Saturday, July 30, 2011

Sherin, or #Sorani, #Arabic, #English and #Dutch

As Sherin grew up, she learned Soranî at her parents knee. Her family moved to Baghdad, and she learned Arabic at school; reading and writing. She graduated from university, learned English, and when continued living become impossible in Iraq, she escaped with her life and her family and ended up in the Netherlands learning Dutch.

Sherin was at a party and was pleasantly surprised that someone even knew that Kurdish consists of several languages. We talked about her language and I learned of her regret that she never learned to read and write Soranî.

There is a Wikipedia in Soranî and Sherin would be really happy to contribute, she has the skills, knows and loves her language and she is willing to learn.

There are many people like Sherin, competent people, knowledgeable, friendly people who are illiterate in their language. It would be great to have courses or know about courses that teach adults to read and then to write their mother tongue.
Thanks,
      GerardM

3 comments:

Amir said...

I'm confused: Does she know the language or not?

GerardM said...

Sherin is a native speaker. She is however illiterate in her own language.
Thanks,
GerardM

Amir said...

Oh, my bad.

And while i'm here: nesiá tová - bon voyage.