First, at least in this microcosm, the decent people outnumbered the haters 3:1.
Thank you for the translation, which is certainly surprising because the man doesn't look like anything one expects an American muslim to look like. Which may have been his point. I didn't speak to him because I was making this pictures while everyone, including him, was listening to speakers.
And you can read Arabic? How many languages do you read/speak, even if rusty? Americans—me— are language challenged, for the most part, compared to Europeans, and let's not even bring up how many languages a health care worker from Ghana is comfortable with while working as a 24-hour caregiver to elderly people in the U.S.
Many of the smaller European countries are really really good with foreign languages - like The Netherlands for example.
In Germany we always had dubbed TV and movies, which doesn't really help, unlike other countries where you are used from childhood on to watch the original version of Star Trek - for example.
In case of languages I don't really count since my subjects at university had been Indian languages, Iranian languages and Islamic languages - in the end I might be able to order a coffee in perhaps five or six languages and talk about politics and physics (not really that much ;-)) in two - German and English ;-) - my French could and should be much better than it is due to my French teacher at high school whom I really didn't like.
Reading - some more - most of them are dead languages, though ;-)
University is a long time ago and I never worked in that field.
Waterbury, Connecticut
4 comments:
So much like Germany in the last years :-(
So much like Germany in the last years :-)
There will always be decent people I hope. I am sure. Somehow.
btw on the last sign it says in Arabic: I am an American and a muslim.
dislaimer: my Arabic is really rusty - so take this with a grain of salt.
Martina,
First, at least in this microcosm, the decent people outnumbered the haters 3:1.
Thank you for the translation, which is certainly surprising because the man doesn't look like anything one expects an American muslim to look like. Which may have been his point. I didn't speak to him because I was making this pictures while everyone, including him, was listening to speakers.
And you can read Arabic? How many languages do you read/speak, even if rusty? Americans—me— are language challenged, for the most part, compared to Europeans, and let's not even bring up how many languages a health care worker from Ghana is comfortable with while working as a 24-hour caregiver to elderly people in the U.S.
Many of the smaller European countries are really really good with foreign languages - like The Netherlands for example.
In Germany we always had dubbed TV and movies, which doesn't really help, unlike other countries where you are used from childhood on to watch the original version of Star Trek - for example.
In case of languages I don't really count since my subjects at university had been Indian languages, Iranian languages and Islamic languages - in the end I might be able to order a coffee in perhaps five or six languages and talk about politics and physics (not really that much ;-)) in two - German and English ;-) - my French could and should be much better than it is due to my French teacher at high school whom I really didn't like.
Reading - some more - most of them are dead languages, though ;-)
University is a long time ago and I never worked in that field.
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