How I'm using LEGO to teach Arabic | Ghada Wali

Translator: Matej Divjak Reviewer: Nika Kotnik

I come from Egypt,

Sem iz Egipta,

which is also called Umm al-Dunya, the Mother of the World.

imenovanega tudi Umm al-Dunya, Mati sveta.

It's a rich country filled with stories of rebellion,

To je bogata dežela, polna zgodb o uporništvu,

stories of civilizational triumph and downfall

zgodb o civilizacijski zmagi in propadu

and the rich, religious,

in bogati, religiozni,

ethnic, cultural and linguistic diversity.

etnični, kulturni in lingvistični raznolikosti.

Growing up in such an environment,

Ker sem odraščala v takšnem okolju,

I became a strong believer in the power of storytelling.

trdno verjamem v moč pripovedovanja zgodb.

As I searched for the medium with which to tell my story,

Med iskanjem medija za podajanje svoje zgodbe

I stumbled upon graphic design.

sem naletela na grafično oblikovanje.

I would like to share with you a project

Z vami bi rada delila projekt,

of how graphic design can bring the Arabic language to life.

ki pokaže, kako lahko grafično oblikovanje oživi arabski jezik.

But first, let me tell you why I want to do this.

Najprej pa vam naj povem, zakaj želim to narediti.

I believe that graphic design can change the world.

Verjamem, da grafično oblikovanje lahko spremeni svet.

At least in my very own city of Cairo,

Vsaj v mojem domačem mestu, Kairu,

it helped overthrow two separate dictators.

je pomagalo strmoglaviti dva različna diktatorja.

As you can see from those photos,

Kot lahko vidite s teh fotografij,

the power and potential of graphic design as a tool for positive change

sta moč in potencial grafičnega oblikovanja,

kot orodja za pozitivne spremembe, nedvomno velika.

is undeniably strong.

Egypt's 2011 revolution was also a grassroots design revolution.

Egipčanska revolucija 2011 je bila tudi oblikovalska revolucija navadnih ljudi.

Everyone became a creator.

Vsi so postali ustvarjalci.

People were the real designers

Ljudje so bili pravi oblikovalci

and, just overnight,

in kar čez noč

Cairo was flooded with posters,

je bil Kairo preplavljen s posterji,

signage, graffiti.

znaki in grafiti.

Visual communication

Vizualna komunikacija

was the medium that spoke far louder than words

je bila medij, daleč glasnejši od besed,

when the population of over 90 million voices were suppressed

ko je bilo prebivalstvo z več kot 90 milijoni glasov zatirano

for almost 30 years.

skoraj 30 let.

It was precisely this political and social suppression,

Prav to politično in družbeno zatiranje,

coupled with decades of colonialism

skupaj z desetletji kolonializma

and miseducation

in slabim izobraževanjem,

that slowly eroded the significance of the Arabic script in the region.

je bilo to, kar je počasi zmanjševalo pomen arabske pisave v regiji.

All of these countries once used Arabic.

Vse te države so nekoč uporabljale arabščino.

Now it's just the green and the blue.

Zdaj pa samo zelene in sinje modre.

To put it simply,

Povedano preprosto,

the Arabic script is dying.

arabska pisava umira.

In postcolonial Arab countries functioning in an increasingly globalized world,

V postkolonialnih arabskih državah,

ki delujejo v vse bolj globaliziranem svetu, je skrb zbujajoče,

it is a growing alarm

that less and less people are using the Arabic script to communicate.

da vse manj ljudi za komuniciranje uporablja arabsko pisavo.

As I was studying my master's in Italy, I noticed myself missing Arabic.

Ko sem bila na magisteriju v Italiji, sem opazila, da pogrešam arabščino.

I missed looking at the letters,

Pogrešala sem pogled na črke

digesting their meaning.

in razumevanje njihovega pomena.

So one day, I walked into one of the biggest libraries in Italy

Tako sem nekega dne stopila v eno največjih knjižnic v Italiji

in search of an Arabic book.

v iskanju arabskih knjig.

I was surprised to find that this is what they had

Presenečena sem bila,

ko sem pod kategorijo "Arabske/ bližnjevzhodne knjige" našla tole.

under the category of "Arabic/Middle Eastern books."

(Laughter)

(Smeh)

Fear, terrorism and destruction.

Strah, terorizem in uničenje.

One word: ISIS.

Ena beseda: ISIS.

My heart ached

Srce me je bolelo,

that this is how we are portrayed to the world,

da smo svetu predstavljeni na tak način,

even from a literary perspective.

celo na literarnem področju.

I asked myself: Whatever happened to the world-renowned writers

Vprašala sem se: "Kaj neki se je zgodilo s svetovno znanimi pisatelji,

like Naguib Mahfouz, Khalil Gibran,

kot sta Nagib Mahfuz, Khalil Gibran,

iconic poets like Mutanabbi, Nizar Qabbani?

ikoničnimi pesniki, kot sta Mutanabbi in Nizar Quabbani?"

Think about this.

Pomislite.

The cultural products of an entire region of the world,

Kulturni izdelki celotne regije sveta,

as rich, as diverse,

naj bodo še tako bogati in raznovrstni,

have been deemed redundant,

so postali odvečni,

if not ignored altogether.

če ne celo v celoti prezrti.

The cultural products of an entire region of the world

Kulturnim izdelkom celotne regije sveta

have been barred from imparting any kind of real impact

je bilo onemogočeno, da bi pustile kakršenkoli odtis

on global media productions and contemporary social discourse.

na produkciji globalnih medijev in sodobnemu družbenemu diskurzu.

And then I reminded myself of my number one belief:

In potem sem se spomnila na svoje glavno prepričanje:

design can change the world.

oblikovanje lahko spremeni svet.

All you need is for someone to catch a glimpse of your work,

Potrebuješ samo nekoga, ki pogleda tvoje delo,

feel, connect.

začuti, se poveže.

And so I started.

In tako sem začela.

I thought about how can I stop the world from seeing us as evil,

Razmišljala sem, kako bi lahko spremenila, da nas svet vidi kot zlobne,

as terrorists of this planet,

kot teroriste tega planeta,

and start perceiving us as equals,

in nas začne dojemati kot enakopravne,

fellow humans?

soljudi?

How can I save and honor the Arabic script

Kako lahko rešim in počastim arabsko pisavo

and share it with other people, other cultures?

in jo delim z drugimi ljudmi, drugimi kulturami?

And then it hit me:

In potem me je zadelo:

What if I combined the two most significant symbols

Kaj če bi združila dva najpomembnejša simbola

of innocence and Arab identity?

nedolžnosti in arabske identitete?

Maybe then people could resonate.

Mogoče bi se ljudje s tem lahko povezali.

What's more pure, innocent and fun as LEGO?

Kaj je bolj čisto, nedolžno in zabavno kot LEGO?

It's a universal child's toy.

Je univerzalna otroška igrača.

You play with them, you build with them,

Igraš se z njimi, gradiš z njimi,

and with them, you imagine endless possibilities.

in z njimi si lahko zamisliš neskončne možnosti.

My eureka moment was to find a bilingual solution for Arabic education,

Moj trenutek spoznanja je bila najdba dvojezične rešitve za arabsko izobraževanje,

because effective communication and education

kajti učinkovita komunikacija in izobraževanje

is the road to more tolerant communities.

sta pot do bolj strpnih družb.

However, the Arabic and Latin scripts do not only represent different worlds

Vendar pa arabska pisava in latinica ne predstavljata le različna svetova,

but also create technical difficulties for both Eastern and Western communities

ampak vsakodnevno ustvarjata tehnične težave

tako za vzhodne kot zahodne družbe.

on a daily basis.

There are so many reasons why Arabic and Latin are different,

Mnogo razlogov je, zakaj sta arabska pisava in latinica različni,

but here are some of the main ones.

a tu je nekaj glavnih.

Yes, both use upward and downward strokes,

Da, obe uporabljata potege navzgor in navzdol,

but have completely different baselines.

a imata povsem različni izhodiščni črti.

Arabic tends to be more calligraphic

Arabska pisava je bolj kaligrafska,

and connectivity is important to the Arabic language,

arabskemu jeziku pa je pomembna povezljivost,

whose letters have to be mostly joined in order to articulate a given word.

saj morajo biti črke v glavnem združene, da artikulirajo določeno besedo.

It also uses an entirely different system of punctuation and diacritics.

Uporablja tudi povsem drugačen sistem ločil in diakritičnih znakov.

But most importantly,

Predvsem pa arabska pisava

Arabic has no capital letters.

ne pozna velikih začetnic.

Instead it has four different letter forms:

Namesto tega ima štiri različne oblike črk:

initial, medial, isolated and final.

začetno, srednjo, samostojno in končno.

I want to introduce the Arabic language to young learners, foreign speakers,

Arabski jezik bi rada predstavila mladim učencem, tujejezičnim govorcem,

but most importantly help refugees integrate to their host societies

predvsem pa bi rada pomagala beguncem, da se integrirajo v svoje gostiteljske družbe

through creating a bilingual learning system,

skozi kreiranje dvojezičnega učnega sistema,

a two-way flow of communication.

dvosmernega toka komunikacije.

And I called it "Let's Play."

Imenovala sem ga: "Igrajmo se."

The idea is to simply create a fun and engaging way of learning

Ideja je, da bi preprosto ustvarila zabaven in privlačen način učenja

Modern Standard Arabic through LEGO.

moderne standardne arabščine skozi LEGO.

These are the two words. "Let's Play."

To sta ti dve besedi: "Igrajmo se."

Every colored bar marks an Arabic letter.

Vsak barvni stolpec označuje arabsko črko.

As you can see, the letter is explained in form, sound

Kot lahko vidite, je črka razložena z obliko, glasom

and examples of words in function,

in primerom besed v rabi,

in addition to the equivalent in Latin.

ob ustrezni črki v latinici.

Together, they form a fun pocket book

Skupaj tvorijo zabavno žepno knjigo

with the 29 Arabic letters and the four different forms,

z 29 arabskimi črkami v štirih različnih oblikah

plus a 400-word dictionary.

plus slovar s 400 besedami.

So this is how the page looks like.

Tako izgleda stran.

You have the letter, the transliteration in Latin

Imate črko, prečrkovanje v latinico,

and the description underneath.

spodaj pa opis.

I'll take you through the process.

Popeljala vas bom skozi proces.

So first in my tiny studio in Florence,

Najprej v svojem majhnem studiu v Firencah zgradim črke.

I built the letters.

I photographed each letter separately,

Vsako črko posebej sem fotografirala,

and then I retouched every letter and chose the correct color background

potem pa sem vsako črko retuširala in izbrala ustrezno barvno ozadje

and typefaces to use.

in dizajn pisave.

Ultimately, I created the full letter set,

Tako sem ustvarila cel set črk,

which is 29 letters times four different forms.

kar je 29 črk krat štiri različne oblike.

That's 116 letters build just in one week.

To je skupaj 116 črk, zgrajenih samo v enem tednu.

I believe that information should and can be fun, portable.

Verjamem, da bi informacije morale biti in so lahko zabavne, prenosne.

This book is the final product,

Ta knjiga je končni izdelek,

which I would eventually like to publish

ki bi ga sčasoma rada izdala

and translate into as many languages in the world,

in prevedla v karseda mnogo jezikov,

so that Arabic teaching and learning becomes fun, easy and accessible globally.

tako da bo poučevanje in učenje arabščine postalo zabavno,

preprosto in globalno dosegljivo.

With this book, I hope to save my nation's beautiful script.

S to knjigo upam, da bom rešila lepo pisavo mojega naroda.

(Applause)

(Aplavz)

Thank you.

Hvala.

Working on this project was a form of visual meditation,

Delo na tem projektu je bila oblika vizualne meditacije,

like a Sufi dance,

kot sufi ples,

a prayer to a better planet.

molitev za boljši planet.

One set of building blocks made two languages.

En set kock za grajenje je naredil dva jezika.

LEGO is just a metaphor.

LEGO je samo metafora.

It's because we are all made of the same building unit,

Zato ker smo vsi narejeni iz istih gradnikov,

is that I can see a future

lahko vidim prihodnost,

where the barriers between people

kjer bodo meje med ljudmi

all come tumbling down.

popadale.

So no matter how ugly the world around us gets,

Zato, ne glede na to, kako grd postane svet okoli nas,

or how many discouraging books on ISIS, the terrorist group,

ali koliko nevzpodbudnih knjig o ISIS-u, teroristični skupini,

and not Isis, the ancient Egyptian goddess,

in ne o Izis, staroegipčanski boginji,

continue to be published,

bodo še naprej izdajali,

I will keep building one colorful world.

bom še naprej gradila en barviti svet.

Shukran, which means "thank you."

Shukran, kar pomeni "hvala."

(Applause)

(Aplavz)

Thank you. Thank you so much.

Hvala. Najlepša hvala.

Thank you.

Hvala.