Umm Kulthum: The Voice of Egypt

 Umm Kulthum’s music transcended throughout the Middle East. Umm Kulthum is indisputably the Arab world's greatest singer. Her undulating voice and ineffable words found it's way into the hearts of all Arabs around the world. Her career was not ephemeral rather extended, as her heyday stretched from the 1930s to the 1960s, and her music delineated Arab nationalism and unity. Without further digress, let us commence in an interview with the phenomenon Umm Kulthum…

Q: Please enlighten us with a little background about yourself.

A: My beginnings were fairly simple. My childhood was not different from that of many children of my country. I was born into a poor family in a rural community. Yet I always saw potential to have a positive impact on the world. I began my career at a young age reciting Quran in local homes of wealthy people. They were awestruck by my compelling voice. It was not long before my name suffused among a horde locally.

Q: How did your career then gather pace, and what impact did it have on the Arab community?

A: Arabs found comfort within my words as it created unity among the community. In the early 1920’s, my family and myself moved to Cairo in order to pursue a professional career. After this move my fame rose impetuously in the 1930s. As mentioned earlier I always saw potential in creating an impact. This was my chance to rise to the stage and change lives. But as I began I did not have a cornucopia of strategies to go about my career, however I tackled things I believed in. My status heightened by the breadth of my polemical words as I took a political approach and managed to connect with listeners. As Arabs we are all part of one large community, often our way of perceiving facets is rather similar. This honed my success when connecting with my audience. This is the reason as to why unity was created through my words. Many artists sang beautiful lyrics about love and life, though the rhythm was exquisite, not everyone was able to fully adhere with the words. At first my aim seemed like a chimera, but soon I was able to immerse in my writing and be heard. 

Q: What hardships did you face throughout your career?

A: I did not encounter extraordinary adversities, however a number of people criticized my work for collaborating with political regimes such as Nasser’s. But nonetheless, I managed to let that aside and became a nationalist, disregarding the endless critics that came my way. My music was still able to touch millions in addition to my charity work. Notably, after Egypt’s defeat in the Six-Day War, I toured the Arab world to raise money for my country’s unfortunate weakened military. This again touched the hearts of many. My aim is not to selfishly display my successes but be an inspiration to more change in the world. It is imperative that we all strive to reach our full potential. One must take their talent and put it to good use. Many might have thought that it was not a good idea to entangle myself with politics, but in retrospect I feel as though it was what gave me the sense of unity with my listeners.

That’s all we have enough time for today, thank you Umm Kulthum for the insight into your life. We truly hope you continue to unite the Arab community and impact our lives with your impeccable voice.   

‘Bilingual Mind: Understanding how the Brain Speaks Two Languages’

This article, by Jeffrey Kluger, digs into the advantages of being a bilingual, or even a trilingual. It goes into depths about how we subconsciously develop language skills in addition to cognitive skills. Being exposed to more than one language from a young age simultaneously will hone cognitive ability, in terms of logic and reasoning, processing speed, and auditory processing. These are functions that will aid day-to-day tasks. These skills have educational values, as they are skills that ultimately are needed to grasp knowledge and apply it. They are mental skills used to acquire learning, and in this case learning and acquiring language. The effects of bilingualism on cognition were studied among students. “…(Bilingual) students seemed to show a greater facility with skills that relied on interpreting symbolic representations, such as math or music” (Kluger 126). This has a direct relation with the skills inherited when learning two languages. Logic and reasoning skills are essentially problem solving abilities that are needed when solving math equations and such, which is a main factor as to why the study showed such results.

            Moreover, Kluger touches up on the idea of code switching. This is a part of a multi-lingual’s interactional identity. It is the practice of switching between two languages when speaking. Code switching as described in the text is a way to enhance expressionism through different languages. As discussed previously some ideas are better expressed in different languages. This was a concept discoursed in class that was described as a mean to fill a conceptual or linguistic gap. Or could be just a subconscious interactional instinct when confabulating with someone who speaks the languages that one is switching between.

'You Say Up, I Say Yesterday'

Lera Boroditsky scrutinized language from a social science angle. The main message delivered from this piece of writing is that language is power. The article takes a journey through the concept of language having an effect on our cognition and the way in which we perceive things and think. The author outlines how various languages allow individuals to express ideas from different viewpoints. As a bilingual this is something I can attest to. In this text the author gazes into the way in which different languages compile different words that present a different picture of the same idea. The example used in this article looks at Spanish and English, as she describes, “If one deliberately knocks the cup, there is a verb form to indicate as much. But if the act were an accident… the speaker would essentially say, ‘the cup broke itself’” (Hamilton 463). She then goes further and explains how different languages tend to play on words differently, this in turn shapes the way people perceive things.

   This idea was touched up upon on class; we investigated how many languages have individual words for ideas that need to be explained in many in another language. It is interesting to investigate the minds of people who speak a different language and see how they would comprehend an event or concept in contrast to your insight on it. Or even to think that I may perceive a something differently when thinking in Arabic as oppose to in English and how my whole outlook may change.

'Yorkshire named top twang as Brummie brogue comes bottom'

This article, published by the Guardian and written by David Batty, sheds light on the quandary imposed on individual’s accents in correlation to their intellectual ability.  This article particularly highlights the controversy through a study conducted that conveyed the stereotypes inflicted towards those with Brummie accents. The testing unleashed three UK accents to 48 participants and asked them to rate their intelligence on a mark scheme from 1-10. The conclusion deduced portrayed that the Yorkshire accent sounded most scintillating, as oppose to the Birmingham accent that was degraded and marked as less intelligent than individuals that didn’t speak at all. Regional stereotypes were imposed on Brummies as “...a lot of people associate Birmingham with criminal activity, and they associate criminal activity with low intelligence.” This assumption of criminal activity is a stereotype in which dispersed.

This concept has a direct correspondence to the stereotypes discussed previously in Amy Tan’s story. Tan’s mother was perceived as less witty, due to the fact that she spoke “broken English,” and was incompetent of speaking it with a high degree of accuracy. However this by no means should be a denotation of one’s intelligence or self-worth. 

Mother Tongue

In the short story “Mother Tongue,” the author, Amy Tan, conveys the substance of language, and addresses that it is not only a tool of communication but to many it is also a sociological tool of measuring individual worth. In all candour, this is a struggle I can attest to. My father was born and raised in Syria, with Arabic as his sole mean of communication. He had minimal exposure to English, until arriving in Abu Dhabi sixteen years ago with my mother. This may have created quandaries because of language impediments. He learnt English to a basic level; this mitigated the struggle of communication. Soon he was able to converse with others and comprehend what was being said to him. To this day he speaks “broken” English, however he manages to hide this by speaking with a note of levity. Despite being accustomed to hearing English for many years, he still faces linguistic subordination. Yet he has not allowed it to debilitate him. There are many instances where he asks me to write text messages for him or correct his grammatical lapses and solecisms when sending a momentous email. Due to his dental cognoscenti, his knowledge of advanced vocabulary is limited to dental terms. I remember the day where he used the word “prefabricated” as we were paying for items at a shop. It is tough to weave words such as “periodontal” or “implant” in colloquial day-to-day discussions. On a different note my father finds it exceedingly imperative to preserve one’s mother tongue, heritage and culture. My father has managed to maintain his Syrian roots, and fluency in the Arabic language; I highly venerate his ability to shield his language so wholly. I find it intriguing to watch him engage in erudite discussions in Arabic, speaking with dazzling rejoinders. Non-native speaker’s intelligence or self-worth should not be constricted by language barriers or be marked as ignominious.

It is subconsciously one’s reaction to treat a person with less value if their language skills are inferior. This is due to the fact that poor language in people’s minds equates to them being un-authoritative, as we believe that they do not have the power to act upon the disgrace emitted towards them. People may be stigmatised as a result of deficient language skills. A direct example of this from Tan’s text is when the doctor mistreated Tan’s mother, as no one was remotely concerned with her need to understand her prognosis. This example demonstrates the sociological facet of language. I know that my father’s language skill is not merely an indication of his intelligence or self worth. Many chose to remain loyal to their language and speak “broken” English to retain their natal tongue. It is immoral to impose such derogatory labels on people due to poor language skills.

Good English and Bad

In this excerpt, “Good English and Bad,” Bill Bryson strives to challenge the construct of how we implement grammar. His article takes a journey through all our wrongdoings in terms of grammatical errors.  He raids a fair equilibrium between total anarchy and over-prescriptiveness. The author outlines that the primordial standards of usage do not mimic how English works in today’s generation. Over time the English language has developed and as a result the rules set by grammarians and dictionaries have become a distant memory. The decider of what makes English good or bad is largely grounded towards matters of prejudice. That being said, he describes our manner in today's world as being barbarous. He argues that as the rules become more nugatory they will ultimately be disregarded. He wrote this as a presage in order for us to correct our grammatical mishaps. We as humans evolve based off of our needs, and adhere to the changes made by society as a whole. He outlines that if incorrect grammar is overused we learn to accept and adapt to it, which is how language evolves. Language isn’t static and will continue to progress to fit our societal needs. 

Bryson’s writing has opened my mind to a diverse perspective and left me wondering how inaccurate my grammar really is. However grammatical lapses may arise as a result of distinct dialects. Another aspect that will also hinder one's grammatical execution is their culture; it may have rules against the rules of the English Language. In addition the grammatical structure for Arabic, my second language, is different than the English structure, which again will cause confusion and errors. Every person has adapted their own way of communication, which is what makes every piece of writing unique on a spectrum of authors. Finally, social media has predominantly swept into our daily routines like a whirlwind. This addition to our lives has impacted our grammatical lapses. As Bryson outlined as humans we develop to fit our societal needs. As a result of social media we developed abbreviations in order to create ease when communicating. However one must stay conscious when using these abbreviations and acronyms as they are typically considered informal.