How to explain yourself in 600 words or less, part I

Q: Why are you studying Arabic?

A: Because I once had the opportunity to live in an Arab country, and I hated having a world closed off to me because I could not understand the language. For the glory of knowledge, and because it's fun! ;-)

Q: Oh, come on, you jumped on the bandwagon after September 11, 2001, didn't you.

A: No, not the way you mean. In 1998 I was teaching myself letters. In 1999, I bought a textbook from the used bookstore from which I would later teach myself a good deal of Modern Standard vocabulary and grammar. I participated in a Model League of Arab States in high school for a good 2 years before 9/11 and made sure to write the proper Arabic for my name to make my name tag truly bilingual. Oh, you mean that scholarship, don't you. Yes, I did take the opportunity for some funding for my education, as long as people were willing to dish it out.

Though my formal classroom training in Arabic did not begin until after September 11, 2001, through sheer coincidence, the desire existed long before. The nagging thoughts constantly at the back of my mind that said that if I did not learn Arabic, then I would be a lazy fool with a missed opportunity that would haunt me the rest of my life.

Do you know what happens to those who are only learning Arabic so they can join the Special Forces? We jeer them mercilessly and try to force them out of their classes. I remember one idiot (he was academically smart but he was very foolish) who refused to learn Jordanian Arabic. He refused to ever try to speak a word of it, and we all felt very embarrassed at being out in public with him, making the rest of us all look like tools. When asked, he told us that he didn't need Jordanian Arabic, since he only needed Modern standard for a military proficiency test, and if it wasn't Iraqi dialect, then he didn't need it. Idiot. Knowing one dialect makes it easier to learn a second. Languages are to foster communication and understanding, and are not to be used merely as tools for destruction, bearing in mind that at times there is a legitimate need to to have translation to protect national security.