Narrative Essay On Neo-Aramaic

A flashback from my early years brings to mind the well-known etiological myth of the Tower of Babel. In this myth, human beings once spoke the same language, and they tried to build a city with a sky-piercing tower as a manifestation of their defiance of God. However, they never reached their goal as God punished them and made them speak different languages in a fortuitous spectrum of cultures. This anecdote echoes my early childhood years in the sense that I spoke a language different from that of the majority, and my efforts to build friendships with other children were often met with failure due to miscommunication. Nevertheless, being a speaker of Neo-Aramaic was not a dead-end road. As the famous Italian film director Fellini puts
I lacked the courage to interact with them fearing the possibility of mocking my broken Arabic. Over time, this fear of being rejected started to vanish, and finally decided to make a move, but the linguistic gap was too vast to maintain short-lived friendships. These fruitless attempts made me even more curious and motivated to be part of their world, and the only way to do so was through mastering Arabic. Luckily, I grew up in a family that appreciates cultural and linguistics diversity. Although we exclusively speak Neo-Aramaic at home to preserve this old language, my parents always pushed me and sought authentic opportunities to immerse me in the community. Their approach was similar to that of the Russian Psychologist Vygotsky who believed that social interaction could facilitate children’s acquisition of particular language skills, such as speaking and listening, that enable them to navigate successfully in their respective societies. Therefore, they took me to the market and social events, especially weddings where I had the chance to mingle with other
When school started, I was among the few top, active students who received high grades in all subjects. By the end of elementary school, I became a proud Arabic native speaker, and in high school I offered tutoring sessions to help fellow students with complex Arabic grammar and other scientific subjects. My love for languages and cultures did not fade away with the mastery of Arabic. I was equally attracted to the beautiful sounds and global status of the English language. Making use of every available learning resource, I became a good English user, and a lot of struggling students turned to me for help. Those remedial sessions along with my experience as a language learner made me realize the endless rewards of acquiring (learning?) a new language. When I graduated from high school, I had a crystal clear picture of what my career path would look like, and that was becoming a language