Russia is ahead of US knowledge of local languages

Submitted by dhimmi no more (United States), Nov 13, 2016 at 10:41

Dr Pipes

Very interesting and very true Knowledge of a language opens the door wide to understanding the culture that speak such language This applies to those working in embassies and also members of the media

In the case of Arabic the emphasis should be on speaking the local form of Arabic fluently be it Egyptian or Maghribi or Saudi Arabic

No doubts that Russia is miles ahead of us I'm always amazed at the excellence of Russian Arabists in all Arabic dialects Case in point for readers that understand Arabic just watch RT and you will come across Russian experts that speak Arabic like natives of Arabic countries

Yes I do realize that English is getting to be the major spoken language in the world but that should not stop the US from sending envoys that speak fluent Arabic to various Arab countries

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".