Hummusgirl's Blog

I don’t understand why Arabic is such a scary language to us Westerners.  I don’t understand why we have problems with the people who speak it.  I know it must be just blatant ignorance and racism, but that didn’t prevent me from taking an Arabic class four years ago.  I knew nothing about it and I still didn’t even know which countries speak it until now (25 including my favorite, Lebanon). 

The people in my class either were from the Middle East, had a loved one from there, or were studying it for jobs.  I was there because it just seemed like an exotic language to learn and I was open to new experiences.  I only lasted two or three classes but got the book and maybe it was that experience that taught me to not be to be open to new cultures, though I was that way in college to a good degree.

Anyway, now that I’m serious about all things hummus (and then some), I really don’t want to be afraid of Arabic so maybe when I visit the Middle East, I’ll try again and hopefully not cause anybody to question me at the airport or elsewhere like I’ve heard that they do nowadays.  But I must say, Arabic must be easier to learn than English right? I shouldn’t give up! Have any of you wanted to learn a certain language (even English) and been stumped?