conformed to Han clothing with the exception of men wearing white caps and women wearing headscarves or veils. The generally accepted 'Hui traditional clothing' of today is influenced by other Islamic cultures, with the men wearing vests and/or tunics and the women wearing tunics over trousers and caps with veils. The colours white, blue, and green, are important in clothing and culture, and many Halal (qingzhen) restaurants have blue text denoting their status. It can be hard to find information on early Hui clothing due to lack of resources (that I can access right now) however it seems early Hui clothing may have just been from whatever region of Asia they came from, slowly converting to become more similar to Han (or whatever ethnicity was ruling and promoting their own clothing styles) for the sake of convenience. In my community, Hui people simply dress modestly and wear the cap or hijab, however, places in Xinjiang or Ningxia may have more Hui people wearing the full ensemble including the cap and veil. The Dungan people of Central Asia, who are descended from Hui people moving there generations ago, seem to ironically have a more 'Chinese' traditional dress than the Hui people of China.

(some random photos I found online. The first is generic, second seems like a costume for a special event, third is what my grandparents wear)

Food

Hui food is known for having a lot of fried food, wheat, and bread products. It shares many similarities of the food of other Islamic ethnic minorities, and is very heavy on spices and lamb, with a lot of Central Asian influence. In my experience as Hui from Shandong, common dishes at home include lamb pilaf/zhua fan, dapanji (a type of chicken stew from Xinjiang), nangbaorou (lamb stew with nang bread), lamb kebabs/yangrou chuanr, etc. Much of the food puts more emphasis on noodles and breads including flatbreads, rather than rice. Many dishes are also Han Chinese dishes adapted to be Halal.

Other

Certain negative stereotypes of Hui include them being sneaky/untrustworthy, drug dealers (? apparently? idk much abt this one), violent, and overly insular in their communities. Common ways to denigrate them primarily center around pork, which in my experience is considered dirty and unspeakable in my community, to the point where no mention of pigs is allowed in my mother's house. Hui people, like most ethnic minorities, have affirmative action programs adding points to their scores for university and exempting them from the late One Child Policy, among other things. Many Hui people go abroad to other Islamic countries to study, and Hui communities tend to have their own Islamic schools as well. Hui people are one of the only ethnic minorities without their own unique language, although certain other groups (such as Manchu) rarely speak their own ancestral language anymore. Hui seem to historically be on bad terms with, like, everyone, and despite being very insular are also quite divided between different Hui communities, due to differences in religious practice and political leanings. Modern day has seen an explosion in cultural revival, however that comes with its own challenges. For a variety of reasons.

[my-terrible-life]

I wanted to say some things about the Arabic used in Community.

I'm not sure what the point the point of this post is but I just wanted to get the thoughts out of my head because they've been there ever since I first watched Community like a million years ago and found out one of the main characters is half Arab.

Long post I'm sorry!!

So in Community Abed is Polish Palestinian. My very first thoughts on this, so long ago, was huh what an unusual name! Because it is. Abed is not a common Arab name at all, it's pretty weird actually. The name itself means "Worshipper" which I guess should fit in with the ~theme~ of Arab Muslim names but it doesn't because in Arabic it sounds incomplete.

Boys names that follow the "theme" of Worship tend to be 2-parters, the Worship part and then the What part. What is he worshipping? God obviously, but God in Islam has many names and many descriptions, so the trend is 'pick one of the names/descriptors and put it right after the word that means worship' so we end up with names like Abdullah (for example). Abdullah in Arabic is a 2 word name, it is Abd then Allah, combined it means worshipper of Allah. We can have a name like Abdulrahman, which is a 2 word name that is Abd then Al Rahman, which combined means worshipper of the most merciful. The list can go on and on and they all mostly follow that pattern: Abd + God's name. That's the convention and that's what male Arabic Muslim names have followed for hundreds of years. So Abed alone is pretty odd, but not impossible I guess.

Now the writers could have consulted with an Arab at any point, there's Arabs literally everywhere in America, but okay it was during the time when casual racism was still something the audience didn't know we could be very vocal about, or that's how I think about it anyway.

Danny Pudi himself is not Arab so I don't think he could have accurately weighed in on this but again I don't know what it was like working as a brown actor on US television at the time. (We'll get back to Danny Pudi later)

Nevertheless, the initial oddness of Abed's name aside, I grew used to it and grew to really like the character. He's one of my 3 favorites ❤ and I don't have to repeat why he's awesome and how his stories are not stereotypes etc etc.

But the eps were his Arabic heritage and language come up were beefed. Hard.

You can split Arabic up into 2 umbrellas I guess: Standard Arabic called Fus'ha, and the common tongue or dialect of the specific Arab country you're in/writing about.

Most of us know and understand Standard Arabic because it's taught in schools and it is the language of the Qur'an so we learn it. It's also the language used for subtitles in film and TV, as well as any formal/official document, and when presidents give speeches in foreign countries so the instant translators can do their jobs without having to learn more than 1 Arabic dialect.

But here's a very big point guys... no one Speaks in Standard Arabic. As beautiful and flowery and vast as it can be we just don't use it like That.

Think of it like your everyday English you speak vs. Shakespearian English. No one talks like that unless they're on stage or they're trying to be funny.

So, it was very obvious when Abed and his Dad were talking that they put the script into Google translate and just went with that. They could have asked an Arab 🤦‍♀️ any Arab! There's so many of us everywhere just grab one off the street like a madman and ask 'em, they'll tell you. We Love correcting wrong Arabic 😂

Anyway, they had Abed speak in Standard Arabic.... cringe kingdom thanks... but Abed is Palestinian, which means his dialog should have been in Palestinian Arabic and that's hella different. (Now I'm personally Egyptian and while I would be able to understand Palestinian very well I would not be able to re-write his lines to reflect the dialect accurately, so I won't)

Of course their pronunciation was incredibly off as neither actor who play Abed or Gubi (weird name) are Arabs or speak Arabic. It just made me cringe so hard.

Now let's briefly talk about those yellow subtitles Community used for Abed and his Dad in that episode where they're fighting about Abed taking film classes... 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ yeah, not pretty, not only did just use Google translate, it was also unedited. I remember back then Google translate was still being filled up with vocabulary and different possible translations so for Arabic sometimes we'd get a very literal translation that made a whole sentence wrong. And boy did they mess that up!

The line was "The wrong person just left" and the translation was "الشخص الخطأ يسار" which is literally "the wrong person left", well what's wrong with that? Oh just that they used Left as in the direction.... the wrong person LEFT (direcrion) as in ur left hand as in let's go left instead of right 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️ never mind that the entire phrase would not be translated that way to begin with but that they couldn't even bother to just double check their translation

Oh you guys know who sounded like they actually knew Arabic??? Abra! Her pronunciation was correct. Even if her lines were still in Standard Arabic her pronunciation and delivery showed she knew Arabic. (Another note on the name... I don't know what the hell Abra is, that's not an Arabic name I'm sorry) (neither is Gubi)

The last thing I wanna mention is from the Christmas ep, where Jeff gets in a fight, and Abed comes to their gathering with a dish from his culture, and he says "It's a traditional Muslim dish".....okay, Danny Pudi is not Arabic okay but he is Muslim and he should know there is no such thing as a Muslim dish, but fine okay maybe he couldn't say anything whatever who cares...

There is no such thing as a Muslim dish, or Muslim food. Or even Arab food, that doesn't exist... it should have been "it's a traditional Palestinian dish".

The Arab World is 22 countries, each very different from each other in culture, customs, food, language, whatever you can think of. We have similarities, we understand each other, we have a shitton of shared history but we are not a monolith.

Back to the Language aspect

Arabic is hard, Standard or otherwise, but especially Standard. The sounds you'd need to be able to make Arabic happen have to be trained into your mouth and throat, and it takes a long time. (I was lucky to grow up with it, not knowing the struggle, and major respect to those who want and try to learn it, whatever variation of it)

I was just spewing my frustrations here about a couple scenes and I'm glad there weren't any more tbh.

but I do hope this helps anyone who was curious about Abed's language.

Anyone writing about Abed or characters like Abed, I hope this can give a hint into what to research.

Also it's not pronounced Nadeer (with the emphasis on the second part) it's Naader (with emphasis on the first part)

Thanks for reading through this!

[queercomichoarder]

A Guide to Portraying Damian Wayne in Fanfics/art

As told by me, someone who is half Arab and half Korean. (Obviously, I don’t speak for all biracial Arab people out there and there will be some differences.) I’m doing this because I’m really tired of seeing discourse on his portrayal in fan shit.

Illustrating Facial Features (Also keep in mind that Bruce is white, and Damian most likely inherited some of his traits too.):

1. Nose: My nose is a mix of my parents. It’s not exactly hooked, but it’s also not flat.

2. Eyelashes: They’re really long. When I was 4 some lady asked my mom if they were real (I think she thought they were extensions??)

3. Eyebrows; Arab people have really thick eyebrows, and that shit grows back quickly. To put things into perspective, I had to start plucking in the 4th grade. Unless Damian takes his hair hygiene very seriously, he’s probably going to have a bit of a unibrow growing in.

4. Facial hair: Depending how old you consider Damian to be (I know DC updated it recently), he’s probably going to have a bit of facial hair. I had a lot of peach fuzz in middle school and I can only imagine how much worse it is for him, because he had testosterone and can’t wax his lip.

5. Skin tone: Because I am half Korean, I have a lighter complexion than my Arab family members. Damian is half-white, so he’s probably pretty light-skinned. (Note: I have half-white, half-Arab, cousins. One looks super pale and the other has brown skin. It’s a spectrum.)

6. Hair: My hair is wavy, but most of the curls are gone after I use a brush. Damian has spikey hair in the comics, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it looked a little curlier before he gets ready for the day.

Food

I’ve read a few headcanons that Alfred tries to incorporate food from Damian’s heritage into his cooking and I love it. I can’t speak on Chinese cuisine, but here’s a list of food that I’ve been introduced to by people on my Arab side.

1. Baklava: God tier. You have not lived until you’ve tried it. It’s a flaky pastry with pistachios and honey. Usually cut up into little squares. I live in a part of the US with a low Arab population, so it’s almost impossible to find a store that sells it (And since Damian is living in Gotham...). It’s also incredibly difficult to make from scratch, but it’s the best dessert ever so we suffer through anyway. One time I shared some with my white friends and they devoured the entire pan (which... same).

2. Chicken Biryani: Technically an Indian dish, but it’s served a lot in my family so I’m including it. It’s chicken and rice, but like with a lot of spices, which is great until you bite into a cardamom pod.

3. Naan: It’s flatbread and a staple food. IT IS NOT THE SAME THING AS PITA. In my not-so-humble opinion, it’s the best flatbread ever and I will fight people on it.

4. Lentil soup: Exactly what it sounds like. It’s a comfort food.

5. Falafel, Hummus, Kabab, & Shwarma: More well known than some of the other stuff. In basically any Mediterranean restaurant. Falafel is a pain in the ass to make and anyone who says that it’s easy isn’t human.

Language

I can only speak English, so I can’t really talk much about the dialect Damian would use. That being said, there are A LOT of Arabic dialects. If you’re like me and don’t speak Arabic, please do research before you write it. Also don’t use google translate. It’s not good.

If you’re writing Damian as being fluent in multiple Arabic dialects, keep in mind that there is no formula to when he speaks which dialect. My grandparents speak multiple languages fluently and will sometimes change what language they’re talking in mid-sentence. Like from English, to Farsi, to Hindi, to Arabic, back to English. They don’t do on purpose. They don’t do it when they’re feeling specific emotions. It’s just how they think. Also, whoever they’re talking to is left with like 5% of what they were trying to say.

Relationship with his Ethnic Background

One bad part about being biracial is feeling like you’re not good enough for either side of your family. Damian is white, Arab, and Chinese, which probably wasn’t an issue for him in the League of Shadows. When he left, however, he would have definitely taken notice to the way different people treat him. There’s probably a lot of buried feelings about how he feels alien in comparison with his dad. Not to mention the way Gotham’s news outlets would choose to portray him (after all, he is a Wayne).

Anyway, I hope this helps some people out. Don’t forget to be kind to one another. It’s tricky to write/draw things you aren’t familiar with.

[black-streak]

Waiting for the Worms - Another Brick in the Wall

Part 8

Me? Rapidly updating a story for the sake of satiating my own curiosity for how this will continue? It's more likely than you think. Did I spend upward of ten minutes deciding and researching the weapons and blade types used just for one paragraph worth of text? Absolutely.

You know, the mentions of neglect and child abuse and violence is actually kind of light considering. Still very present though.

Closed list that I've been hitting up the last three days: @northernbluetongue @thethirdwheelfriend @shizukiryuu @theatreandcomicfreak @michellemagic @karategirl119 @moonlightstar64 @my-name-is-michell @mystery-5-5 @zalladane @queen-of-the-trash-planet-tm @miraculousdisapointment @dorkus-minimus @jardimazul @allthebooksandcrannies @g-arya @worlds-tiniest-spook-pastry @persephonescat @mycupisbroken @luciferge @18-fandoms-unite-08 @dawnwave16 @alwaysreblogneverpost @kris-pines04 @mysteriouslyswimmingfan-blo-blog @weird-pale-blonde-person @you-will-never-know-how-i-think @kokotaru @naclychilli @slytherinhquinn @clumsy-owl-4178 @ladybug-182 @darkthunder1589 @evil-elf16 @dast218 @lysslovsanime @emilytopaz @naoryllis @iloontjeboontje @thepeacetea @danielslilangel @finallyaniguana @i-like-fairytail-and-stuff @vixen-uchiha @yuulxd @bleeding-heart-romantic @magic-inthe-stars @st0rmy-w1th1n

~---~

Training with Talia's personal squadron the day after waking from the pits came as no surprise. Starting up history and world languages classes however, took her a bit off guard. 

Marinette was already fluent in french and english from her own volition, and picked up spanish from Jason over time after finding his own fluidity and background with the language. The two had been slowly learning mandarin after her uncle's visit a few years back and Jason insisted they figure it out together with her own heritage being a driving force. She had died before they could become fully conversational. 

When Marinette offered this information up to Talia, bypassing the reason she spoke so many languages already and passing it off as Jason's love for knowledge and literature combining, Talia immediately turned her over to two teachers; one to teach mandarin and eventually expand into cantonese and another to focus in on arabic. The second was seen as the priority what with location and its commonality within the complex. Obviously, the league's personal dialect was taught as a subset to these lessons, though it was ensured she knew the differences.

History focused in on Asia, occasionally falling off track into South American and African history, her western knowledge cohesive and complex enough to satisfy Talia, which came as no surprise seeing as though Europe and North America tended to focus only on their own history. She couldn't help but think how jealous Jason would be to know she received extensive free education that wasn't the same rhetoric he'd been hearing since he was five, granted with more reality and detailing as time passed.

They held off on teaching the League history until they felt her world knowledge was comprehensive enough to appreciate the way their personal history tied into it all.

The physical training took up about six hours every day. An hour of stretching, followed by two hours of hand to hand combat, then two hours specializing in weapons, and finally another hour of stretching. Her weapons focus geared towards close combat mostly, with a preference for the F-S fighting knife, a double-edged blade sitting just short of eight inches and a BC-41, essentially a set of brass knuckles with a blade running through the inner palm and extending outwards by a good 5 inches. When maintaining some distance and using more of her martial arts training, she leaned heavily towards a double bladed staff. The experience of twirling a weaponized yoyo for a year made using the staff a comfortable transition. 

It took three months before Talia felt comfortable sending her out on a mission with her team. It ended up a bloodbath. They were meant to track down a league member gone rogue, only to find the woman training others. They took out the entire group, Marinette falling to the bloodthirsty voice echoing in her head at all times. By the time she came fully to, dead bodies littered the ground about her. She suppressed herself to the back of her own mind, forcefully disassociating until they arrived back at the underground city three days later, hiding away in her rooms before breaking down. Talia found her in the midst of a panic attack and talked her down, explaining how the pit caused the worst of her to form into a tangent voice in her head, how it took time and practice to tamper it down to the almost nonexistent form it took before her dip. How it wasn't her fault she fell pray to it and the objective had been to take out the target anyways. That the defective leader would've trained that group to come back and take them out. That it would've threatened her life in the complex had she not killed in front of the other assassins. The idea that it all was a form of self defense helped ease her mind, though she vowed to try harder, to take back control from the pit madness that overwhelmed her in that moment.

The week after, she took up meditation in her down time. While the reminder of her mother hurt, the peace and mental fortitude it offered held too high of an appeal to bypass. It helped that it seemed a common practice across the city. Whether to aid others in suppressing their own demons or just for the ritualistic quality, she didn't know, but the practice further blended her into the community, something Talia took great pride in. 

By her fifth month living amongst the League, her already decent mandarin had been perfected and they finally focused in on cantonese. Her arabic and league dialect progressed rapidly, but only due to constant exposure. Even one day spent away from the city ended with butchered words and completely horrific pronunciations of even the basics. Due to this, she never spoke outside of her lessons or the confines of her or Talia's rooms. It came as quite the embarrassment when the team had to rely entirely on hand signals during missions she accompanied. Sure, that was the standard anyways, but they all knew the option of speech was impeded by her. Luckily, they were all led to believe her mute instead of simply incompetent.

In her sixth month, she relapsed during a fight again, losing her mind until she locked herself in her rooms once more. It took Talia three days to get her to let the guilt pass once more.

It was around this time, Talia started pointing out specific escape routes and pathways that were blocked off or unknown to most. She started teaching her how to hide from even the assassins. Started to train her in private how to break through the other's defenses, to counteract their own training. They kept it all out of the public eye, where it could make its way back to Ras. Marinette couldn't say what the woman was preparing her for, but she took it all to heart. 

It was only a week after this development that she moved to a new training room. It held some of the higher ups within Talia's group and strangely enough, one small child. The kid was barely four feet, but quickly proved extremely adept with a katana. The two never faced each other, but he obviously took note of the newest member within the room. 

After a month in the new room, Talia seemed to relax once more, taking pride in Marinette having not relapsed in the passing time and showing no signs of backtracking. The child in the room only seemed to grow more observant as the days passed. It was on one of these days, that Marinette decided to make a move of her own. The head trainer had cut the kid down, the small body splayed on the mat, bruises and cuts littering his body, Talia standing in quiet observation from the corner. Marinette saw the glint of concern hidden within her eyes and reacted instinctively. She took her bladed staff and slipped behind the trainer who stood berating the boy below, laying the side of one sharpened end up on the man's shoulder, blade barely touching his neck, she waited until he turned towards her slowly and tilted her head with a condescending sneer, challenging him without a word spoken.

The man took his focus entirely off the kid, only to be swept off his feet and placed under a sharp blade, the child standing over him now.

"Lesson one, never lose track of the number of enemies in a room," the boy stated, hinting at a snarl.

"Damian," Talia called in a demanding tone.

The boy immediately backed off and allowed the master back onto his feet, his face expressionless beyond a tiny twitch next to his right eye. Both were dismissed for the day.

The next day, the trainer singled Marinette out. Upon his approach, she took up the staff once more. While she preferred her knives, she knew she needed an upperhand in this fight and had too much talent with the easily spun weapon to pass it up. She expected to lose, but refused to go down easily. As he stood before her, she waited patiently, slowly twirling the staff lightly between her fingers, not breaking into any specific stance. Best not to trap herself in a range of motions, but to keep open to move in any direction at a moment's notice. Talia trained her better than to lose for something as simple as having an attack come from a source her stance didn't allow a counter movement for.

Eventually, the man's built up resentment and frustration came through and he struck first. 

From there, the fight continued in an almost rhythmic, dance for her, an angry tsunami of movement for him. She was surprised how much the counteractions Talia taught her came in to use. She must have been training her in a parallel to the man before her, wanting her to best him. And with most of the assassins specialized in staffs using non-bladed forms, the easy twirl of twin blades always at him, it gave her a leg up over him. From the corner of her eye, she noticed the others had slowed their motions, watching their battle without fully stopping their own. The kid, Damian, had turned fully to watch, having ended the fight with his current trainer some moments before. 

Both her and the trainer had a slew of shallow cuts along flanks when finally, she landed a blow across his face, slashing from above an eyebrow, down the bridge of his nose and down the opposite cheek. With blood dripping into his eye, she managed to disable the man and bring them to a stand still. She might not be able to best Talia or even some of the more uniquely members within the group, but she could take down the lead trainer. The approving look of her own mentor and the curious stare of the young one was enough for her. She left the room with her head held high.

Talia increased her training tenfold afterwards, convinced she could take the workload now. Sent her on a more intensive mission and then promptly benched her, publicly for unknown reasons, privately to increase her lessons with Talia, herself.

At eight months, Damian cautiously approached her. The curiosity had grown and with the obviously protective manner of her challenge to the master, it seemed to ease him towards her.

He glanced at Talia who observed them with a closed off expression and turned back towards her with a determined look.

"So you're her new pet project?"

Marinette rose a single eyebrow in response.

"I'm her son," he growled out, amusing in his tiny, unbroken voice, if not for the accompanying words.

Without outwardly showing it, Marinette quickly processed her surprise, realization striking. Damian was her son. She had shown her how to take down most any enemy, how to escape, how to protect. Talia never showed any outward connection towards the child in front of her, practically ignored him until he stepped out of line. Marinette had seen the concern though. The fear and regret glinting towards the boy in odd moments when nobody was looking. All of the training, the private lessons, all hinting at an eventual escape. Talia wanted her to take Damian out of here. To escape with him. Needed someone unattached, with no connections in the world to hold them back with the right background. Jason just so happened to also hold an emotional connection for her with his past with Bruce reminiscent of her own. Used and forgotten. It was a way of offering a life to her own son while giving Jason a connection of his own when he had nothing else. As far as she knew anyways.

And Marinette couldn't fault her for it. Couldn't see a way to begrudge the woman this. Where would she be otherwise, if maybe a little less murderous? Out on the streets, alone and broken. Lost in the world. She felt gratitude, despite the woman blatantly using her. Somehow she knew that had circumstances been different, if Jason had a life to return to, she'd never have kidnapped her all those months ago. 

This all flashed within her mind in a moment, glancing at Talia before refocusing on the kid. She offered a light hum in return. Damian took this as the acceptance it was and went on his way. That was okay, she knew the lack of rebuttal and ease of her demeanor would draw him back soon enough. Looking up, she met Talia's eyes and gave an almost imperceptible nod, not imagining the way the woman's eyes lit up.

[quatregats]

spanish, german, navajo, catalan! (whichever target language/s you want)

thank you for the asks! <3

spanish - what’s a food associated with speakers of your target language that you’ve tried or would like to try?

I’m not a super big food person but I will say that trying fideuà last summer changed my life. For Malayalam I do really like dosas, although idk if that counts because it’s my heritage language. Also for Amharic, I’m not exactly sure what the different foods were but last spring (spring of 2019), my Ethiopian friend took us all to an Ethiopian restaurant and ordered us food, and it was super good. Y’all don’t realize but me saying food that I was ordered at a restaurant and tried for the first time was good is extremely high praise in my book, I’m not good at trying new food.

german - which dialect(s) of your target languages are your favorite / do you study?

Honestly, I’m not sure what my favorite dialects are for most of my TLs. For Catalan and Basque I really like all of the different dialects and I think the different variation makes them super interesting (and I’m mostly just learning standard varieties rip). I don’t know the different Welsh dialects that well, so I can’t say I have a favorite, but Northern Welsh >>>> Southern Welsh and you can fight me on that. For Romani I’m learning American Kalderash but I’m not particularly tied to learning one dialect over another, for Kurdish I’m learning Kurmanji, and for Arabic I’m theoretically learning Levantine Arabic. With Malayalam, all the stuff I learn from my dad is northern Kerala-specific and sometimes specific to the region where my family is from. Spanish I will say I do have favorite dialects for, I’m a big fan of the Rioplantense dialect and also of Andalucian Spanish (and Spanish from northern Spain/Castille is not valid, I’m sorry).

navajo - what’s the most interesting grammatical feature in your target language?

I love literally everything about Basque grammar, I think it’s endlessly interesting and also just makes a lot of sense??? I also love the pronoms febles and the Catalan preterite with anar just because it’s so unusual, and for Welsh, I really like that the direct object pronouns are the possessive pronouns but for the verb. 

catalan - what is your favorite cultural practice of speakers of your target language?

For Basque, it’s definitely, hands-down, the trikitixa and  everything associated with it – all of the music that goes with it, competitions for it, literally everything about it. I am very obsessed. It’s a very good instrument.

[mithliya]

I am arab but I do not feel any connection to my language or culture. I feel this may be the cause of Arabic and arab culture being heavily intertwined with Islam. At best it is extremely difficult to disentangle these ties; it makes me dislike my own background. How could I love a language that was in turn loved by such hateful people? I don't feel like I ever want to be a part of it, but technically, I am part of it. I'm tied to this culture, language, and religion by blood, and I am certainly not proud of my ethnicity, my nationality, and the religion I was born into. Being Arabic ≠ being religious, I know, but I can't shake off the feeling that I'm not Arabian. I suppose growing up with Arabs who were all Muslims has put that idea in my head, that an arab is inherently religious.

The bottom line is, I do not feel, nor do I want to feel, associated with my culture, language, ethnicity, and even my family.

Do you feel the same?

How could I love a language that was in turn loved by such hateful people?

with this mindset idk how u can like almost any language. english? italian? spanish? french? russian? japanese? chinese? hindi? the list could go on forever. what makes arabic especially hateful to you? it has existed long before islam and is the language of many non-muslims too. arab christians have their own cultures and practices and yet they speak arabic. i just dont see arabic as somehow intrinsically related to islam, nor do i see my culture that way either. youre right that a lot of our culture has become so deeply intertwined with islam, but i honestly don't see traditions like eid to be hateful either. i dont see them as celebrating anything hateful either. many cultures of many european countries are also deeply intertwined with christianity, and yet even non-religious europeans i know i often see embracing christmas and easter, for example. so i dont see anything wrong w embracing religiously-rooted traditions like ramadan or eid either. i love that eid involves getting together w the family, giving money, generosity, often new / nice clothing n dressing up, + specific special dishes. i love that for ramadan we often will sit together and eat and watch a ramdan show + have special dishes, and that in ramadan many will go on the streets or from house to house to provide with homemade gifts or be generous in other ways. what i take issue with is when these practices are forced on others, like the fact that its illegal to eat in public in many countries before iftar in ramadan time.

overall no i dont really relate tbh. i come from a non-religious family, they dont strongly identify w arabness bc idk we're bahrani first & foremost and often they're shit talking about arabs. but i grew up with examples that made me separate my culture from islam. islam is something that was forced onto me outside my family and my friend circles nd family's friend's circles. the arabs i know drink and party and smoke and don't segregate by sex and wear non-"modest" clothing and get tattoos and piercings etc while also often times wearing abayas or thobes (my atheist grandpa used to always wear a thobe), or traditional bahraini attire, speaking arabic, etc so. idk. i just don't view it as an Islam Thing. i recognise that most arab cultures have become quite intertwined with islam, but i also see how our differences nd special traditions exist. we have girga3on in bahrain for example and this is a tradition specific to gulf countries + iraq. we have stuff like henna and we eat dishes like daal and these are all also my culture & show me our history as an island nation that was an instrumental trading area. we have pearl-diving and pearls and gold and many things that are so traditional to us but not at all related to islam but rather our specific area. all of this is still my culture. perfumes and spices and our dialect and the ancient dilmunian civilisation are my culture too and my heritage. these are the things i take pride in and wish will live on long after im gone. i dont consider praying 3-5 times a day, athaan, islamic beliefs, etc to be my culture, and i don't hate my heritage or want to disconnect myself from it bc of that. i was always simply born muslim, but i am bahrani and i always will be regardless of my beliefs.

[blackdreamsoffashion]

Well, well, well…

Guess who’s back after over a year of hiatus (currently barfing at all hiatuses as a socio-phonetician…)!

My friends and family know that these past 12 months have probably been the busiest months of my life. I was working through co-founding an organization, dissertating, taking classes, and more recently searching for a new job…. while also trying to exercise, cook, be a decent wife, daughter, sister, friend, cat/dog mom. The whole nine yards. So, it’s safe to say if it wasn’t a necessity, I pretty much wasn’t doing it. So clearly, blogging se fue a la mierda.

With all that said, I finally see the light at the end of the tunnel! I’ll be defending my dissertation mid-June, and moving to Erie, PA for a new job shortly after! I couldn’t be more excited, as I feel the faculty I’ve met so far is pretty kick-ass, and I’m stoked to be able to grow as an educator and researcher. A bish can spread her wings and FLY!

I haven’t announced the good news through a classic social media post because it feels shady af since people are literally dying, losing their jobs, and suffering on a daily basis as we try to navigate this new way of life, while Rona’s out here runnin’ rampant.

Speaking of Rona, before I get any more sidetracked, since being quarantined beginning March 20th (or 44 days, or 1056 hours…. but who’s counting?), I’ve been thinking about my family a lot, particularly my dad. Living in NY and working in an Arab grocery store is a recipe for disaster, which has got my stress levels #allthewayup.

I call him daily to do a little check in, and recently, he’s started to use more Arabic with me… even sending me Arabic memes #mamaImadeit! It’s crazy how after spending 29 years on this planet, I’m FINALLY able to take part in that aspect of my dad’s culture. (Shout out to Dr. Zafer for really pushing me in Arabic this semester!)

Sin embargo, even though I can hold my own in Arabic, I’m far from native and even though it’s the native language of one of my parents, it’s my THIRD language! When I think about it, which I’ve been doing a lot lately since thinking about existential questions is the new dissertation procrastination technique, it actually makes me more confused when I try to “define” myself.

Most likely, if I have a kid, I won’t teach him/her Arabic. My husband and I will pass on Spanish, which will be hard since it’s not my native language, meaning that Arabic will pretty much die with me…

On my wedding day, my dad asked me “so, are you planning on changing your last name?” and I could see he was literally holding his breath as he waited for my response. When I told him no….. chacho, that sigh of relief he let out could literally be felt by all of my Sudanese ancestors LOL. But all jokes aside, it’s truly heartbreaking to think that with me, that cultural tie will die.

How do you pass on a culture that’s not truly yours? Identity is so complex, and even if I wanted to identify as Sudanese, I couldn’t. The moment another Arab hears my Arabic, it’s like …… “ohhhhhh so you’re American! I was confused because your last name is Mohamed” and then the “wait you’re not muslim…? But your dad is muslim sooo??” Literally, I’ve heard that at least 67 times.

At LEAST!

Let’s also not forget the fact that I didn’t visit Sudan until I was 18, and I’ve only been there twice. Let’s ALSOOOO not forget that I’m black lmao. Can’t really hide that one lol, and I could literally write a book on the complexities of being black, but for the sake of this post, I’m just gonna leave it at that.

Actually in Saudi Arabia

Literally, no caption needed. 

To further complicate the identity mierda, I was also 18 the first time I went to Puerto Rico; but, I’ve been so many times that I’ve literally lost track. My husband’s Puerto Rican, I’ve been given an honorary Puerto Rican/Caribbean card by several Puerto Ricans, including my suegra. I speak Spanish fluently and have a slight Caribbean accent when doing so, I worship Marc Anthony and Hector Lavoe, my favorite dessert is flan, favorite music genere is probably reggaeton (#rachetontheinside)… así que….. What the heck am I?

Better question. Where is my honorary Arab card, because nobodyyyy has offered that up to me yet and I’m pretty sure a bish will be waiting on it until she dead dead.

How does one construct their identity, and what factors play a role in that construction? Is there some formula I can throw together that will give me my identity. Like, Flan de queso + Bad Bunny = Boricua, kinda? Is there a certain amount of times I need to go to Sudan before I’m accepted as a “true Sudanese?,” a certain amount of lexicon I need to acquire before I can claim that dialect of Arabic?

      Classic.

    Most days I’m black. Punto. But some days, I’m confused and unsure. My hispanic friends tell me I’m Puerto Rican. Don’t get me wrong, I know I’m not, but I find it so interesting that I can be completely accepted in that culture, but struggle to be accepted by those with whom I share heritage. I also think, since I basically just became a real adult, what type of identity/culture will I pass on to my potential kid… or maybe my 10 cats… It’s a toss up at this point.

First trip to PR with my favorite meerkats!

Processed with VSCO with a6 preset

At the end of the day, as I reflect and basically find no real answers lol, one thing I can say is that at least I know how to navigate so many spaces and cultures. I’m literally a freaking chameleon. There’s “yasss sis” black Sherez, “Hacho mano ehto e’ un palo” Caribbean Sherez, “ship ship wen?” sorta Arab Sherez, and even “Excellent! I can certainly have that to you by 5pm,” navigating-white-spaces Sherez. LOL Maybe that’s what I’ll be passing along. Chameleon training 101.

  So anyways. Congrats! You’ve made it to the end of this stream of consciousness blog post. I guarantee this is not how my academic writing is LOL.

If YOU have any struggles, comments, insights, lo que sea, about identity, feel free to share! And share this post too lol. I’m tired of hearing about Rona. Let’s change it up and talk about some existential ish!

-Sherez ❤

  Identity crisis... existential questions during cuarentena! Well, well, well... Guess who's back after over a year of hiatus (currently barfing at all hiatuses as a socio-phonetician...)!

[humansofhds]

Julia Hintlian, MTS ′18 and Harvard PhD Candidate

"I’ve spent time in the Republic of Armenia, and in 'Western Armenia' (now Eastern Turkey). A lot of our churches have been desecrated and destroyed, and those of us who are fortunate to survive have a responsibility not only to know what we’ve lost, but to know that what we have inherited is valuable."

Julia graduated in 2018 with an MTS from HDS. She is now a rising doctoral student in religion at Harvard. This past summer, she taught at the seminary of the Armenian Patriarchate of Jerusalem.

Formations of My Identity

My doctoral degree is in the history of Christianity, and I am working on the influences of Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism on Syriac and Armenian Christianity in Late Antiquity. My master’s degree is in Silk Road Religions, an individualized area of focus that included the same subjects I am studying now—as well as some other, lesser studied traditions like the religion of the Yazidis of Northern Iraq, and Ismailism, a sect of Shia Islam. During my undergraduate degree in religious studies at the University of Pennsylvania, I focused on Hinduism and Islam. So, I arrived at the history of Christianity by studying many other traditions through the lens of “world religions.”

My mom got an MTS when I was in high school, and she would come home from her classes and talk to my 14-and-15-year-old self about what she was learning. She encouraged me to ask questions that I was not taught to ask in school, like: Why are we here? What is the purpose of life? What have writers over millennia had to say in answer to these questions?

I am ethnically Armenian, baptized in the Armenian Apostolic Church. The Armenian Church is ancient, and we are an ancient people with a rich religious history, strongly identified by our Oriental Orthodoxy. The traditional date of our conversion is 301 AD, which we claim makes us the oldest Christian nation in the world. This legacy has also been a big factor in my identity and my decision to study religion. Prior to being Christian, the Armenians were Zoroastrian, and our Zoroastrianism was somewhat unique from Persian Zoroastrianism. So, I think I have a lot to be proud of in terms of Armenia’s long-term historical, religious legacy, which has “evolved” to reach me over the course of many generations.

I feel that I have a responsibility to all the people who came before me to take my scholarship seriously. Especially on the Armenian side, because two thirds of our population was wiped out one hundred years ago in the Armenian Genocide of 1915. Those of us who remain must carry this identity into the future. I’ve spent time in the Republic of Armenia, and in “Western Armenia” (now Eastern Turkey). A lot of our churches have been desecrated and destroyed, and those of us who are fortunate to survive have a responsibility not only to know what we’ve lost, but to know that what we have inherited is valuable.

Teaching at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin

I have lived in Armenia on two separate occasions, and on a third occasion I traveled to Western Armenia. My family is Western Armenian. The Western Armenians lived under the Byzantine and later Ottoman Empires, and the Eastern Armenians lived under the Persian and later Russian Empires. The dialects are a bit different; they are mutually intelligible, but Western Armenian is more influenced by Arabic and Turkish, and Eastern Armenian is more influenced by Persian and Russian. Culturally, Eastern and Western Armenians are a bit different, too. It is a very complex history!

Last summer, I was teaching at the Mother See of Holy Etchmiadzin, the center of the Armenian Church, which is located in Vagharshapat, half an hour outside of Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia. I taught in the Gevorgian Seminary, which is where they train the next generation of clergy. I was mostly teaching deacons, and my courses were “English for Theological Reading” and “Introductory Syriac Language.” We read Irenaeus of Lyon’s second-century Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching in my English class, and we talked about the theology. I picked this text because it was basically lost to history for many centuries, and then it reappeared in Armenian translation (from the original Greek) in 1904.

In Communion

As Armenians, I think it is very important to know that we are in communion with the Syriac Orthodox Church. The Oriental Orthodox Churches, which are unfortunately very understudied in Western academia, are the Syriac Orthodox Church, the Armenian Apostolic Church, the Coptic Orthodox Church, the Ethiopian and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Churches, and the Malankara Orthodox Syrian Church of India. We have been in communion for many centuries, and these communities are often located in places that are not (or historically have not been) safe, and yet we have kept our faith and traditions alive. I think it is important to have inter-community relations, and that is one reason I study Syriac. I still have much to learn from my advisor, Professor Charles Stang, but I thought that it was important for these deacons to have at least a taste of Syriac, so they might one day find common ground with Syriac priests. Common language encourages the exchange of ideas!

It was very meaningful for me a few years ago when our HDS Syriac lecturer took us to a service at the local Syriac church. When they discovered I was Armenian, they said, “Why didn’t you take communion with us? We would have been so happy to have you!” And they were speaking to me in Armenian and really making an effort to welcome me and to let me know they were happy to have me in their church.  

Each Oriental Orthodox Church has its own leaders and hierarchy, but the leaders of those churches are in contact with each other. The Armenian Church has a Catholicos for its spiritual leader (actually there are two Catholicoi, but that’s a complicated story!) and then two Patriarchs, in Jerusalem and Istanbul.

Shedding Light

Orthodox Christianity in general is understudied in America, but even when we do refer to Orthodox Christianity, we are usually talking about Eastern Orthodoxy, which has its own rich heritage and tradition and history. I think it would be good for more light to be shed on Oriental Orthodoxy.

In the History of Christianity track here, there are people who have had very limited exposure to Oriental Orthodox history and theology. Many scholars of Christianity know that the “Miaphysite” Oriental Orthodox Churches broke away from the fourth ecumenical Council of Chalcedon in 451, but they know little of our history after that. Christianity is such a massive tradition, with so many iterations all over the world, but the Oriental Orthodox Churches are very ancient, most of them have been around since the very early Christian period, and they have survived many trials and tribulations. Right now, the Coptic Church is facing significant persecution in Egypt, and my students in Armenia expressed concern over this situation. Armenians know what it is like to feel unsafe and to work to preserve our faith at all costs.

There are a few reasons these traditions are understudied in the West. The theological breaks are very old, and the churches are very small (especially compared to Catholic and Protestant denominations). Linguistically, they are difficult to access; there are few people who know Classical Armenian and can teach it—same with Classical Syriac, Coptic, and Ethiopic. These are obscure languages, and culturally foreign, which makes them more obscure and less accessible than languages like Greek or Latin.

It’s interesting to study Christianity right now, because some people seem to be saying it is a Eurocentric tradition of oppression and colonialism. When I hear that, I wonder how much people know about Christianity outside the West, and I feel compelled to say that this is a very diverse tradition, with a unifying theology and ideology that is manifest in many different cultural settings. But I do find in Protestantism and Catholicism a narrative that I believe in, and I look positively on these traditions because though there are linguistic and cultural differences, I think we are aspiring to the same truth.

The Catholic Church and the Armenian Church are two examples of churches that have been finding common ground recently, and I see beauty in that. In 2015, for the centennial of the Armenian Genocide, Pope Francis named one of the great Armenian theologians and spiritual fathers, Grigor Narekatsi/Gregory of Narek (10th/11th c.), as a Doctor of the Church, and erected a statue of him in the Vatican. The Armenian Catholicoi and Armenian political leaders were present for this special moment.

A Priceless Heritage

I spend a lot of time with my head in books from the fifth century, reading things that happened a long time ago. But it is also very important to me to care for the modern iterations of the traditions that I study. Their continuing survival and existence inspires me. To this end, I’ve done a little bit of work for the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom in Washington D.C. as well.

Tur Abdin is a region in Turkey with a lot of Syriac monasteries. Unfortunately, the Turkish government has been trying to seize some of these properties, including the fourth-century Mar Gabriel monastery. Unless you can appreciate what happened at Mar Gabriel hundreds of years ago, the theology, spirituality, and history created there, you might say, “Why does it matter if the Turkish government takes it away?” But if you know its religious significance, you know why it is worth preserving.

I often contemplate what my ancestors would think of me, especially two of my great-grandmothers, Antaram and Sultan, who managed to escape Armenia with their children after their husbands were killed in the genocide. I hope they are proud of me, I hope they know that they passed a heritage to me that is priceless and beautiful, and I hope they know that I am doing everything I can to defend it.  

Interview and photos by Anais Garvanian

[zamancollective]

Mizrahi Dialects and the Persistence of Collective Cultural Memory

By Kyle Newman

Languages are powerful. They serve as virtual time machines, transcending the fabric of society to tell stories that convey the weight and influence of civilizations. They can just as well be used to gauge the weaknesses and prospective dangers faced by a people, acting as harbingers of impending destruction or distress. Judaism itself is not only a religion, but a civilization bearing its own ethnic, cultural, and even linguistic identity, and we can thus trace the ebb and flow of Jewish history through the changes and continuities that make up its rich linguistic heritage. A subject often ignored in the study of Jewish languages is their importance to the history of the Jewish communities of the Middle East; before I dive more deeply into the discussion of these Middle Eastern Jewish languages and their immense significance, however, the historical context in which these languages were born must be properly illustrated.

The Babylonian Kingdom’s conquest of the Kingdom of Judah in 586 BCE, under the reign of Nebuchadnezzar II, marked a significant turning point in Jewish history. The Jewish people were subject to enslavement in Babylonia until 538 BCE, when Cyrus the Great, also known as Cyrus II, conquered Babylonia and liberated the Jewish captives. Reputable for serving as a benevolent ruler, Cyrus (referred to in the Book of Isaiah by the epithet “God’s anointed”) allowed the Jewish people to return to their homeland and rebuild their first temple, which the Babylonians had destroyed during their hegemony in the Levant. Although a number of Jews decided to return to what is present-day Israel, many decided to remain in the Persian empire, which welcomed them with open arms and granted them citizenship.

The Jewish captivity in Babylonia and subsequent Persian rule in the Achaemenid empire brought markedly significant changes to Jewish society and culture, such as the adoption of the current Hebrew alphabet, the emergence of the central role of the Torah in Judaism, and the emergence of scribes and sages as communal leaders instead of Jewish monarchs. Along with these cultural changes also came changes in the linguistic heritage of Jews living under the reign of Persian kings. After Darius I established Aramaic as the official language in the Western half of the Achaemenid Empire, the Jews quickly adapted to using the Eastern Aramaic dialect of Babylon for daily affairs and business - while preserving Biblical Hebrew mostly for religious study and prayer.

The adoption of Aramaic by Jews in Aramaic-speaking areas throughout Mesopotamia led to the gradual creation of a number of Hebrew-influenced Aramaic languages, called the “Judeo-Aramaic” languages. Up until the early 20th century, these languages were widely spoken in Jewish communities across the ethnically Kurdish regions of Northern Iraq and Northwestern Iran. Although there is no formal or standard Judeo-Aramaic language, most Judeo-Aramaic dialects are mutually intelligible and serve as the lingua franca of Kurdish Jews who either conduct business in the Sorani and Kurmanji dialects of Kurdish, or in Persian and Arabic.

I myself have Kurdish Jewish ancestry on my mother’s side, and both of my maternal grandparents speak a dialect of Judeo Aramaic called “Hulaulá” or “Lishana Achni” (originally spoken by the Jews of Iranian Kurdistan). The word “Hulaulá” itself literally translates to Hebrew (as in the language) and “Lishana Achni” translates to our language. The word “Lishana,” translating to language, is itself similar to the word “Lashon” in Hebrew, meaning tongue or language. The word “Achni,” translating to the possessive adjective our, is also similar to the Hebrew word “anachnu,” which means our or belonging to us. I grew up around my grandparents speaking this language in domestic settings, i.e. during Shabbat dinners and important occasions, and I understand it fully but speak it very minimally.

The following is a recording and translation of my grandmother recounting her Passover experience as a child in the city of Sanandaj in the Iranian province of Kurdistan:

“When I was a child living in Sanandaj, my father owned farmland with plenty of horses. He would mount us on our own horse and lead us in the windy night to our grandparents’ house for the seder on the first night of Passover. I remember my favorite Passover tradition being Shalshalakan, where we would take a hard boiled egg and hop on one foot to our grandfather. Once we finished hopping to our grandfather, he would ask us ‘where are you coming from,’ and we’d respond ‘Egypt!’ He would then ask us ‘where are you going,’ and we’d respond ‘Jerusalem!’ After he pretended to open the gates of Jerusalem for us, we were finally allowed to eat the hard-boiled egg.”

The Passover tradition my grandma recounts here, “Shalshalakan,” is common for Kurdish Iranian Jewish families to honor during the Passover seder or meal. It is ironically a fun and enjoyable way for children to reenact the hardships of the journey the Israelites took from Egypt to Israel (hence the hopping on one foot), and a tradition I love to partake in. Her story also reveals something deeper about the cultural and societal conditions of Jews in Iranian Kurdistan. In the beginning of the recording, she mentions that her father “owned farmland with plenty of horses”. This shows the disparity of wealth between Jewish communities in Kurdistan and Jewish communities in Iran before the reign of the Pahlavi dynasty. Before the Pahlavi Shahs ruled Iran, most Jews of Central Iran faced periods of heavy discrimination and were forced to live in urban ghettos. However, the Jews of Iranian Kurdistan faced relatively less discrimination from the Muslim majority in the area, were not forced to live in ghettos, and had more opportunities to acquire wealth than the Jews of Central Iran. This discrepancy can be attributed to the fact that the Kurds of Iranian Kurdistan, who are Sunni Muslims, do not believe that non-believers (non-Muslims) are a source of ritual impurity or najjes, whereas the Shia majority of Central Iran does believe so.

The dialect of Judeo-Aramaic my grandparents speak is of course not the only existing dialect. There is also the dialect Lishana Deni, originally spoken in Northern Iraq, and Lishan Didan, originally spoken in Iranian Azerbaijan and around Lake Van in Turkey, among many others.

Additionally, another group of languages that adds further diversity to the rich linguistic heritage of the Middle East is Judeo-Persian. The Judeo-Persian languages arose from the pockets of Jewish communities of Central Iran that have existed in the area since the freeing of Jewish captives in Babylonia by Cyrus the Great. The term Judeo-Persian itself is somewhat obscure and could even be considered a misnomer. The term “Judeo-Persian” in actuality refers to the Persian language written in Hebrew script, but the Hebrew-influenced Iranian languages spoken by the Jews of Persia can be referred to most accurately by the term “Judeo-Iranian Languages”. This umbrella term not only includes Judeo-Persian dialects spoken in Iran, such as Judeo-Kashi (spoken by the Jews of Kashan province) and Judeo-Isfahani (spoken by the Jews of Isfahan province), but also includes less common dialects like Judeo-Bukharic (spoken by the Jews of Bukhara in Uzbekistan) and Judeo-Pathani (spoken by Jews from the Pashtun regions of Afghanistan and Pakistan).

Judeo-Iranian languages are much different from Judeo-Aramaic languages: while Judeo-Iranian languages belong to the Iranian language family, Judeo-Aramaic languages belong to the Semitic language family. However, both of these Jewish language groups are influenced by Hebrew and reflect the common culture that differentiated Jews in the Middle East and broader Western Asia from people of other religions in the area.

Of course, just as Judeo-Aramaic languages like my grandparents’ Hulaulá have been used to pass traditions and fables across generations, Persian Jewish elders often tell intriguing stories and fables in Judeo-Iranian tongues. These stories often do not evoke the same intrigue and humor when told in standard Persian, so I have included a video of a man telling a parable Judeo-Kashi below (followed by an English translation):

“In the olden days in Kashan there was a fellow who was so lazy that they would call him ‘Shahtanbal*.’ One day when he wanted to go to work, he was looking for an excuse not to go. While he was riding his horse, he asked someone, ‘How is it that a person dies?’ The fellow he asked, who knew him, said, ‘On a day when it is cold, and you are sitting on your horse and going uphill if your horse passes gas, you will die immediately.’ Shahtanbal, who wanted to die and not have to go to work, heard that his horse passed gas powerfully. Shahtanbal, imagining that he had already died, dismounted from his horse, pretended he was sleeping in the middle of the road and went to sleep. The people, having thought that he had died, went and brought a coffin and put him in the coffin. They then wanted to take him to the cemetery. Along their way, there was a water stream, and they could not pass over it while carrying the coffin. Shahtanbal brought his head out of the coffin and said, ‘When I was alive, I’d take another route around the stream to get to the cemetery.’ The people, when they saw that he was still alive, let him go and threw him into the stream - so that he would know that he is still alive, and also that he learn that it is good for a living person to work”

* “Shahtanbal” literally translates to King-Lazy or King of the Lazies.

The parable of Shahtanbal is only one example of many parables and such that make up an important part of Persian-Jewish heritage. Aside from humorous parables, there also exists an abundance of Judeo-Persian or Judeo-Iranian literature. One of the most famous Persian Jewish authors who wrote in Judeo-Persian is the 14th-century poet Shahin Shirazi. His epic poems indicate a very comprehensive understanding of Classical Persian literature as well as Talmudic and Midrashic works; he wrote a very impressive versification of the Book of Genesis in the mid 14th-century entitled “Bereshit Namah.”

The beauty and importance of Judeo-Iranian and Judeo-Aramaic languages cannot be discussed without explaining their deeply concerning endangerment. Most of these languages and their smaller dialects are assigned an EGIDS level of 8. The EGIDS level is a standard that indicates whether a language is strong enough in terms of its ability to survive in the near future. Being assigned to level 8 indicated that most Judeo-Aramaic and Judeo-Iranian languages are “moribund” and in danger of extinction. They are not used on a daily basis by their fluent speakers, and the languages are not being passed on or taught to younger generations.

On that note, I must stress the importance of preserving languages. There is certainly a richness to Judeo-Aramaic and Judeo-Persian languages that is worth remembering- not to mention their ability to convey significant cultural and societal differences between communities, and their ability to withstand the barrier of time by recounting a history so complex and multi-layered. But the only way to unlock the powers of endangered languages, in general, is by speaking them, by recording them, by adapting them to our lives. I therefore strongly encourage whoever reads this to seek out any and all opportunities to learn these dialects. Whether you have a family member who speaks an endangered language or the friend of a family member does so, or you simply show a general interest in linguistics or historical preservation or both: please make some sort of effort to preserve it. Passing that up means missing out on a very exciting opportunity that most people only wish they could have: the ability to travel back in time.

Painting by Sophie Levy

References

Tablet.otzar.org, http://tablet.otzar.org/he/book/book.php?%20book=156653&width=0&scroll=0&udid=0&pagenum=2.

Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Babylonian Exile.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 27 Dec. 2017, www.britannica.com/event/Babylonian-Exile.

Electricpulp.com. “Encyclopædia Iranica.” RSS, www.iranicaonline.org/articles/aramaic-.

Electricpulp.com. “Encyclopædia Iranica.” RSS,

www.iranicaonline.org/articles/judeo-persian-ix-judeo-persian-literature.

“Hulaulá in the Language Cloud.” Ethnologue, www.ethnologue.com/cloud/huy.