Suzanne Talhouk: Don't kill your language

Translator: khalid marbou Reviewer: Anwar Dafa-Alla

Translator: Alan Watson

Good morning!

早晨！

Are you awake?

大家瞓醒未呀？

They took my name tag, but I wanted to ask you,

佢哋收走咗我塊名牌

did anyone here write their name on the tag in Arabic?

但我想問下大家 有冇人係用阿拉伯文寫塊名牌㗎？

Anyone! No one? All right, no problem.

有冇呀？冇？ 好啦，唔緊要

Once upon a time, not long ago,

冇幾耐之前

I was sitting in a restaurant with my friend, ordering food.

我同個朋友去間餐廳食嘢

So I looked at the waiter and said,

我用阿拉伯話問個侍應︰

「有冇餐牌可以睇睇？」

"Do you have a menu (Arabic)?"

He looked at me strangely, thinking that he misheard.

佢好奇怪咁望實我，好似聽錯咗咁款

He said, "Sorry? (English)."

佢用英文講︰「咩話？」

我話︰「（阿拉伯話）餐牌，唔該。」

I said, "The menu (Arabic), please."

佢答返話︰ 「乜你唔知呢份嘢叫咩名㗎咩？」

He replied, "Don't you know what they call it?"

"I do."

我話：「我知。」

佢話︰「你根本就唔知！ 份嘢叫做（英文）『餐牌』，

He said, "No! It's called "menu" (English), or "menu" (French)."

又或者（法文）『餐牌』！」

Is the French pronunciation correct?

我啲法文準唔準呀？

"Come, come, take care of this one!" said the waiter.

個侍應就同個同事講︰ 「嚟嚟嚟，呢張枱你搞掂佢！」

同我講嘢嗰陣，佢一臉不屑 好似同緊自己講：

He was disgusted when talking to me, as if he was saying to himself,

"If this was the last girl on Earth, I wouldn't look at her!"

「就算地球剩返佢一個女人， 我都唔會睺佢！」

What's the meaning of saying "menu" in Arabic?

咁用阿拉伯文講「餐牌」 有乜咁大件事呢？

Two words made a Lebanese young man judge a girl as being backward

呢兩粒字就足以 令一個黎巴嫩嘅後生仔覺得

and ignorant.

一個女人落後無知

How could she speak that way?

「有乜理由用阿拉伯話㗎？」

At that moment, I started thinking.

嗰一刻，我個腦係咁轉

愈諗愈嬲

It made me mad.

It definitely hurts!

我覺得好委屈！

I'm denied the right to speak my own language in my own country?

我喺自己國家 講自己母語嘅權利都被剝奪？

Where could this happen?

咁嘅事都有？

How did we get here?

點解會變成咁㗎？

Well, while we are here, there are many people like me,

喺呢度，有好多人同我一樣？

who would reach a stage in their lives, where they involuntarily give up

佢哋人生行到嚟某個階段

被迫放棄自己嘅根？

everything that has happened to them in the past,

先能夠證明畀人哋睇 自己係有文化、有地位

just so they can say that they're modern

and civilized.

Should I forget all my culture, thoughts,

我係咪要抹走晒我嘅生活方式 思想、知識同記憶呢？

intellect and all my memories?

Childhood stories might be the best memories we have of the war!

戰亂嘅時候，童年回憶可能 就成為我哋最大嘅情感寄託！

Should I forget everything I learned in Arabic, just to conform?

為咗合群，我就要抹走晒 我母語賜畀我嘅所有嘢？

To be one of them?

然後隨波逐流？

Where's the logic in that?

究竟道理何在？

撇除呢堆諗法 我都想去理解呢個侍應

Despite all that, I tried to understand him.

I didn't want to judge him with the same cruelty that he judged me.

雖然佢用歧視嘅目光睇我 但我唔想掉轉頭批判返佢

The Arabic language doesn't satisfy today's needs.

阿拉伯話滿足唔到當今嘅需要

It's not a language for science,

做科研唔會用到佢

research,

a language we're used to in universities,

大學課堂同職場上唔會用佢

a language we use in the workplace,

a language we rely on if we were to perform an advanced research project,

做高級研究亦用唔著佢

and it definitely isn't a language we use at the airport.

喺機場就更加唔在講啦

If we did so, they'd strip us of our clothes.

咁做嘅話 啲人肯定會搜我哋身都似

Where can I use it, then? We could all ask this question!

咁仲有邊度可以？ 我哋好應該反思一下

So, you want us to use Arabic. Where are we to do so?

你要我哋用阿拉伯話 但邊度先用得到呢？

This is one reality.

事實擺在眼前

But we have another more important reality that we ought to think about.

但有一樣嘢更需要我哋思考

Arabic is the mother tongue.

阿拉伯話係我哋嘅母語

Research says that mastery of other languages

研究話，想掌握其他語言 首先要掌握好母語

demands mastery of the mother tongue.

Mastery of the mother tongue is a prerequisite for creative expression in other languages.

如果想用其他語言做創作

前提係要掌握好母語

How?

點解？

Gibran Khalil Gibran,

黎巴嫩詩人 Gibran Khalil Gibran

when he first started writing, he used Arabic.

第一次創作就係用阿拉伯文

All his ideas, imagination and philosophy

佢嘅所有諗法、想像同感悟

都嚟自佢細個喺村莊裡面

were inspired by this little boy in the village

where he grew up, smelling a specific smell,

聞過、聽過、思考過嘅嘢

hearing a specific voice,

and thinking a specific thought.

So, when he started writing in English, he had enough baggage.

所以當佢開始用英文創作嘅時候 佢彈藥充足

Even when he wrote in English,

即使佢寫嘅係英文

when you read his writings in English, you smell the same smell,

你睇嘅係英文

味道質感同樣依舊

sense the same feeling.

你會想像得到用英文寫作嘅佢

You can imagine that that's him writing in English,

the same boy who came from the mountain. From a village on Mount Lebanon.

依然係嗰個喺黎巴嫩山長大嘅男仔

So, this is an example no one can argue with.

呢個例子毋庸置疑

Second, it's often said that if you want to kill a nation,

第二，啲人經常話 要一個國家滅亡

唯一方法就係消滅佢嘅語言

the only way to kill a nation,

is to kill its language.

This is a reality that developed societies are aware of.

發達國家亦意識到呢個現實

The Germans, French, Japanese and Chinese, all these nations are aware of this.

德國、法國、日本、中國 呢啲國家都深明呢個道理

That's why they legislate to protect their language.

因此佢哋會立法保護佢哋嘅語言

They make it sacred.

佢哋令自己嘅母語變得有地位

That's why they use it in production, they pay a lot of money to develop it.

所以當地人好多時都會用到母語

佢哋花好多錢發展佢哋嘅語言

Do we know better than them?

我哋比佢哋更清楚語言嗎？

好

All right,

我哋嘅國家唔發達

we aren't from the developed world,

this advanced thinking hasn't reached us yet,

民智未開

and we would like to catch up with the civilized world.

但我哋要追上世界文明嘅步伐

Countries that were once like us, but decided to strive for development,

有啲曾經同我哋同樣景況嘅國家

do research,

努力發展同做科研

去趕上發達國家

and catch up with those countries,

such as Turkey, Malaysia and others,

譬如如土耳其、馬來西亞

they carried their language with them as they were climbing the ladder,

喺發展嘅同時，佢哋捍衞自己嘅語言

protected it like a diamond.

珍而重之咁去捍衞

佢哋始終冇離棄過自己嘅語言

They kept it close to them.

Because if you get any product from Turkey or elsewhere

所以如果你喺土耳其買嘢

見到標籤冇土耳其文

and it's not labeled in Turkish,

then it isn't a local product.

嗰樣嘢一定唔係當地物產

You wouldn't believe it's a local product.

你亦唔會相信係當地物產

以至商人會從消費者出發

They'd go back to being consumers,

clueless consumers, like we are most of the time.

代入返我哋呢班消費者嘅思維

So, in order for them to innovate and produce, they had to protect their language.

所以為咗創新同生產 佢哋需要捍衞自己嘅語言

If I say, "Freedom, sovereignty, independence (Arabic),"

如果我講 「（英語）自由、尊嚴、獨立」

你會諗到乜嘢？

what does this remind you of?

冇共鳴，係咪？

It doesn't ring a bell, does it?

Regardless of the who, how and why.

無論從邊個、點樣同點解嘅方向諗 始終都係冇共鳴

Language isn't just for conversing, just words coming out of our mouths.

語言唔係剩係用嚟傾偈

唔係齋係由我哋口裡面講出嚟嘅字

Language represents specific stages in our lives,

語言標誌住我哋人生嘅不同階段

and terminology that is linked to our emotions.

盛載住一啲牽動我哋情感嘅詞語

So when we say, "Freedom, sovereignty, independence,"

所以當我哋講「自由、尊嚴、獨立」

你哋個個腦海中都會畫咗一幅畫

each one of you draws a specific image in their own mind,

there are specific feelings

你會聯想起某個歷史時刻 勾起某種情感

of a specific day in a specific historical period.

語言並唔係幾個單字拼湊埋一齊

Language isn't one, two or three words or letters put together.

It's an idea inside that relates to how we think,

語言係關乎我哋點樣思考

and how we see each other and how others see us.

我哋點睇其他人 其他人又點睇我哋

What is our intellect?

How do you say whether this guy understands or not?

咁樣，智力係指乜嘢？

你會點樣判斷人 明唔明白一樣嘢、聰唔聰明？

So, if I say, "Freedom, sovereignty, independence (English),"

如果我講「（英語）自由、尊嚴、獨立」

然後你個仔同你講

or if your son came up to you and said,

"Dad, have you lived through the period of the freedom (English) slogan?"

「爸爸，你經歷過 （英語）自由標語嘅時代嗎？」

How would you feel?

你會有咩感覺？

If you don't see a problem,

如果你唔覺得有問題

then I'd better leave, and stop talking in vain.

咁我都唔應該再講落去，費事嘥氣

The idea is that these expressions remind us of a specific thing.

啱啱嘅對話令我諗起一件事

I have a francophone friend who's married to a French man.

我有個識得講法文嘅朋友 嫁畀咗一個法國人

I asked her once how things were going.

有一次我問佢近況如何

She said, "Everything is fine,

佢話︰「一切都好好，但就有一次，

but once, I spent a whole night asking and trying to translate

我花咗成晚去向我老公解釋 阿拉伯文裡面『toqborni』嘅意思。」

the meaning of the word 'toqborni' for him."

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

（掌聲）

(Applause)

呢個可憐嘅女人唔小心 同佢講咗「toqborni」

The poor woman had mistakenly told him "toqborni,"

and then spent the whole night trying to explain it to him.

之後花咗成晚解釋個字

佢丈夫好困惑：

He was puzzled by the thought: "How could anyone be this cruel?

「（英語）點解會有人咁長氣 講個字嘅解釋呢？

佢想殺死我嗎？」

Does she want to commit suicide?

'Bury me?' (English)"

呢個只係其中一例咋

我個朋友冇可能會解釋得到

This is one of the few examples.

It made us feel that she's unable to tell that word to her husband,

since he won't understand,

因為佢老公實唔會明

唔明亦好合理

and he's right not to; his way of thinking is different.

因為兩個思維唔一樣

She said to me, "He listens to Fairuz with me,

我朋友同我講：

and one night, I tried to translate for him

「佢會陪我一齊聽 黎巴嫩歌手 Fairuz 啲歌。

有一晚，我嘗試譯畀佢聽，

so he can feel what I feel when I listen to Fairuz."

等佢體會下 我聽 Fairuz 嗰陣嘅感覺。」

The poor woman tried to translate this for him:

呢個可憐嘅女人嘗試咁樣譯：

"From them I extended my hands and stole you --"

「由佢哋，我伸隻手出嚟， 偷你嘅 ——」

（笑聲）

(Laughter)

呢句仲棘手：

And here's the pickle:

"And because you belong to them, I returned my hands and left you."

「因為你屬於佢哋， 我收返隻手，離開你」

(Laughter)

（笑聲）

Translate that for me.

唔該你哋譯咗佢嘞！

(Applause)

（掌聲）

So, what have we done to protect the Arabic language?

為咗阿拉伯話，我哋做過啲咩？

我哋令社會關注語言保護

We turned this into a concern of the civil society,

and we launched a campaign to preserve the Arabic language.

我哋發起咗一場運動保護阿拉伯話

Even though many people told me, "Why do you bother?

雖然好多人同我講 「你點解要攞苦嚟辛呢？

Forget about this headache and go have fun."

咪掂呢啲麻煩嘢啦， 輕鬆過下咪算囉。」

No problem!

冇所謂！

The campaign to preserve Arabic launched a slogan that says,

呢個運動有個口號：

"I talk to you from the East, but you reply from the West."

「我從東方向你說話， 你從西方回答我。」

We didn't say, "No! We do not accept this or that."

我哋冇話： 「唔得！我哋唔認同呢樣嗰樣。」

We didn't adopt this style because that way, we wouldn't be understood.

我哋冇咁樣講 咁樣盞更加冇人明白我哋

And when someone talks to me that way, I hate the Arabic language.

如果有人咁同我講嘢 我會憎咗呢個語言

We say--

我哋…

(Applause)

（掌聲）

We want to change our reality,

我哋想改變現狀

and be convinced in a way that reflects our dreams, aspirations and day-to-day life.

想堅守我哋嘅夢想、抱負同生活方式

In a way that dresses like us and thinks like we do.

就只係咁樣

So, "I talk to you from the East, but you reply from the West"

所以我哋話「我從東方向你說話， 你從西方回答我」

has hit the spot.

Something very easy, yet creative and persuasive.

呢句話講中曬

After that, we launched another campaign

呢句口號好簡單 但就好有創意同說服力

嗰次之後，我哋又發起另一個運動 我哋喺地下堆砌一啲字母出嚟

with scenes of letters on the ground.

You've seen an example of it outside,

你喺出面都睇到其中一個作品

a scene of a letter surrounded by black and yellow tape

一個字母被黑色同黃色膠紙圍封住

with "Don't kill your language!" written on it.

上面寫著「唔好殺死你嘅語言！」

Why? Seriously, don't kill your language.

點解？ 真係唔好毀滅你嘅語言

We really shouldn't kill our language.

我哋真係唔應該殺死我哋嘅母語

If we were to kill the language, we'd have to find an identity.

如果我哋失去咗我哋嘅母語

我哋就要搵返我哋嘅身份

We'd have to find an existence.

我哋就要搵返我哋存在嘅意義

We'd go back to the beginning.

以至到我哋要從頭開始

This is beyond just missing our chance of being modern and civilized.

我哋仲會失去造就現代文明社會嘅機會

After that we released photos of guys and girls wearing the Arabic letter.

之後，我哋發佈咗小朋友 身穿阿拉伯字母嘅相

Photos of "cool" guys and girls.

相裏面我哋用到 cool（酷）呢個英文字

We are very cool!

但如果有人話 「哈！你用咗英文嘅字！」

And to whoever might say, "Ha! You used an English word!"

I say, "No! I adopt the word 'cool.'"

我會答返

「唔係！我只係將 cool 呢個字 融會落去阿拉伯文。」

但如果佢哋堅持要反對就又得佢哋啦

Let them object however they want, but give me a word that's nicer

and matches the reality better.

我剩係知道我需要 更好、更切合現實嘅詞語

I will keep on saying "Internet"

所以我會繼續話「互聯網」

I wouldn't say: "I'm going to the world wide web"

而唔會話「我要去上世界萬維網」

(Laughs)

（笑聲）

因為嗰個字同現實脫節！

Because it doesn't fit! We shouldn't kid ourselves.

我哋唔應該喺度自欺欺人

But to reach this point, we all have to be convinced

但係講到呢度，我哋都應該認同

that we shouldn't allow anyone who is bigger

唔能夠畀任何有勢力過我哋

或者喺語言方面比我哋話得事嘅人

or thinks they have any authority over us when it comes to language,

控制我哋，逼我哋行佢哋嗰套

to control us or make us think and feel what they want.

Creativity is the idea.

創意係關鍵

So, if we can't reach space or build a rocket and so on,

即便我哋上唔到太空 唔能夠造到支火箭等等

we can be creative.

我哋仍然可以有創意

At this moment, every one of you is a creative project.

到呢一刻，你哋每個人 都係一個創意嘅項目

Creativity in your mother tongue is the path.

你母語裏面蘊含嘅創造力 就係我哋要遵循嘅道路

Let's start from this moment.

等我哋由宜家開始

Let's write a novel or produce a short film.

寫一部小說，拍一齣微電影

A single novel could make us global again.

一本小說就可能令我哋重新喺世界出名

It could bring the Arabic language back to being number one.

佢可能令阿拉伯語重返世界第一語言

邊個話冇出路！我哋有辦法！

So, it's not true that there's no solution; there is a solution!

But we have to know that, and be convinced that a solution exists,

但係我哋必須知道而且相信我哋有辦法

that we have a duty to be part of that solution.

同埋我哋有責任去執行呢啲辦法

In conclusion, what can you do today?

總結嚟講，你今日可以做啲咩？

Now, tweets, who's tweeting?

宜家，推特 邊個宜家喺度發緊推特貼文？

拜託，我求你 雖然我演講嘅時間好快完

Please, I beg of you, even though my time has finished,

either Arabic, English, French or Chinese.

唔理你用阿拉伯文、英文 法文，定係中文

But don't write Arabic with Latin characters mixed with numbers!

請唔好喺發阿拉伯文時 夾雜拉丁字母同數字！

(Applause)

（掌聲）

It's a disaster! That's not a language.

如果你咁做嘅話，係非常大鑊嘅！

因為你唔係用緊語言

You'd be entering a virtual world with a virtual language.

你只係喺虛擬世界用緊虛擬語言

It's not easy to come back from such a place and rise.

而且要由虛擬語言返返嚟係難嘅

That's the first thing we can do.

呢個係我哋可以做嘅第一件事

Second, there are many other things that we can do.

第二，仲有好多事可以做

We're not here today to convince each other.

我哋今天嚟到呢度唔係爲咗說服彼此

We're here to bring attention to the necessity of preserving this language.

而係爲咗令大家注意到 保護阿拉伯語有幾重要

Now I will tell you a secret.

宜家我要話畀你哋知一個秘密

A baby first identifies its father

嬰兒係通過語言第一次認出父親

through language.

當我個囡出生時，我會同佢講： 「（阿拉伯語）呢個係你爸爸，囡囡。」

When my daughter is born, I'll tell her, "This is your father, honey (Arabic)."

I wouldn't say, "This is your dad, honey (English)."

我唔會話： 「（英語）呢個係你爸爸，囡囡。」

And in the supermarket, I promise my daughter Noor,

喺超級市場，我同我個女 Noor 保證

如果佢用阿拉伯文同我講「多謝」

that if she says to me, "Thanks (Arabic),"

我唔會用法文同佢講 「你應該講『多謝你，媽咪』」

I won't say, "Dis, 'Merci, Maman,'" and hope no one has heard her.

然後希望冇人剛才聽到佢講阿拉伯語

(Applause)

（掌聲）

Let's get rid of this cultural cringe.

我哋一齊嚟擺脫文化上嘅卑躬屈膝！ 唔好再為我哋嘅文化而自卑！

(Applause)

（掌聲）