Laughing at street signs

“Can you tell me what letter THIS is?”

A question often posed to pre-school children as they are beginning to learn to read. They diligently say the name of each letter. They link the sounds of each letter to the next. They begin to sound out words.

This particular process of learning is usually concluded by a very young age, never to be thought about again. UNTIL YOU MOVE TO EGYPT. This is exactly the process I am going thru in learning Arabic. Imagine my joy when I looked at a street sign and could pick out the letters that spelled “street” in Arabic. Sheen – alif – ray – ein WOO HOO I can READ. Well, not really. However I am experiencing the same type of elation as I begin to recognize WORDS within the squiggles and dots that make up the language here. I find myself giggling maniacally in the street as I “decipher” some of the words. I’ve also experienced the bone-aching exhaustion that this type of mental activity produces. I’m amazed that kids ever learn language, considering how difficult and tiring it is.

For me, I’ve found Arabic to be challenging yet fun, in that I approach it as an exercise in symbol recognition and manipulation. It is like math, but prettier!