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If you''ve ever studied a foreign language, you know what happens when you first truly and clearly communicate with another person. As Zora O''Neill recalls, you feel like a magician. If that foreign language is Arabic, you just might feel like a wizard. They say that Arabic takes seven years to learn and a lifetime to master. O''Neill had put in her time. Steeped in grammar tomes and out-dated textbooks, she faced an increasing certainty that she was not only failing to master Arabic, but also driving herself crazy. She took a decade-long hiatus, but couldn''t shake her fascination with the language or the cultures it had opened up to her. So she decided to jump back in-this time with a new approach. Join O''Neill for a grand tour through the Middle East. You will laugh with her in Egypt, delight in the stories she passes on from the United Arab Emirates, and find yourself transformed by her experiences in Lebanon and Morocco. She''s packed her dictionaries, her unsinkable sense of humor, and her talent for making fast friends of strangers. From quiet, bougainvillea-lined streets to the lively buzz of crowded medinas, from families'' homes to local hotspots, she brings a part of the world that is thousands of miles away right to your door. A natural storyteller with an eye for the deeply absurd and the deeply human, Zora O''Neill explores the indelible links between culture and communication. A powerful testament to the dynamism of language, All Strangers Are Kin reminds us that learning another tongue leaves you rich with so much more than words.>
List of contents
Prologue
EGYPT
Empty Talk
Inside the Word Factory
A Prophecy
Two Tongues
See What We Did
Where’s Your Ear?
Days of Rage
Hidden Fingers
Illuminating the House
Graduation Day
THE GULF
Knowledge Village
Practical, Fashion, Extreme
When Your Ear Hears
Eau de Facebook
What He Did Not Know
Heritage Club
The Best People
Supreme Poets
Develop!
LEBANON
The New Beirut
What Is the Rule?
We Don’t Talk about Politics Here
Almost a Dead Language
Your Mother
Easy—but Not Good
The Weird Uncle
Pierre and His Friends
We Have Not Taught the Prophet the Price
Land of Thorns
MOROCCO
Daddy, Mommy, Gramps
The Place Where the Sun Sets
You Pour the Tea
God Is Beautiful
Speaking Mexican
Let’s Chat in Arabic
Sweet Sensation
Up in the Old Hotel
What Is the Name of This?
Crossing the Bridge
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
Notes
About the author
Zora O'Neill is a freelance travel and food writer. Her work has appeared in The New Yorker, the New York Times, and Condé Nast Traveler, and she has written or contributed to more than a dozen titles for Rough Guides, Lonely Planet, and Moon. She lives in Queens, New York.
www.rovinggastronome.com
Summary
Winner of the 2017 SATW Lowell Thomas Award for Best Travel Book
They say that Arabic takes seven years to learn and a lifetime to master. O’Neill had put in her time. Steeped in grammar tomes and outdated textbooks, she faced an increasing certainty that she was not only failing to master Arabic, but also driving herself crazy. She took a decade-long hiatus, but couldn’t shake her fascination with the language or the cultures it had opened up to her. So she decided to jump back in—this time with a new approach.
Join O’Neill for a grand tour through the Middle East. You will laugh with her in Egypt, delight in the stories she passes on from the United Arab Emirates, and find yourself transformed by her experiences in Lebanon and Morocco. She’s packed her dictionaries, her unsinkable sense of humor, and her talent for making fast friends of strangers. From quiet, bougainvillea-lined streets to the lively buzz of crowded medinas, from families’ homes to local hotspots, she brings a part of the world that is thousands of miles away right to your door.
A natural storyteller with an eye for the deeply absurd and the deeply human, Zora O’Neill explores the indelible links between culture and communication. A powerful testament to the dynamism of language, All Strangers Are Kin reminds us that learning another tongue leaves you rich with so much more than words.
Foreword
The illuminating and entertaining account of one woman's attempts to really get to grips with the Arabic language
