Date: Mon, 08 Apr 2002 12:56:13 +0800
From: Margaret Trawick <trawick-AT-clear.net.nz>
Subject: Re: on the latest article of edward said


Saeed -

Usually I agree with what you say, but in this case, no.  It would be nice
if the American government (in the person of say, George W. Bush) learned
Arabic, but that will not happen.  It is not even possible. This is a man,
bear in mind, who cannot even speak correctly in his own native tongue.  His
speech is really broken.  Shall we call him subaltern, then?  Or shall we
just call him dumb?

It does not hurt a person to become fluent in a second language, even if the
language is that of the dominator.  It is only if you forget your first
language, or pretend to forget it, that something bad happens to you, I
think.  Many Palestinians are very articulate in English.  So the question
is not really, why can't "Palestinians" (as though they were all one person)
learn English?  The question instead (to my mind) is why are political
leaders in general (Palestinian, Israeli, American, and so forth) so
god-awful stupid?  Why don't intelligent people ever get into high office?
Perhaps there may be some really intelligent heads of state out there
somewhere, but off the top of my head, I can't think of any.

Margaret




> yes, sure. so who will present the moral case of the non-english speaking
> majority of the world?
>
> does it mean that if someone does not speak english, bad luck to them?
>
> why cant the american government learn arabic and stop showing this
> linguistic hubris?
>
> now the palestinians have to suffer because of their broken english after
> they have suffered because of broken houses, a broken country and a broken
> education system. perhaps their language reflects their reality better
than
> the suited crows at the capitol hill of the united states of aphasia can
> understand.
>
> saeed
>




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