The ninth of June sounds fine to me. If this is really an opportunity
to go over my trip to the DPRK (Democratic People's Republic of
Korea), then I will bring photos and some other things.
Maybe we could also have kimchi? ;-)
Regarding the Arabic study, as you guys know I took a few years of
that language at UCLA. It was difficult, and on top of that most of
the study materials were not very good. It took some searching later
on to find grammar books that were better than the ones at UCLA.
This problem is not only with Arabic, but also with other exotic or
otherwise less studied than Spanish or French. If you decide to study
Spanish, you have many sources to choose from. If you decide to study
Arabic (or Thai), sources are much fewer and the quality of some is
questionable. I recall an Arabic book that had many typos and peculiar
English translations, e.g. "Flesh of pidgeon is a tasteful food." This
book also smudged easily, so that I could not properly make out the
Arabic calligraphy. It's difficult enough to undertake an exotic
language; it's all the more unfair that there should be other burdens
added on top!
In 2002 when I was tutoring full-time at SMC, I suggested that they
add Arabic as one of their languages. (Give SMC credit - they already
had Hebrew and Persian.) I suggested they offer an evening course, two
nights a week, just like the other language courses. I of course
suggested they use ME to teach this course.... I had reasonable rates!
:-) They told me that although they considered Arabic to be an
important language, there was not enough of a demand for it. They did
not want to put the money into Arabic study.
John
--- In OliveStarlightOrchestra_at_yahoogroups.com, "Georgie Hinklemyer"
<samoolives_at_...> wrote:
>
> OK, fine. Be that way.
> June 9th it is.
> Er...unless the Vampire is otherwise occupied...?
> Can I get a show of hands, who wants to come to the Ozzy Zoo on
> Saturday June 9?
>
> --G.T.
>
>
> --- In OliveStarlightOrchestra_at_yahoogroups.com, "Joy McCann"
> <joy.mccann_at_> wrote:
> >
> > La la la la la--I can't HEAR you!
> >
> > --Q.M.
> >
> >
> > On 5/18/07, Georgie Hinklemyer <samoolives_at_> wrote:
> > >
> > > Okay, okay. I take the hint. Unfortunately the next few
weekends are
> > > booked at the Ozzy Zoo. June 9 is the first available Saturday.
Maybe.
> > >
> > > The boys tell me the pool is warm enough now...
> > > --G.H.
> > >
> > > P.S. Not to be picky, but you haven't sold that house in the hills,
> > > have you?
> > >
> > > --- In
>
OliveStarlightOrchestra_at_yahoogroups.com<OliveStarlightOrchestra%40yahoogroups.com>,
> > > "Joy McCann"
> > > <joy.mccann_at_> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Tell us all your lovely tales! When are we all getting together to
> > > > hear them, and who is hosting, since you're too jet-lagged to
do it?
> > > > (I hear that the Oisboids have a house, BTW . . .)
> > > >
> > > > In an unrelated subject, here's an interesting article about why
> there
> > > > aren't enough really muth American speakers of Arabic:
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
>
http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/2007/05/uphill_battle_to_develop_arabic_speakers_in_us/
> > > >
> > > > --Q.M.
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
> > [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
> >
>
Received on 2007-05-21 15:22:39