Should Christians learn Arabic?

[Burt_Macklin]

I’ve been working in Saudi Arabia and Qatar for several years now and I’ve not found any use for learning Arabic. For one thing I said I was working, if you encounter someone in SA or Qatar and he is working he is usually not an Arab. Most Arabs, particularly men, see manual labor as beneath them and generally are wealthy enough to hire help. The majority of the men I encounter in my day to day life are Filipino, Bangladeshi, or Pakistani and they’d rather speak English.

 

[Lily_Bernans]

I’ve been working in Saudi Arabia and Qatar for several years now and I’ve not found any use for learning Arabic. For one thing I said I was working, if you encounter someone in SA or Qatar and he is working he is usually not an Arab. Most Arabs, particularly men, see manual labor as beneath them and generally are wealthy enough to hire help. The majority of the men I encounter in my day to day life are Filipino, Bangladeshi, or Pakistani and they’d rather speak English.

I worked in Saudi Arabia for a while and also in UAE and I found no need for Arabic.

 

[Lily_Bernans]

JFK’s speech writer knew what he was doing.

Yes, JFK said it correctly:

todayifoundout.com/index.php/2012/04/john-f-kennedys-statement-ich-bin-ein-berliner-was-not-interpreted-as-i-am-a-jelly-filled-doughnut/

 

[babochka]

I already made 1 post regarding this.

My answer is NO!

To go into detail would likely lead to my being banned from this site. I already have 2 infractions regarding my thoughts.

I assume you would make an exception for Christians who live in the Middle East, particular Arab Christians? If the liturgy is in Arabic, it would be helpful to know the language.

 

[ClearWater]

It’s not necessary any more with the Bible translated into different languages.

If one wants to learn another language, go for it. However, it would put more requirements on people when they have enough to deal with with the Bible in their native language.

 

[mikekle]

IDK, didnt God mix up the languages among all the people for a specific reason?

 

[Beryllos]

Spanish might be the most useful choice for a second language in the USA. I encourage my children to choose it for their foreign language requirements in middle and high school. I know a little Spanish and plan to continue learning.

I say this without reference to US immigration policy and do not wish to start an argument about that.

 

[GEddie]

If someone would give me the Methuselah shot, so that I’d be sure to have time to use them, I’d learn Arabic, and a number of other languages as well.

You really don’t know a human being until you can speak his language.

But with my life at least half over and having been only once in the Mideast, and no plans of returning there, there would be no return for all the effort that would be invested.

ICXC NIKA.

 

[SuperLuigi]

I think for Arab Christians it’s kind of necessary. Or anyone who travels or does business in the Middle East.

It’s important for those purposes.

But as others have said about a “language of peace”-----languages do not have characteristics.

 

[GEddie]

Spanish might be the most useful choice for a second language in the USA. I encourage my children to choose it for their foreign language requirements in middle and high school. I know a little Spanish and plan to continue learning.

I say this without reference to US immigration policy and do not wish to start an argument about that.

You wouldn’t need to. Spanish is a de facto local language in a huge chunk of our West and has been for generations.

I think kids in the USA should learn Spanish and French, at minimum, as the other languages of NA.

ICXC NIKA

 

[GEddie]

IDK, didnt God mix up the languages among all the people for a specific reason?

So are you arguing that no-one should learn another language?

The “specific reason” was to disperse everybody and that has now been achieved. Even if everybody learned everybody else’s language (we don’t have the head size or the length of life to do it), human life isn’t going to recongregate into SW Asia.

ICXC NIKA

 

[Beryllos]

… Spanish is a de facto local language in a huge chunk of our West and has been for generations…

Even in Massachusetts, there are several urban districts and neighborhoods where Spanish appears to be the local language.

 

[St_Francis]

Arabic is the language of peace,

Why do you think Arabic is “the language of peace”?

therefore our children should be learning Arabic.

Assumes something which has not yet been shown.

There exists MSA (Modern Standard Arabic) meaning that just as English is a standard in the West, Arabic is the standard lingua franca of the East.

Arabic could rightly be called the lingua franca of the *Middle *East, but what about the Far East? Well over 1/3 of Earth’s population lives in “the East” with no relation to Arabic.

Join the debate?

What point do you want to debate? The title of your thread is “Should Christians learn Arabic?” but you do not mention Christians in your post.

 

[Zerg]

Why not?

You don’t give much of a clue, so I can only speculate that perhaps you feel learning Arabic will lead a Catholic from the truth of our faith to Islam?

If that’s your contention, it would be like saying they should not learn Chinese because they might become Communists, should not learn Swedish because the might become Socialists, or shouldn’t learn German because they might become Lutherans!

This is exactly how I feel.

 

[GEddie]

Why not?

You don’t give much of a clue, so I can only speculate that perhaps you feel learning Arabic will lead a Catholic from the truth of our faith to Islam?

If that’s your contention, it would be like saying they should not learn Chinese because they might become Communists, should not learn Swedish because the might become Socialists, or shouldn’t learn German because they might become Lutherans!

Or Hebrew because they might become Zionists, or Greek because they might become economic spendthrifts

Gee whiz, how Biblical scholarship would suffer.

ICXC NIKA

 

[grotto]

I would like to learn to speak Gaelic, and gave it the ole college try, but couldn’t get it without personal instruction. It has been said to be a very difficult language, but includes words and descriptions that are full of knowledge. After so many generations of having unpleasant treatment visited upon those who spoke it, I have heard that it is making a comeback in Ireland! Very fortunate for those who can speak it with others. :shamrock2:

 

[Lily_Bernans]

Even in Massachusetts, there are several urban districts and neighborhoods where Spanish appears to be the local language.

Even in Maine!

 

[Petaro]

I believe it is vital for a section of our community to learn Arabic. Our security forces, our police and those wishing to live for a significant time in the Middle East. In any event, learning a foreign language is good for the brain, and facilitates travel and commerce. However, which language you choose depends on your intentions and needs. For many in Asia, Mandarin or Cantonese is valuable, In America, Spanish given the number of migrants now populating Texas and surrounding States.In New York, English is a good start. Arabic is essential if living permanently in the Middle East, although most existence seems to be transient in Iraq and Syria. Although from what one reads it may become useful in some considerable areas of Calais, Germany and northern England.

 

[Thorolfr]

Second, why would anyone outside the Middle East want to learn Arabic. Totally useless.

Someone might want to learn Arabic so that they can read things written in that language. It does have a large body of literature.

 

[DaveBj]

Should Christians learn Arabic?

Only if they think they absolutely have to.

In my previous life I was a linguist and a language/intel analyst. Throughout my life I have formally studied five languages, including Arabic, and I have informally studied several others. I have enough “credits” in Arabic that if they had all been earned in one school and one program, I would have a second BA (my first BA is in Russian). So I think I know whereof I speak.

Of all the languages I have studied, Arabic was by far and away the most difficult. Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is nothing but a modernization of the language of the Qur’an. Its grammar is so convoluted that it makes a 10-acre corn maze look like Straight Street in Damascus (I’ve been there, and it is definitely straight). If you go into the Arabic world speaking MSA, you’ll get laughed at. Nobody speaks it, except on formal television news programs and the like. Each part of the 15 or 16 major parts of Arab world has its own dialect, and these differ so much that someone from the Magreb would not be understood by someone from the Levant or the Gulf. And the Muslim world east of the Persian Gulf doesn’t speak Arabic at all.

Someone who is really interested in communicating in the Arab world should start with one of the major dialects. I would recommend Egyptian. Most of the Arabic-language movies are made in Egypt, and that makes the Egyptian dialect understood throughout the MENA (Middle East - North Africa). If you go into the Arab world speaking the Egyptian dialect, you will likely be understood, even if you might not understand the person speaking to you.

That said, there are other languages that would be more useful for Western Christians to study, especially Latin American Spanish, for those living in the U.S.

As for Arabic being the language of peace, well, is all I’m going to say about that.