There is a word which means 'ocean'. More than that, it also means 'dictionary'.
Imagine an ocean of words, phrases, voices of each person, past and future. All those languages and mothers' sweet names for their children. All those word combinations which result in poetry.
Imagine a dictionary of drops of water, so many as to fill the ocean. All the snow flakes and mist, each with their own history of how they came to be and how they came to lose their being again in the endless water cycle.
I have had a look into it and it appears the word came from Ancient Greek, not that ancient if you think about it, just 2000-2500 years ago. Where did the Greeks get their words from?
Showing posts with label Arabic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Arabic. Show all posts
Monday, 19 June 2017
Thursday, 11 December 2014
Found it at last: Dia'a Al-Abdullah
On one of my trips to my parents' house in London I found a short poem in Arabic and spent a bit of time comparing it with the translation. Then I came back here and left the poem behind totally. I searched and searched online with no luck.
But then.. my mother arrived with that same iPad in her luggage. Lo and behold, there it was. Not even deep in the history, just on the first page I opened.
Dia'a Al-Abdullah - The Crypt
translated by Ghias Aljundi and Mitch Albert
www.penusa.org
It looks as if there is no news since March 2012 when he was taken into a Syrian jail.
David Beispiel's Poetry Wire blog has an article which gives the whole poem, just in translation in English, plus other information. Worth following.
But then.. my mother arrived with that same iPad in her luggage. Lo and behold, there it was. Not even deep in the history, just on the first page I opened.
Dia'a Al-Abdullah - The Crypt
translated by Ghias Aljundi and Mitch Albert
www.penusa.org
It looks as if there is no news since March 2012 when he was taken into a Syrian jail.
David Beispiel's Poetry Wire blog has an article which gives the whole poem, just in translation in English, plus other information. Worth following.
Friday, 21 November 2014
Pronounciation, never explained clearly in the books, I am having a moan
I have had to work this all out for myself. It was ages ago, but it is still something I find myself doing automatically part of the time and stumbling over at other times. Books! Why don't they just carefully explain these tricky things. The waw is sometimes an 'u' and sometimes a 'w'. Just because of the unwritten vowel immediately before it.
sura and suwar, صور ,صورة.
Also, the emphasis is on a particular vowel in each word. I have picked this up instinctively, but it would have been really helpful to find it maybe once or twice in the book. Ok, I have got it all by myself.
sUra and suwAr
How do I know? I just do. Probably from hearing it, but also from hearing other singular/plural combinations.
I need a drop-in: "Learning Arabic? So you will be needing coffee and a rant every week? I knew it. Well, here it is."
sura and suwar, صور ,صورة.
Also, the emphasis is on a particular vowel in each word. I have picked this up instinctively, but it would have been really helpful to find it maybe once or twice in the book. Ok, I have got it all by myself.
sUra and suwAr
How do I know? I just do. Probably from hearing it, but also from hearing other singular/plural combinations.
I need a drop-in: "Learning Arabic? So you will be needing coffee and a rant every week? I knew it. Well, here it is."
Thursday, 20 November 2014
pic of modern stairs vs being swamped vs losing vocab
Being swamped
Everywhere I look I see things I should do
Things not in their right place
Books from years ago
Two black holes in the wall
Knitting I don't want to have time for
Collages I do want, but somewhere else
A radio which has terrible reception
Necklaces which are not my style
I want to shove it all out
like a determined little hamster
making her nest
...
To top it all I have lost piles of Arabic vocab. Where are they, all my adjectives on yellow cards? I have even looked in the boot of my car. They are having a little private party with the verbs on their red cards. I give up :)
Tuesday, 18 November 2014
Book stack - Songs on the A34
This is my Arabic book stack which I cart around in the car. Too much. After the photo I split it into work I need to do for the lesson and 'other'. The book at the bottom will keep me busy for months. The children's book Al Diktatur will take a while, there are so many pages. I am only on the second page of the actual story. There is a film in the stack I can share around.
The second photo is of my notes on the poem I am trying to translate. It's a start. I need to look carefully at another poem written by the poet and at its translation into English. I also need to look carefully at the inspiration text in Arabic, but at least I know the English version extremely well. The Arabic will have slightly different connotations and shift my world around a bit. Then I will be more ready to decide on the meanings I will pick on for the translation. I have been peering at my dictionary with my glasses off so I can see every letter exactly, and at the printed poem. All so tiny, these little letters.
...
On my way back from the Woodstock Poetry Festival on the A34 I heard 2 lovely late night songs:
George Ezra
Snow Patrol
Then I switched off the radio so I could remember the titles and find them back at home. Not as easy as I expected.
Sunday, 16 November 2014
Sitting in my father's study - Putting a collection of poetry together
Up to the right there is a clock he has had for years. I can almost read the formal Arabic now: al bank yamani al isha' wa al taqmiir...The Yemen Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Hmm, I am not certain enough. I will have to put the English through Google translate, then look more closely at the calligraphy with the extra decorative dots and such.
The family tree goes from 1227 to 1965 when my younger brother was born. We are both little handwritten footnotes squeezed in at the bottom. We used to look at our names when this chart was on the wall of the landing at Ovington Square and we were free to just wander about in the house.
There's a sheep's skull up between some books near the ceiling. We found it on holiday in Scotland in the 70's. It used to be on the drawing room mantle piece for years. Now it has been here for years.
If I crane my neck to the left there is an old jam jar of what can only be potassium permanganate. Bright blue crystals. I am no longer surprised by anything in here.
This desk is a sea of papers, glasses, old calculator, cup with coins in it, nice fountain pens and...surprise: more Arabic on some sort of luggage labels hanging from the angle-poise lamp.
al afdaliya - something about pleasing?
'anatiya khasa - ? ?
darja awf - class ?
as-s'awdiya - the Saudi created thing, untranslatable.
ad-darajat alawla - first class
This is very hard. I can't read plane labels yet.
---
Jeffrey Levine on the thinking and reflecting work needed over a long period of time. Measured and clear, read this first.
Katrina Vandenberg on the passionate reasons for a collection, from the innuendo of the space between stanzas to the necessity of revealing your obsessions. This is a fantastic read.
There is no reason why I shouldn't play around with what I have written in 2014 and see what I can make of it all, for my own pleasure.
The family tree goes from 1227 to 1965 when my younger brother was born. We are both little handwritten footnotes squeezed in at the bottom. We used to look at our names when this chart was on the wall of the landing at Ovington Square and we were free to just wander about in the house.
There's a sheep's skull up between some books near the ceiling. We found it on holiday in Scotland in the 70's. It used to be on the drawing room mantle piece for years. Now it has been here for years.
If I crane my neck to the left there is an old jam jar of what can only be potassium permanganate. Bright blue crystals. I am no longer surprised by anything in here.
This desk is a sea of papers, glasses, old calculator, cup with coins in it, nice fountain pens and...surprise: more Arabic on some sort of luggage labels hanging from the angle-poise lamp.
al afdaliya - something about pleasing?
'anatiya khasa - ? ?
darja awf - class ?
as-s'awdiya - the Saudi created thing, untranslatable.
ad-darajat alawla - first class
This is very hard. I can't read plane labels yet.
---
Jeffrey Levine on the thinking and reflecting work needed over a long period of time. Measured and clear, read this first.
Katrina Vandenberg on the passionate reasons for a collection, from the innuendo of the space between stanzas to the necessity of revealing your obsessions. This is a fantastic read.
There is no reason why I shouldn't play around with what I have written in 2014 and see what I can make of it all, for my own pleasure.
Wednesday, 12 November 2014
Oh my God! London - 1 Saturday
This is me being over the top, but London is just amazing.
---
I have lost the little notebook with my info about Saturday, which means that some poems of mine have gone awol too. Oh no. And good grief. That's one way of getting published.
---
Lunch visit with my mother at the hospital.
So very lovely to be pushing her in the wheel chair and generally hanging around.
I buy an Arabic newspaper, I buy one a year at the moment!
My mother suggests I circle the words I do know on the front page.
Off to do some work, peering at this translation I am doing.
Cafe packed out, so I sat in the bookshop, Arthur Probsthain (again).
Chatted to woman near me, turns out she knows Jenny Lewis,
What a very small world, she has done the Praise workshop I am going to.
Back to see my mother, we all meet up there,
Because we are very noisy when we all get together we all go to cafe.
Debate plans and current situation, bit of a war cabinet at the cafe,
Then I decide we must have a family photo, someone kind takes a few for us.
Off to my evening event, Reuters News Oratorio
Drenched thoroughly due to making some bad decisions.
Roam around the church before it starts, can't settle down.
Try the upstairs balcony, but I am not one of the cast.
The church is huge and gracious, peeling walls, cracks, darkness above.
Warm crypt with cryptic route to loos, unusual.
Finally sit down with a group of people, we chat and chat.
The improvised - and - structured performance is how it is.
I sit and lean forwards, look here, look there.
People do their thing with guitars, cellos, other musical instruments.
Jude stands at the piano and does her thing.
What I adore is the seriousness and stance of people in the middle of their own worlds.
I just have to give my whole attention to what is happening,
Let it be and let it continue, witness it, be part of the essential audience.
Imagine a poetry reading with no listeners?
That is how important being the pew-bound crowd is.
There was burning afterwards, scrolls from a dream project in Olympic Year,
A version of the Wailing Wall for Bethnal Green.
The private and unread scrolls were tipped into the fire, a brazier in the rain.
We held and relit our candles while this all went on.
We wondered whether by now some of the wishes had come to pass:
The wishes for a baby, for a partner, health.
By the end our little group had refound itself on the steps of the church,
But we had to break it up and go home. Twitter/email details...all given.
What a wonderful day and evening.
---
I have lost the little notebook with my info about Saturday, which means that some poems of mine have gone awol too. Oh no. And good grief. That's one way of getting published.
---
Lunch visit with my mother at the hospital.
So very lovely to be pushing her in the wheel chair and generally hanging around.
I buy an Arabic newspaper, I buy one a year at the moment!
My mother suggests I circle the words I do know on the front page.
Off to do some work, peering at this translation I am doing.
Cafe packed out, so I sat in the bookshop, Arthur Probsthain (again).
Chatted to woman near me, turns out she knows Jenny Lewis,
What a very small world, she has done the Praise workshop I am going to.
Back to see my mother, we all meet up there,
Because we are very noisy when we all get together we all go to cafe.
Debate plans and current situation, bit of a war cabinet at the cafe,
Then I decide we must have a family photo, someone kind takes a few for us.
Off to my evening event, Reuters News Oratorio
Drenched thoroughly due to making some bad decisions.
Roam around the church before it starts, can't settle down.
Try the upstairs balcony, but I am not one of the cast.
The church is huge and gracious, peeling walls, cracks, darkness above.
Warm crypt with cryptic route to loos, unusual.
Finally sit down with a group of people, we chat and chat.
The improvised - and - structured performance is how it is.
I sit and lean forwards, look here, look there.
People do their thing with guitars, cellos, other musical instruments.
Jude stands at the piano and does her thing.
What I adore is the seriousness and stance of people in the middle of their own worlds.
I just have to give my whole attention to what is happening,
Let it be and let it continue, witness it, be part of the essential audience.
Imagine a poetry reading with no listeners?
That is how important being the pew-bound crowd is.
There was burning afterwards, scrolls from a dream project in Olympic Year,
A version of the Wailing Wall for Bethnal Green.
The private and unread scrolls were tipped into the fire, a brazier in the rain.
We held and relit our candles while this all went on.
We wondered whether by now some of the wishes had come to pass:
The wishes for a baby, for a partner, health.
By the end our little group had refound itself on the steps of the church,
But we had to break it up and go home. Twitter/email details...all given.
What a wonderful day and evening.
Thursday, 6 November 2014
أحبك - Poem for my mother
والدتي في المستشفى
كنت في لندن
اسمك آن
أنا بعيد عنك
أنا أحبك جدا
غدا في لندن
I need to switch these lines around so they have some sort of pattern. The vowel markings don't show in type, so you have to know that there are lots of kasras, the 'i' sound.
أحبك
هو الليل
والدتي في المستشفى
غدا في لندن
اسمك آن
أنا بعيد عنك
أنا أحبك جدا
Ok, so now there are 2 stanzas, first lines have 2 words each, second and third lines both have 3. Title is addessed to my mother, first stanza is stating facts and second is addressing her again. Neatly, it has her name at the end of the first line of that second stanza. On another laptop I could add a word which looks exactly the same as her name, but which means 'now'. That could go in the same place but on the first stanza. But then it would ruin the 2,3,3 pattern.
There, all done, for now = aan/ann, oh dear, an arabic/english pun. Now to call and see if she is on the table, under the knife.
Saturday, 1 November 2014
Not happy with Solo (Library system in Oxford)
It has done it again, let me view interesting stuff (British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies), then told me I have no ability to access it. I get more satisfaction from Facebook. Bah humbug, academic institutions either kill off your interest or drive spikes into your heart so you get the bloody stuff some other way. I knew there was a catch. No such thing as a free library/lunch.
So........facebook has led me to this online journal, which does open when clicked, and provides English and Arabic, and what's more, translated by someone who has read to me in person. Much better than a cold system. The magazine is called 'Tulips', and has text as well as images.
On reflection, the benefit of not being able to access things via Solo is that I am not swamping myself further with too much to read. And I only make a supreme effort to get hold of something if I truly want it, so this situation is acting as a delaying mechanism for my naturally impetuous self.
Monday, 27 October 2014
Translating something for real, asked by a friend
Terrifying and humbling. I peer at my dictionary, looking for the exact spelling of the word somewhere in the long paragraphs of slight variations. I hope there are no typos in the original I have been emailed. Do I have just enough familiarity with modern Arabic poetry to know the rough way that the thoughts are laid out? Do I know the starting text well enough, against which/because of which the piece was written?
I need to look at that starting text in Arabic to see if any of the words are being reused here. I need to use every trick I can think of to get my best version in English before I approach someone to help me with the remaining queries/question marks. I don't want to look a total fool to the person I ask.
I could look up some of the writer's other work online, see if it has been translated, are there any key words or concepts which are likely to be buried in this one?
Why does the very word Arabic lead others to assume I have much of it between my ears? If only they knew the dreadful lack of certainty. I have vague 'oh, I have seen that word before' happy thoughts, but they are not precise, just half recognitions.
There are words which come up which I know I have never, ever seen before. That is a nice feeling, because it implies that the others are somewhere in my continuum of familiar.
I'd forgotten how hard I can work if I want to.
I need to look at that starting text in Arabic to see if any of the words are being reused here. I need to use every trick I can think of to get my best version in English before I approach someone to help me with the remaining queries/question marks. I don't want to look a total fool to the person I ask.
I could look up some of the writer's other work online, see if it has been translated, are there any key words or concepts which are likely to be buried in this one?
Why does the very word Arabic lead others to assume I have much of it between my ears? If only they knew the dreadful lack of certainty. I have vague 'oh, I have seen that word before' happy thoughts, but they are not precise, just half recognitions.
There are words which come up which I know I have never, ever seen before. That is a nice feeling, because it implies that the others are somewhere in my continuum of familiar.
I'd forgotten how hard I can work if I want to.
Saturday, 25 October 2014
Short Films - New book on Prose Poetry - this is my 1000th published blog post by the way
I have just found a blog which is no longer being updated. It is full of links to short films in Arabic. I have added it to my sidebar, but that is not a logical action. Today has not been filled with logic.
Getting a dense book on Arabic prose poetry was not a logical move either. The quickest way to gain from it is to read the notes at the end of each chapter. Actually, there is no hurry, I can read what I want when I want. It is all fine.
Getting a dense book on Arabic prose poetry was not a logical move either. The quickest way to gain from it is to read the notes at the end of each chapter. Actually, there is no hurry, I can read what I want when I want. It is all fine.
Tuesday, 21 October 2014
Arabic Study Group - Oxford Area
That is the name of a Facebook group I set up as a place to post links.
My aim is to encourage myself when I am fed up with vocab, endings and verbs. All that remembering and forgetting again. Whenever I come across something interesting I post it there so I can find it again easily. This blog covers any topics I want, but the study group is just for Arabic.
My aim is to encourage myself when I am fed up with vocab, endings and verbs. All that remembering and forgetting again. Whenever I come across something interesting I post it there so I can find it again easily. This blog covers any topics I want, but the study group is just for Arabic.
Friday, 26 September 2014
Ooh wonderful - Arabic translation of Babies in the Tomatoes.... just what I have always wanted
Supermarket in California in Arabic. Only those who understand the need for this will understand the joy!
I follow this blog already, but hadn't ever thought to search for this in its archive.
Now to find a friend to translate Cid Corman with me. Should I just sit there in a cafe every Friday with my papers/CC all over the table and see if someone wonderful comes along, just like that, provided by the universe? In the same way that Cid Corman himself was provided to me by the universe..
I follow this blog already, but hadn't ever thought to search for this in its archive.
Now to find a friend to translate Cid Corman with me. Should I just sit there in a cafe every Friday with my papers/CC all over the table and see if someone wonderful comes along, just like that, provided by the universe? In the same way that Cid Corman himself was provided to me by the universe..
Monday, 22 September 2014
Hallo to something (technology) in our schools
I am very pleased with myself for getting most of this blog title:
أهلاً بالتقنية في مدارسنا
The word I didn't get is 2nd from the right and I could have guessed it if I hadn't missed the fact it was a foreign word. They nearly always trip me up. When my brain is thinking along one track it misses the other track completely. Mistakes are interesting.
I have a daily diary now which has just enough space for one short sentence to sort out each day. Mainly I pick a news story and find out what the title is bit by bit. No instant reading yet, apart from very common words.
Saturday, 13 September 2014
Just for fun : nuf rof tsuJ
nuf rof tsuJ
nettirw si meop siht
nettirw si meop siht
.hsilgne/cibara ni
,thgir eht morf tratS
,thgir eht morf tratS
tuo dnuos dna
.drow hcae
pu kooL
.seno wen eht
That is roughly how I feel when I am reading Arabic. I am exaggerating, but not by that much. In fact I should be using English words I have barely heard of to make it more life-like.
Really it is kjldf laskjdl
and lks lksd lkjkslsld man
after that oero oqow but ,mxcn
and qowi ,mxnc Baghdad.
This is more to the point:
Yesterday morning ,mn asdas erwer Islamic State
asds and oiuo weasd John Kerry asds dfdfaf leader gfdgd
Riyadh, and after that wqw lkjl zzxzxv Sunna,
military, kkjg, military hjhgjhg army iytitl war oiuoiu.
military, kkjg, military hjhgjhg army iytitl war oiuoiu.
Happy learning.
Or, a programme so good I hit on it twice by accident, only realising once the English words arrived:
Good morning, hallo qrqwq asfa gay poipoi zxcxc
lakjsd qrqwq queer pipoi afa erqe xbxfg... ok, I get the message from the key words.
Friday, 5 September 2014
Fog is lifting - 3 x 3 haiku
Fog is lifting
Yet how much
Fog there is
Picking out words
Flipping to 'translate'
Dictionary on knee
This is new
Never seen before
A new certainty
I know that
Not the meaning
But the sound
Just stop trying
Flick through words
Put on done-heap
Sounding out carefully
Frowning a bit
Aha it's 'television'
Wondering about 'Bashar'
It must have
A real meaning
I already know
'Assad' means lion
What's the plural?
Doing these means I am not thinking about anything else, so it is a form of meditation, keeps my mind focused. If I write on paper I can acknowledge all thoughts as they come along, then let them go to see where my attention will go next. I can try to be as truthful with myself as possible, no censorship.
Nothing like sitting here able to type out my own stuff on my own blog. I'll enjoy this one day in the future. I wish I could persuade my mother to write one though. It would only be a fair swap for starting to use a mobile after much pressure.
I gave in eventually and now use a mobile phone after being given one for some Christmas, more than once in fact... Talk about not giving up on me. I had small children though and getting calls while I was busy, and I was always busy, was the last thing I wanted.
Yet how much
Fog there is
Picking out words
Flipping to 'translate'
Dictionary on knee
This is new
Never seen before
A new certainty
I know that
Not the meaning
But the sound
Just stop trying
Flick through words
Put on done-heap
Sounding out carefully
Frowning a bit
Aha it's 'television'
Wondering about 'Bashar'
It must have
A real meaning
I already know
'Assad' means lion
What's the plural?
Doing these means I am not thinking about anything else, so it is a form of meditation, keeps my mind focused. If I write on paper I can acknowledge all thoughts as they come along, then let them go to see where my attention will go next. I can try to be as truthful with myself as possible, no censorship.
Nothing like sitting here able to type out my own stuff on my own blog. I'll enjoy this one day in the future. I wish I could persuade my mother to write one though. It would only be a fair swap for starting to use a mobile after much pressure.
I gave in eventually and now use a mobile phone after being given one for some Christmas, more than once in fact... Talk about not giving up on me. I had small children though and getting calls while I was busy, and I was always busy, was the last thing I wanted.
Thursday, 4 September 2014
Reading book titles = hoovering
It's a small step each time and includes just one verb or noun, sometimes one of each. Also an author's name. So that's why it is useful to read a review of a recently published book.
I found out the word for sweet coffee today and got it written down too. The man wrote it down really slowly and carefully. Total opposite to my hurried scrawl in English. urid qahwa halwa minfadlak. I guessed entirely wrongly in London last weekend, but now I know what I was misunderstanding.
I used up all the sugar and did a careful manoeuvre with my little cup so that all the grounds went back into my main pot and settled down before starting again and pouring more carefully. I had been too greedy and had tipped loads of grounds into my little cup. This all makes sense if you have made yourself cough with trying to drink the grounds out of ignorance.
Watch the long handle though, one day I will send it all flying. I nearly did several times during lunch with a friend at the cafe.
I found out the word for sweet coffee today and got it written down too. The man wrote it down really slowly and carefully. Total opposite to my hurried scrawl in English. urid qahwa halwa minfadlak. I guessed entirely wrongly in London last weekend, but now I know what I was misunderstanding.
I used up all the sugar and did a careful manoeuvre with my little cup so that all the grounds went back into my main pot and settled down before starting again and pouring more carefully. I had been too greedy and had tipped loads of grounds into my little cup. This all makes sense if you have made yourself cough with trying to drink the grounds out of ignorance.
Watch the long handle though, one day I will send it all flying. I nearly did several times during lunch with a friend at the cafe.
Thursday, 28 August 2014
Translating my own poem - Grammar
1
I have a small poem which I won't read out at any reading soon. I don't want to share it with anyone to translate yet. However I hit on the idea of doing it myself. Since I know French I have had a go at moving it into French.
What a surprise. Since I know what I was driving at in my English words, I am not just making a translation, but an expression of what-it-was-before-it-came-out-in-English in French. I am surprised at my knowledge of French, much subtler than I had been aware of. Phrases and single words come to mind. I have not gone to look for my dictionary yet, though I did use Google Translate. It wasn't very good, just clunky. The spellings were correct, but then I knew them anyway.
I know this little poem by heart so I can think about it as I walk around.
Is a poem written by one person, but in two languages, a different thing from a poem written by one person and translated by another? Twin poems, dual poems, parallel poems. It wasn't written with the intention to translate it. That might alter things entirely.
2
I worked out a piece of grammar for myself today, so feel satisfied with myself. It started with an un-obvious translation of 'home news'. I then reflected on the name of a pudding I had with my brother over the weekend and put 2 and 2 together to make 4. I worked it out while walking from my kitchen through the passageway to my mother in law's house. I even waved my arms around in pleasure at my discovery.
I have a small poem which I won't read out at any reading soon. I don't want to share it with anyone to translate yet. However I hit on the idea of doing it myself. Since I know French I have had a go at moving it into French.
What a surprise. Since I know what I was driving at in my English words, I am not just making a translation, but an expression of what-it-was-before-it-came-out-in-English in French. I am surprised at my knowledge of French, much subtler than I had been aware of. Phrases and single words come to mind. I have not gone to look for my dictionary yet, though I did use Google Translate. It wasn't very good, just clunky. The spellings were correct, but then I knew them anyway.
I know this little poem by heart so I can think about it as I walk around.
Is a poem written by one person, but in two languages, a different thing from a poem written by one person and translated by another? Twin poems, dual poems, parallel poems. It wasn't written with the intention to translate it. That might alter things entirely.
2
I worked out a piece of grammar for myself today, so feel satisfied with myself. It started with an un-obvious translation of 'home news'. I then reflected on the name of a pudding I had with my brother over the weekend and put 2 and 2 together to make 4. I worked it out while walking from my kitchen through the passageway to my mother in law's house. I even waved my arms around in pleasure at my discovery.
Wednesday, 13 August 2014
Why are you learning Arabic?
I get asked this every week. Every time I give a different answer. Why do people ask? No one asks me why I have streaks in my hair, go dancing, ignore my garden, have a thing about poetry. Or maybe I have answers for all those questions, but just don't have one for this.
It irks me because if only it were going in a lot faster I would be more cheerful about it, but it is unpredictable and frustrating. I cannot remember not knowing languages and hate being such a beginner.
At least I enjoy the sensation of knowing a bit, but lots going above my head. In fact I get hugely antsy and anxious if I have to learn 100% of something. I am much happier with having a big sky above me of words I don't know. So listening to the radio and recognising words as they fly past is great, I can't pause it or do any more than think huh, I know that one, but what does it mean? I know the fog will clear, but I don't know when.
I was annoyed when I went on the Tube in London recently and didn't spot one single Arabic word to try and sound out. How can the Tube be so completely English? The streets are different and the British Museum even had a great guide book in Arabic.
I asked for the Arabic guide book in the Ashmolean in Oxford and was looked at as if I had two heads. So no joy there.
Last night I was out at a restaurant and produced a 3 word phrase every 15 minutes to the person sitting opposite me. Really I should have had a notebook with me so that we could have written down each new phrase and I could have written down English words he didn't get. Try saying The Mosaic Rooms in a restaurant full of chatter to someone who isn't expecting that name!
It irks me because if only it were going in a lot faster I would be more cheerful about it, but it is unpredictable and frustrating. I cannot remember not knowing languages and hate being such a beginner.
At least I enjoy the sensation of knowing a bit, but lots going above my head. In fact I get hugely antsy and anxious if I have to learn 100% of something. I am much happier with having a big sky above me of words I don't know. So listening to the radio and recognising words as they fly past is great, I can't pause it or do any more than think huh, I know that one, but what does it mean? I know the fog will clear, but I don't know when.
I was annoyed when I went on the Tube in London recently and didn't spot one single Arabic word to try and sound out. How can the Tube be so completely English? The streets are different and the British Museum even had a great guide book in Arabic.
I asked for the Arabic guide book in the Ashmolean in Oxford and was looked at as if I had two heads. So no joy there.
Last night I was out at a restaurant and produced a 3 word phrase every 15 minutes to the person sitting opposite me. Really I should have had a notebook with me so that we could have written down each new phrase and I could have written down English words he didn't get. Try saying The Mosaic Rooms in a restaurant full of chatter to someone who isn't expecting that name!
Wednesday, 6 August 2014
Instant poetry party: El Habib Louai at the Albion Beatnik
I am so lucky. I got an email, had a free evening, jumped in my car, took off.
This Moroccan guy spent last summer? travelling across America from poet to poet in all sorts of great cities, Boulder, Colorado etc. And there he was reading out his translations into Arabic just for us, a bunch of Oxford poetry floozies, enticed by no entry fee and even free tea/coffee. He loves chatting and meeting people, reading out his work and hanging around with anyone who is into poetry.
We asked questions and talked politics, interrupted what he was saying, let him tell us about his night not on the tiles at some grey hound bus station. We had to be told to wind it up because we were settling in for the night, and the shop does need to shut!
To finish 2 brave souls did an open mic, someone else and me. We all had photos taken of each other and swapped various facebook and email details.
Now I need his translation of something to work on. It's on YouTube. I put Arabic on hold temporarily, needing to reclaim my mind, but that's been reversed again. Nothing like being read to by a real live person.
100,000 Poets for Change
This Moroccan guy spent last summer? travelling across America from poet to poet in all sorts of great cities, Boulder, Colorado etc. And there he was reading out his translations into Arabic just for us, a bunch of Oxford poetry floozies, enticed by no entry fee and even free tea/coffee. He loves chatting and meeting people, reading out his work and hanging around with anyone who is into poetry.
We asked questions and talked politics, interrupted what he was saying, let him tell us about his night not on the tiles at some grey hound bus station. We had to be told to wind it up because we were settling in for the night, and the shop does need to shut!
To finish 2 brave souls did an open mic, someone else and me. We all had photos taken of each other and swapped various facebook and email details.
Now I need his translation of something to work on. It's on YouTube. I put Arabic on hold temporarily, needing to reclaim my mind, but that's been reversed again. Nothing like being read to by a real live person.
100,000 Poets for Change
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