Can You Say It in English?

The development of WE has triggered a lot of questions with it. The thought of linguistic genocide haunts the minority languages. As language represents culture, the vanishing of a language usually means the vanishing of its culture. It is interesting to see that even in the "modern" world we live in today that there are languages dying because they are not used. There are political, economical, and even social reasons behind abandoning those languages. It is interesting to learn about what other languages vanished, but this difficult due to the fact that some languages were oral one and they have no written record.

In a world were English speakers in IC, OC, and EC countries making about two thirds of its population, we see the need to reach middle-ground by introducing other varieties, which in some OC and EC countries speakers are more than all IC countries' speakers combined. There are also psychological aspects behind this, such as getting rid of "linguistic arrogance", which is caused by one's thinking that one's language is superior.

Code Meshing Pedagogic Strategies in Saudi Context

It is practically difficult to apply code meshing strategies withing the context of Saudi Arabia. Unlike Arabic (which is written from right to left) other languages such as Spanish are easier when it comes to using code meshing.

There is a new trend in Saudi online communities in which the use of Franco-Arabic, or Arabish is heavily visible. The trend started in the mid 1990s when cellphones were not equipped with Arabic characters and people had to send text messages to each other using only Latin characters. Below are some examples of how the Latin characters are used to accommodate the Arabic sounds. You will see the Arabic character, the Latin character used in chat, IPA transcription, and the formal transcription respectively.

ع	3	/ʕ/	‘
غ	gh , 3' , 8	/ɣ ~ ʁ/	gh
ح	7	/ħ/	h , H
خ	kh , 5 , 7'	/x ~ χ/	kh
ص	s , 9	/sˁ ~ s/	s , S

One example where code meshing is used is this short passage of a college student describing a the first day in college.

"So today kan awal youm adawem feh aljma3a ok .. New term, new classes new teachers and new 8a3at, o ana 6ab3an i don't know fen 8a3aty, so i go to the secritary and ask her where to go or 3ala al-a8l to give me the paper that have the names and stuff.. i knock the door and what do i find inside, 4 women sitting laughing and having coffee ya3ny jalsa 7elwa ketha, i'm at the door leya sa3a o m7d ye3brny, so then i say be kol bara2ah " lao sm7ty " .... " lao sam7ty " .. after 10 mins sob7aaan allah she saw me o radet"".

The problem is with such model is that only "online-savvy" people could understand it. Plus this type of communication is not recognized by official and is often seen as "polluting" the Arabic language. In a Saudi context this kind of language will not be endorsed by the policy makers of the Saudi Ministry of Education.

The Shift of Power and the New Challenges

It is debatable nowadays whether people should choose between India or China as the economical and technological power is shifting towards those countries. Most people would choose China over India as the new world leader, but they are forgetting one factor, how do we communicate with Chinese? There are two choices. The first one is to learn Chinese. The other one is that the Chinese should learn English. That does not seem to be cost-effective at the moment.

With a population that is almost equal to the one of china, and with a language that is already learned and taught by millions across the globe, India seems to be the better choice. It is easier for people to communicate with Indians in English and the dilemma of having to teach a new language is not present.

Which one would you choose?

Do You Speak British?

I enjoyed the documentary titled "Do You Speak American"? and found it to be very informative. It raised a question of who actually "owned " English in the united states. It made me think about what the world would be like if the British empire were still in power and control of the world. Would they eliminate other varieties in the colonized countries let alone the ones in the British isles? It is very interesting to see how language is not owned by a single party, but it is owned by the people who speak it regardless of time and space. I believe it is now the time to get people whose language is claimed to be "correct" to learn about other varieties and illuminate others surrounding them about these varieties instead of not recognizing them or even making fun of them.

Original VS Clone: Which One to Buy?

It was until recently that decision makers at several English language institutes in Saudi Arabia viewed English language teachers as either "native" or "nonnative". A native speaker was generally perceived is someone who is "white" and from an IC country. Regardless of educational and academic background, those speakers were hired for the sole reason that they were white and spoke English. That approach led to no recognizing English speakers of "color" even if they were born, raised, and educated in an IC country. As a result, students did not recognizing other variations of English and began profiling speakers according to race and color.

Nowadays, there is a movement towards hiring qualified English language teacher regardless of the ethnic background. A good example is the English Language Institute at King Abdulaziz University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. As of 2010 The institute has more than 200 teachers from more than 20 countries including the U.S, Canada, U.K, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Syria, Morocco, South Africa, and many more. Students now have access to many varieties of English and recognize them.

It was quite shocking to hear that some public figures still think that English should have only on variety and that other varieties should not be recognized while the number of speakers of English in the OC and EC countries is far more than of that in the IC countries.

Pedagogical Transformation in the New Age

Attending the WE course has illuminated me on some concepts and notions I was not aware of. During the first day, I discussed with my classmates the sensitive issues surrounding WE and its popularity. It is very interesting to see how I can relate to the points discussed during the first day to the realty of language education in Saudi Arabia. It is like the course put salt on the wound of the reality of education in Saudi Arabia. The attitude towards English language of the decision maker at the Ministry of Education in my country remained unchanged. However, the light at the end of the tunnel is seen through the implications of English language use by the Saudi Universities and how now two universities have become a model of the possibility of using English as the medium of instruction. Those universities are King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals (KFUPM) and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). The hope now is also seen in the new generation of students who were and are still granted scholarships by the Saudi government to Different parts of the world.