[Revert]

Originally Posted by Salahadeen

Dear sister,

I don't think you should use such aggressive language. Would it not be better to say "I think people should learn the language of the land" or "it would be really good for them to do that" or something with soft language...

Instead your statement is very harsh and comes across as intolerant and xenophobic...it sounds like the words of an anti-immigrant republican.

There are so many old people who move to America to be with their families...do you really expect these people to learn the language?

In regards to the thread in general, I think it is insulting in general. First off, almost all scholars living in the West do speak English...some have broken English but they do know the basics...some more than others...

But to point to them in an accusatory tone...well, this is not appropriate. If you have such a big problem, then go become an Islamic scholar yourself. It only takes about six years or so.

WIth all due respect brother..the sister is right in what she is saying. English is the easiest language to learn and master as it is in Roman script and it has no masculine and feminine contexts. Its hard to master Colloquial dialects though. My in laws came to America not knowing one word of English, yet they managed to learn it from watching TV, not bad for uneducated village dwellers, a highly respected and widely educated scholar should have no problem learning English.

I stand by the opinion that if you intend to stay in a certain country and its language differs from yours, then you should learn it.

I understand that many do speak English of varying levels, there are some that don't though. If they are visiting on a lecture tour, thats not a problem as a translator can be accuired.

[iSHi]

Originally Posted by roberto

Hm , but how would the Shiekhs know if the tranlation was correct?

Well I can't speak for all, but the ones I know, even my old halaqa teacher was very shy to speak englsih in front of us during class. They understand everything but aren't confident with their speech. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

[Laimuun]

yes.

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[MuslimZ]

Originally Posted by Laimuun

yes.

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[Variable]

Originally Posted by Revert

WIth all due respect brother..the sister is right in what she is saying. English is the easiest language to learn and master as it is in Roman script and it has no masculine and feminine contexts.

I would've agreed with that until I started learning another language - and realized that while other languages are full of masculine and feminine forms - whacky pronouns, cases and moods... English is full of it's own pitfalls that we don't realize. It's really pretty frustrating for new learners. Among other things, I heard in a book one exasperated student say "English is the only language in which you chop a tree down, and then chop it up" hahah.

And the fact that we use the Latin alphabet isn't really a big help when people are learning English - ask a Spanish speaker to pronounce 'muscles' or 'endeavor' or 'bathe' if they'd never seen them written before, and it becomes fast apparent. Get them to sound out a word like 'knight' and they'll be like "who came up with this language??"

In any case, I have nothing but the utmost respect for anyone who's moved to another country and learned the language as an adult. I can also understand why someone might choose not to learn the local language, but I'd have to say that person would never be me.

[roberto]

Originally Posted by iSHi

Well I can't speak for all, but the ones I know, even my old halaqa teacher was very shy to speak englsih in front of us during class. They understand everything but aren't confident with their speech. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

Thanks for the sorry ,but I do not know what it is your sorry about, guess I'm thick