Don't kill your language
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0:01 - 0:03Good morning!
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0:03 - 0:06Are you awake?
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0:07 - 0:09They took my name tag, as I wanted to ask you,
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0:09 - 0:12Did anyone here write his name
on the tag in Arabic? -
0:12 - 0:17One! No one?
Alright, no problem. -
0:18 - 0:21Once upon a time, not long ago,
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0:22 - 0:26I was sitting in a restaurant with my friend,
ordering food. -
0:26 - 0:30So I looked at the waiter and said:
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0:30 - 0:33"Do you have a menu [in Arabic]"
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0:34 - 0:37He looked at me strangely thinking
that he misheard. -
0:38 - 0:40and said: "Sorry? [in English]"
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0:40 - 0:44I said: "The menu [in Arabic], please.
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0:44 - 0:47He replied: "Don't you know what they call it?"
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0:48 - 0:49"I do."
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0:49 - 0:53He said: "No! it's called Menu [in English],
or Menu [in French], -
0:53 - 0:55Is the French pronunciation correct?
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0:55 - 0:57"Come, come, take care of this one!"
Said the waiter. -
0:57 - 1:01He was disgusted when talking to me,
as if he was saying to himself -
1:01 - 1:05If this was the last girl on earth,
I wouldn't look at her! -
1:06 - 1:07What's the meaning of saying Menu [in Arabic]!?
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1:08 - 1:16Two words made a Lebanese young man
judge a girl as being backward -
1:16 - 1:18and ignorant.
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1:19 - 1:24How could she speak that way?
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1:24 - 1:27At that moment I started thinking
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1:27 - 1:28It upset me.
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1:28 - 1:29It definitely hurts!
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1:29 - 1:32I'm denied the right to speak my own language,
in my own country?! -
1:32 - 1:34Where could this happen?
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1:34 - 1:38How did we get here?
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1:38 - 1:42Well, while we are here,
there are many people like me, -
1:42 - 1:45who would reach a stage in their lives,
where they, involuntarily, give up -
1:45 - 1:47everything that has happened to them in the past
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1:47 - 1:50just so they'd say that they're modern
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1:50 - 1:52and civilized.
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1:52 - 1:55Shall I forget all my culture, thoughts,
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1:55 - 1:59intellect and all my memories?
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2:00 - 2:03The childhood stories might be the best memories
we have of the war! -
2:04 - 2:08Shall I forget everything I learnt in Arabic,
just to conform? -
2:08 - 2:12To be one of them?
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2:12 - 2:14Where's the logic in that?
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2:14 - 2:18Despite all that, I tried to understand him
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2:18 - 2:23I didn't want to judge him with same cruelty,
he judged me with. -
2:24 - 2:28The Arabic language doesn't satisfy today's needs.
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2:28 - 2:30It's no a language for science,
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2:30 - 2:31research,
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2:31 - 2:33a language we're used to in universities,
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2:33 - 2:35a language we use in the workplace,
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2:36 - 2:38a language we rely on if we were
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2:38 - 2:42to perform an advanced research project,
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2:42 - 2:44and it definitely isn't a language we use at the airport.
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2:44 - 2:47If we did so,
they'd take our clothes off. -
2:49 - 2:52Where can I use it then?
We could all ask this question! -
2:52 - 2:56So, you want us to use Arabic,
where are we to do so? -
2:57 - 2:59This is a reality.
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2:59 - 3:04But we have another more important reality
that we ought to think about. -
3:05 - 3:08Arabic or the mother tongue,
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3:08 - 3:17Research says that mastering other languages,
requires mastering the mother tongue. -
3:18 - 3:24Mastering the mother tongue is a prerequisite
for creative expression in other languages. -
3:25 - 3:26How?
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3:26 - 3:28Khalil Gibran
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3:28 - 3:32When he first started writing,
he used Arabic. -
3:33 - 3:39All his ideas, imagination, and philosophy,
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3:39 - 3:43was inspired by this little boy in the village,
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3:43 - 3:45where he grew up smelling a specific smell,
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3:45 - 3:46hearing a specific voice,
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3:46 - 3:48and thinking a specific thought.
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3:48 - 3:53So, when he started writing in English,
he had enough baggage. -
3:53 - 3:55Even when he wrote in English,
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3:55 - 3:59when you read his writings in English, you smell the same smell,
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3:59 - 4:01Sense the same feeling,
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4:01 - 4:05You could imagine that that's him
writing in English, -
4:05 - 4:10The same boy who came from a the mountain.
From a village in Mount Lebanon. -
4:11 - 4:17So, this is an example no one can argue with.
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4:17 - 4:22Second, it's often said that if
you want to kill a nation, -
4:22 - 4:25the only way to kill a nation,
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4:25 - 4:26is to kill its language.
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4:27 - 4:32This is a reality that developed socities know.
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4:32 - 4:39Germans, French, Japanese and Chinese,
All these nations know this reality. -
4:39 - 4:43That's why they legislate laws to
protect their language. -
4:43 - 4:45they make it sacred.
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4:45 - 4:51That's why they use it in production,
they pay a lot of money to develop it. -
4:51 - 4:54Do we know better than them?
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4:54 - 4:55Alright,
-
4:55 - 4:57if we weren't from the developed world,
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4:57 - 4:59this advanced thinking hasn't reached us yet,
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4:59 - 5:02and we would like to catch up with the civilized world.
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5:03 - 5:07Countries that were once like us,
but decided to strive for development, -
5:08 - 5:09do research,
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5:09 - 5:11and catch up to those countries,
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5:11 - 5:14like Turkey, Malaysia and others.
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5:14 - 5:18These nations carried their language with them
as they were climbing the ladder, -
5:18 - 5:21protected it like a diamond.
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5:21 - 5:23They kept it close to them.
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5:23 - 5:27Because if you get any product
from Turkey or elsewhere -
5:27 - 5:29and it's not labeled in Turkey,
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5:30 - 5:32then it's not a local product.
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5:32 - 5:35You wouldn't believe it's a local product.
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5:35 - 5:38They'd get back into being consumers.
-
5:38 - 5:43clueless consumers, like we are
most of the time. -
5:43 - 5:49So, in order for them to innovate and produce,
they had to protect their language. -
5:51 - 5:57If I say: "Freedom, sovereignty, independence [in Arabic]",
what does this remind you of? -
6:00 - 6:02It doesn't ring a bell does it?
-
6:03 - 6:07Regardless of the who, how, and why ..
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6:08 - 6:14Language isn't just for conversing,
just words coming out of our mouths. -
6:14 - 6:18Language represents specific stages in our lives,
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6:19 - 6:24and terminology, that is linked to our emotions.
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6:24 - 6:26Thus when we say: "Freedom, sovereignty, independence"
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6:26 - 6:30each one of you draws a specific image
in their minds, -
6:30 - 6:32there're specific and feelings,
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6:32 - 6:35of a specific day in a specific historical period.
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6:35 - 6:38language isn't one, two, or three words or letters,
put together -
6:39 - 6:47it's an idea inside that relates to how we think,
and how we see each other and how they see us. -
6:47 - 6:49what is our intellect,
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6:49 - 6:51how do you say that this guy understands or not?
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6:52 - 6:59So, if I say: "Freedom, sovereignty, independence [in English]"
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7:00 - 7:02or if your son came up to you and said:
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7:02 - 7:07"Dad, have you lived through the period of
the freedom [in English] slogan?" -
7:07 - 7:09How would you feel?
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7:10 - 7:13If you don't see a problem,
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7:14 - 7:17then I'd better leave, and stop
talking in vain. -
7:17 - 7:23The idea is that these expressions
remind us of a specific thing. -
7:23 - 7:29I have a francophone friend who's married
to a French man. -
7:29 - 7:32I asked her once how things were going.
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7:32 - 7:34She said:
"Everything is very well, -
7:34 - 7:38but once, I spent a whole night
asking and trying to translate -
7:39 - 7:40the meaning of the word Toqborni for him"
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7:41 - 7:49(Laughs) (Applause)
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7:50 - 7:54The poor woman had mistakenly told him Toqborni,
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7:54 - 7:55and spent the whole night trying to explain it to him.
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7:55 - 8:00He was puzzled by thought:
"How could anyone be this cruel! -
8:00 - 8:02Does she won't to commit suicide?
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8:02 - 8:05Bury me! .."
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8:05 - 8:08This is one of the few examples.
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8:08 - 8:14It made us feel that she's unable to tell
that word to her husband, since he won't understand, -
8:14 - 8:16and he' right not too,
his way of thinking is different. -
8:17 - 8:20She said to me:
"He listens to Fairuz with me, -
8:20 - 8:25and in one night,
I tried to translate for him -
8:25 - 8:28so he can feel what I feel when
I listen to Fairuz." -
8:28 - 8:30The poor woman tried to translate this for him:
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8:31 - 8:35"From them I extended my hands and stole you..."
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8:35 - 8:36(Laughs)
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8:36 - 8:42and here's the pickle:
"... and because you belong to them, I returned my hands and left you." -
8:42 - 8:43(laughs)
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8:43 - 8:44Translate that for me.
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8:44 - 8:52(Applause)
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8:52 - 8:56So, what have we done to protect
the Arabic language? -
8:56 - 8:59We turned this into a concern of the civil society,
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9:00 - 9:02and we launched a campaign to preserve
the Arabic language. -
9:02 - 9:06Even though many people told me:
"Why do you bother yourself? -
9:06 - 9:09Forget about this headache and go have fun."
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9:09 - 9:10No problems!
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9:10 - 9:14The campaign to preserve Arabic,
launched a slogan that says: -
9:14 - 9:16"I talk to you from the east,
but you reply from the west" -
9:17 - 9:24We didn't say: No! We do not accept this! We this or that ..
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9:24 - 9:29We didn't adapt this style because we wouldn't
understand this way. -
9:29 - 9:33And when someone talks to me that way,
I hate the Arabic language. -
9:33 - 9:34We say,
-
9:34 - 9:37-- (Applause) --
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9:37 - 9:40we want to change our reality,
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9:40 - 9:44and be convinced in a way that mimic
our dreams, aspirations, and day to day life. -
9:45 - 9:50In a way that wears the same clothes as us,
and thinks the same way. -
9:50 - 9:54So, "I talk to you from the east, but you reply from the west"
has hit the spot. -
9:55 - 9:58Something very easy, yet creative and pursuasive.
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9:59 - 10:02After that, we launched another campaign
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10:02 - 10:06with scenes of letters on the ground,
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10:06 - 10:08you've seen an example of it outside,
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10:08 - 10:16a scene of a letter surrounded by Black and Yellow Tape
written on it: "Don't kill your language." -
10:16 - 10:19Why?
Seriously, don't kill your language. -
10:19 - 10:22We really shouldn't kill our language.
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10:22 - 10:27If we kill the language, we'll have to find
an identity. -
10:27 - 10:29To find an existence.
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10:29 - 10:32We'd go back to the beginning.
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10:32 - 10:38وهذا يتخطى مجرد خسارتنا للقدرة
على أن نكون متحضرين ومعاصرين -
10:39 - 10:45بعدها أصدرنا صورا لشباب وشابات وهم يغمرون الحرف العربي
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10:46 - 10:48صور لشباب وشابات "كوول"
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10:48 - 10:50نحن جدًّا "كوول"
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10:51 - 10:55ومن سيقول لي:
ها! إنك قد استخدمت كلمة انجليزية! -
10:55 - 10:59أقول له: لا! أنا أتبنى كلمة "كوول"
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10:59 - 11:03دعوهم يعترضون كيفما شاؤوا،
فليعطوني كلمة أجمل منها. -
11:03 - 11:06ومتجانسة مع واقعنا أكثر منها.
-
11:06 - 11:11سأظل أقول "أنترنيت".
لن أقول: أنا ذاهبة إلى الشبكة العنكبوتية. -
11:11 - 11:12(ضحك)
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11:12 - 11:15لأنها لا تتناغم! فهل نضحك على أنفسنا؟
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11:16 - 11:19ولكن لنصل إلى هذه النقطة، يجب علينا جميعًا أن نكون مقتنعين.
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11:20 - 11:22لا يجب أن ندع من هو أكبر
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11:22 - 11:25و من يظن أن لديه السلطة على اللغة
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11:25 - 11:32أن يتحكم بنا ويجعلنا نحس ونفكر بما يريده.
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11:32 - 11:35فالفكرة هي الإبداع.
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11:36 - 11:39فإذا كنا لا نستطيع الوصول إلى الفضاء
وصنع صاروخ وغير ذلك. -
11:39 - 11:40فباستطاعتنا أن نبدع.
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11:40 - 11:44في هذه اللحظة، كل شخص منكم هنا هو مشروع إبداع.
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11:44 - 11:46الإبداع باللغة الأم هو الطريق.
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11:47 - 11:50دعونا نبدأ من الآن، من هذه اللحظة.
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11:51 - 11:53فلنكتب رواية، ننتج فلم قصير.
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11:53 - 11:56رواية واحدة تستطيع أن تعيدنا إلى العالمية.
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11:56 - 11:59تستطيع أن تعيد اللغة العربية إلى المركز الأول.
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12:00 - 12:04إذًا ليس صحيحيا أن لا حل للمشكلة، بل الحل موجود!
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12:04 - 12:08لكن دعونا ننتبه ونقتنع بوجود حل.
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12:08 - 12:11وبواجب أن نكون جزءً من هذا الحل.
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12:12 - 12:15وفي الختام، ما الذي تستطيعون فعله اليوم؟
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12:15 - 12:19الآن، التغريدات، من يقوم بالتغريد؟
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12:20 - 12:25أرجوكم! بالفعل أرجوكم، مع أن الوقت انتهى
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12:25 - 12:30إما بالعربية، أو بالإنجليزية، أو بالفرنسية، أو بالصينية.
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12:31 - 12:36لكن لا تكتبوا "معقول" كـ ma32oul!
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12:36 - 12:40(تصفيق)
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12:40 - 12:44لأنها كارثة! لأن هذه ليست بلغة.
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12:44 - 12:47لأنكم هنا دخلتم عالما افتراضيا بلغة افتراضية
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12:48 - 12:50يصعب علينا أن نرتقي إلى ما يفوق مستواها أبدًا.
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12:51 - 12:53فهذا هو أول شيء نستطيع فعله.
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12:53 - 12:55ثانيًا، هنالك الكثير من الأشياء التي نستطيع فعلها.
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12:56 - 12:58اليوم نحن لسنا هنا لإقناع بعضنا البعض.
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12:58 - 13:01نحن هنا لننتبه إلى ضرورة المحافظة على هذه اللغة.
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13:01 - 13:04والآن سأخبركم بسر.
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13:05 - 13:11عندما يولد الطفل، أول طريقة يتعرف بها على والده
هي عن طريق اللغة. -
13:12 - 13:18فعندما تولد ابنتي،
سأقول لها: هذا هو والدك يا حياتي. -
13:18 - 13:22لن أقول لها: هذا هو والدك، عزيزتي (بالإنجليزية).
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13:23 - 13:27وفي السوق التجاري، أعد ابنتي نور بأنها إذا قالت لي "شكرًا"
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13:28 - 13:33لن أقول لها "قولي شكرًا يا ابنتي" (بالفرنسية)
وأنا أتمنى ألا يكون قد سمعها أحد! -
13:33 - 13:44(تصفيق)
-
13:44 - 13:49دعونا نتخلص من عقدة الأجنبي.
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13:49 - 14:10(تصفيق)
- Title:
- Don't kill your language
- Speaker:
- سوزان تلحوق
- Description:
-
In this talk, Suzanne Talhouk calls for initiatives to revive the Arabic language, by means of modernizing it and using it as a language for creative expression. Efforts that aim to reclaim the identity of the Arab speaking world, and get rid of the inferiority complex towards the foreign cultures.
- Video Language:
- Arabic
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDTalks
- Duration:
- 14:12
Brian Greene edited English subtitles for من قال بأن الحديث بالعربية ينزع عنا صفة "الكوول" | ||
Cynthia Betubiza edited English subtitles for من قال بأن الحديث بالعربية ينزع عنا صفة "الكوول" | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for من قال بأن الحديث بالعربية ينزع عنا صفة "الكوول" | ||
Morton Bast edited English subtitles for من قال بأن الحديث بالعربية ينزع عنا صفة "الكوول" | ||
Krystian Aparta approved English subtitles for من قال بأن الحديث بالعربية ينزع عنا صفة "الكوول" | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for من قال بأن الحديث بالعربية ينزع عنا صفة "الكوول" | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for من قال بأن الحديث بالعربية ينزع عنا صفة "الكوول" | ||
Krystian Aparta edited English subtitles for من قال بأن الحديث بالعربية ينزع عنا صفة "الكوول" |
Jane Roffe
8:36 pickle? what do you mean?
I have made quite a lot of changes to the English to make it more natural, and sometimes to make it make sense. But I don't understand Arabic at all so please could the translator now review it again to make sure I have not strayed from the meaning?