A Statement Made in an Egyptian Newspaper

Copyright © 2009 Aleya Rouchdy, All Rights Reserved

An Egyptian newspaper, al masry al yom ( 9/25/09), quoted a statement made by the American ambassador in Egypt, Mrs. Margaret Scoby.

The ambassador maintained that 43% of American diplomats working in Egypt do not know Arabic. She further said, that such inability will limit any form of communication between the diplomatic staff and the Egyptians, and prevent them from understanding the culture of the country.

Some countries make it a requirement that their diplomatic staff learn the language of the host country in order to be able to communicate with the people of that country.

Since the Arabic language is taught on many American campuses, it is in our interest to make sure that diplomats going to the Arab World learn the language in order to be able to communicate with Arabic speakers.

If one controls the language, one controls the mechanism of communication.