I think reducing the French language’s origins in Lebanon to the mandate is unfortunate. French has been a living language in Lebanon since the crusades, and missionaries held an important role in spreading it
Understanding and speaking multiple languages is a blessing. And it is part of what makes Lebanon unique. At the end of the day, Arabic is the only official language of the Republic, but it is interesting to see how Armenian, English, and French are used in daily life in Lebanon.
I'm Japanese and we never get a chance to talk in English during formal education because there's almost no one who can speak English fluently. We learn grammar so some of us can text messages like this, but not talking. From my point of view being able to speak 3 languages is like a dream and I'm really jealous of Lebanese people coz they can acquire those languages through formal education. It feels miserable when I have to have conversations in English because I look real stupid when I speak English... But there must be struggles I don't know that multilingual people have to go through. So I can't say it with confidence, but still I think it's a great blessing. Thank you for your video, I didn't know much about Lebanon's language situation so it was really interesting!
@@jejeje-y3w I grew up in rural turkey with no one speaking english anywhere near fluently but ive been terminally online since age 8 so i improved my fluency through heavy exposure to english media, im sure you can get better at speaking by listening to more english content and trying to mimic their pronunciations! 頑張ってね！
Hello 👋 I’m Turkish Cypriot. We used to be a British Crown Colony until 1960. For our community the old generation live a trilingualism between English, Turkish and Greek while young people use Turkish and English in their lives with few Greek words. I went to an English speaking school where the material and exam was in English and the lessons were held in both languages. In terms of colonial nostalgia, I see it in some aspects in older generations even though many of them were either children during independence or have never seen colonial rule at this point. My mother used to say “We didn’t have man or women in English time, we had husband and wife” She refuses to elaborate on what that means but it basically means “they had family values back then”. No one actually supports colonisation but you can hear old people say things like “English knew how to get a job done” or “they had a working system” Also as a side note, I was once watching an Arabic teenager tv series and noticed girls there calling each other “b*tch”. It seemed funny to me that an Arabic speaking person would swear in English. “q*hba” just sounds much better than “b*tch” lol.
@@ismailtaskran9740 omg a turkish cypriot!! I'd like to ask, would you say speaking turkish in the cypriot dialect is more popular or is there more of an effort to use istanbul turkish? in turkey itself dialects are dying off pretty quickly among young people (Im the only one among my friends who uses dialect in daily life lol) but since cyprus is its own country I've been wondering about you guys' views on this
@ Though I’ve never lived in Turkey, I can more or less say that the local dialect is much more common among young people than it is in Turkey. The government of North uses TDK as the standard Turkish for written affairs but vocally the dialect is still dominant in national assembly. Obviously whether you’re a cityboy like me or a rural person also effects your speech and some places talk in ways that other people of Cyprus even find it hard to understand(Omorfolular ve Dillirolar). Because of all the media I consumed in childhood effected my speech I myself have been criticized by my family for being a “Gaco”(semi-pejorative term we use for people of Turkey, it was originally used by Romanis to refer to non-Romani people) and was told to stop speaking “Türkiyelice” I don’t know how to even translate “Türkiyelice” to English, “Turkey language”? Though we are also not 100% pure in localism, it’s still taken in higher value to speak in Cypriot dialect rather than İstanbul dialect within the community.
The uniqueness of Lebanon's multilingualism is often exaggerated by the Lebanese (especially given that a whole host of other post-colonial Arab states - Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria - are undergoing a similar shift from Arabic-French bilingualism to Arabic-English-French trilingualism, to most likely arrive at a stable Arabic-English bilingualism, at least that's my perspective from a foreign British standpoint). Tangentially, there's an increasingly common phenomenon in the developing world (including Lebanon) of people who largely undergo their secondary and tertiary education in a foreign languages of finally not being able to acquire native-like proficiency in any of them - i.e the percentage of Lebanese people who can speak English or French as well as a native is trifling, but a majority of them aren't particularly able in MSA either - which can potentially have troubling intellectual consequences on a society. Of course French is an identity marker for the Maronites and perhaps other Christians more generally - easy to see given the proliferation of French names amongst them, but this obvious linguistic insecurity around Arabic has always befuddled me given the extensive liturgical use of Arabic in the Maronite tradition (both liturgy and hymns), I mean make up your mind!
To me, knowing as many languages as possible is always a blessing. However, I understand why it can be seen as a curse at the national level, especially when there are issues with leadership and policy. When managed well, though, multilingualism can be a significant advantage. Good examples include Singapore, Switzerland, and many others.
According to Nassim Taleb, the French language and French cultural influence in Lebanon is an inheritance from the Ottoman Empire which were huge Francophiles.
Even here in France, we have conservative nostalgists who say that the level of proficiency in French of the younger generations has been steadily declining since 1968 or whatever. And funny enough, they often point their fingers at Arabic and English. That said, while English is now taught everywhere, a lot of people still struggle with it. And Arabic is surprisingly hard to come by, despite the large Arab population here.
Bravo aleyk! This is an interesting topic and I appreciate very much how you presented it. Growing up in the US of Lebanese and Syrian family, I find myself conflicted on much of what you shared and find that I am compartmentalizing certain topics/concepts in one particular language and representative of the local and larger communites of that given language and cultural tendencies, so I truly feel a pull in different directions and that can be enriching as well as conflicting at times. Thank you for such a presentation.
Forte communauté libanaise a Montreal et on pourait rajouter beaucoup de pays africains francophone.. Si en plus on ajoute ls Bresil ou on parle portugais mais qui est une langue de la meme famille latine que le francais
Am Tunisian and we suffer from the same predicament (minus the religious diversity), trilingualism is heavily endorsed and even imposed at times to a point where a majority of tunisians especially younger generations are unable to conversate fully in their native language without using loan words which has enormous reprecutions on character and personality development and can even cause an identity crisis. It is very beneficial to speak multiple languages but it should never be on the expense of your native one.
Interesting video. Personally I feel like French and English are given much more priority and status compared to Arabic and it is even not legal, to my knowledge, to teach important subjects like science and maths in Arabic while there are plenty of English or French medium schools where you would get very little exposure to Arabic. Also in universities English and French are the overwhelming languages of instruction. If things continue as they are right now I think Arabic might be overtaken by French and English in certain communities (probably also closely linked with religion and class) entirely further dividing an already divided country and distancing the people from their history and traditions. Anyway I would say that I think they should make it legal and available to be taught with Arabic as MOI entirely if one prefers for all levels primary to tertiary etc. دمتم بخير وسلامٌ عليكم 🫡
@Patrick.Khoury I am hoping it helps the algorithm too 🙂↕️ Also I forgot to add that I think learning multiple languages is good just that I think that some are being prioritized over others where the others includes the native/heritage language. Anyhow Merry Christmas one day in advance 🥳
There is a Lebanese guy in my university. He said he liked English and French lessons but not Arabic because he didn’t feel like he was learning due to standard Arabic not being a spoken language. Also, as a note-opinion, I think changing the academic language is a risky idea especially now that even France is leaving away its strict approach against English as I’m hearing second-hand from some friends.
same here in Malaysia, we always combined English and Malay in our conversation and never be fluent to any each. Sometimes we really hope to be a monolingual country😅
One of my favorite Brazilian writers is the late Hilda Hilst, and she once said that “one is not allowed to think in Portuguese. It’s great to think in English and German, but in Portuguese… they can’t accept it.” and I think it’s similar to how you described the role of the French language in Lebanon and how some basic human experiences, like education, were reserved to a limited group who speaks that prestige language.
Very intersting topic, sounds challenging to live that way day by day... How much do you feel that language contributes to divides between the different sects? It was mentioned briefly and I wondered how much is that an obstacle to unifying the nation.
you can literally call every bilingual country in the world "trilingual" by including the lingua franca of the world - English, as one of the languages. is Moldova trilingual? is Ukraine trilingual?
English is used in Lebanese society and politics to an extent you'd never see in Moldova or Ukraine. You don't see people on local news speaking a mix of Ukrainian and English or giving political rallies using English like you would in Lebanon.
Actually, I would argue it's 3.5 Since there is a difference between Levantine Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic, and correct me if I'm wrong, but Lebanese people are expected to understand Modern Standard Arabic as well
You are right about Lebanese Arabic and MSA being very different. However, MSA is only a written language and is reserved for official texts, religion, and literature, among others. No one in Lebanon speaks MSA on the streets. But interesting observation, nonetheless! Peace from Lebanon.
@@Patrick.Khourynon-Arabic speaker here - is Levantine Arabic widely enough understood across the wider Arabic speaking world, or do you speak something closer to Fusha/MSA when talking to speakers of other Arabic dialects?
@@TedMackey Levantine Arabic is understandable to the countries nearby. Of course you would have to explain a word or sentence here and there. It's not close to Fusha. People from Maghreb, north Africa (not Egypt), Sudan may not understand it at all.
@@crazyspider17 I was thinking the same thing. Surely the emphasis on French and English in formal academic contexts must mean that many Lebanese lack proficiency in MSA?
MSA is useless in real life, every country should develop their particular Arabic language because they are not dialects, but real different languages, then we could really use our languages without complexes,@@schadenfreude000
This sentiment is not really present in South Africa, with 12 official languages (though really more like 4 are used). Perhaps this is because it is a consequence of many multiple groups of people forming the country, rather than a few groups and successive colonialists.
Qué extraño, pues a mí me sale en español. Quizá algún traductor lo traduce de forma automática. En cualquier caso enhorabuena por tus vídeos, son muy interesantes. Un abrazo fuerte desde España.
We in india are also trilingual and none of us do not consider it as handicap. But have a sense of pride. Infact our curriculum has 3 language formula and eveyone has to learn 2 mandatory languages of the region and 1 of your choice. You should do same. Problem you listed may be big for a small country but can be easily solved by strong family aka societal support. Not everything school has to teach.
@marcosffontes not exactly . That's why I did not go in details. Education is concurrent subject in india i.e. union and state govt both have responsibilities in this field and both run their own boards and schools. So while schools run by union govt has hindi and english has mandatory subject. Third subject is choice. Some student choose local language ,some foreign language like french german and others sanskrit. On other hand, state choose their own mandatory languages. Some hindi and english. Some english and local language while others can choose any of 22 scheduled language as mandatory languages. Third language is choice which school provide to students as per faculties available.
It shouldn't be a curse.. it depends on the individual how they forsee it.. if he or she is too narrow minded then it's a curse. You can always keep your identity while speaking several languages.. take for example Switzerland and Belgium, they also speak several languages but they don't fight or battle with each other.. on the contrary, they feel blessed to use this diversity to advance in the world globalization.
This is all very nice, but Lebanon belongs to the greater Israel plan, so soon it will not need Arabic, french could be optional. Just English may remain as a 2nd language.
From an outsider's perspective, Lebanon appears to be a deeply divided country where 'tribalism' has rendered any hope of national unity a fragile concept with little practical application. In France, for example, only French is recognized as the national language, despite the existence of older regional languages. This decision was made to prioritize unity as a foundation for the republic. Similarly, France adopted secularism to move beyond religious wars and divisions. In Lebanon's case, however, its trilingualism is yet another obstacle to achieving national unity and pursuing common goals, further entrenching the country in eternal sectarianism. On top of that, the confessional political system-which divides power among various religious sects-is a complete disaster, rewarding tribal representation over merit and undermining the effectiveness of policies critical to the nation’s progress. Hence, Lebanon doesn’t need 3, 4, or 5 languages to make it more 'connected' to others. What it urgently needs is one language-whatever it may be-that speaks to all its citizens, regardless of history, religion, tribal affiliation, political adherence, or class. Without this (added to the other problems), it is doomed to remain a failed state. And let’s not forget: citizenship should be granted to the Palestinians who have lived there for generations without being integrated into the national landscape.
I spent last Christmas in Algeria - regular people in the street didn't speak French (for instance a barber I went to, waiters in coffee shops etc.), which surprised me (rather pleasantly actually).
@@DelfinaKS Of course English is the new lingua franca. The window of opportunity for French in that respect closed many decades ago. How can a language that has more speakers outside of France than inside be dying outside of France?
Children should learn in Arabic only in grammar school. You can introduce foreign languages after that. Fluency comes with practice, otherwise you will end up creating a new language.
I think reducing the French language’s origins in Lebanon to the mandate is unfortunate. French has been a living language in Lebanon since the crusades, and missionaries held an important role in spreading it
Understanding and speaking multiple languages is a blessing. And it is part of what makes Lebanon unique. At the end of the day, Arabic is the only official language of the Republic, but it is interesting to see how Armenian, English, and French are used in daily life in Lebanon.
This is what makes Lebanon uniquely, Lebanon.
I didn't know English was THAT common in Lebanon, I'm shocked. Very interesting video, thank you!
I'm Japanese and we never get a chance to talk in English during formal education because there's almost no one who can speak English fluently. We learn grammar so some of us can text messages like this, but not talking. From my point of view being able to speak 3 languages is like a dream and I'm really jealous of Lebanese people coz they can acquire those languages through formal education. It feels miserable when I have to have conversations in English because I look real stupid when I speak English...
But there must be struggles I don't know that multilingual people have to go through. So I can't say it with confidence, but still I think it's a great blessing.
Thank you for your video, I didn't know much about Lebanon's language situation so it was really interesting!
@@jejeje-y3w I grew up in rural turkey with no one speaking english anywhere near fluently but ive been terminally online since age 8 so i improved my fluency through heavy exposure to english media, im sure you can get better at speaking by listening to more english content and trying to mimic their pronunciations! 頑張ってね！
@kankankankankankankan
That's great. Heavy exposure definitely is a key. Thank you.Teşekkürler
Hello 👋 I’m Turkish Cypriot. We used to be a British Crown Colony until 1960. For our community the old generation live a trilingualism between English, Turkish and Greek while young people use Turkish and English in their lives with few Greek words. I went to an English speaking school where the material and exam was in English and the lessons were held in both languages. In terms of colonial nostalgia, I see it in some aspects in older generations even though many of them were either children during independence or have never seen colonial rule at this point. My mother used to say “We didn’t have man or women in English time, we had husband and wife” She refuses to elaborate on what that means but it basically means “they had family values back then”. No one actually supports colonisation but you can hear old people say things like “English knew how to get a job done” or “they had a working system”
Also as a side note, I was once watching an Arabic teenager tv series and noticed girls there calling each other “b*tch”. It seemed funny to me that an Arabic speaking person would swear in English. “q*hba” just sounds much better than “b*tch” lol.
@@ismailtaskran9740 omg a turkish cypriot!! I'd like to ask, would you say speaking turkish in the cypriot dialect is more popular or is there more of an effort to use istanbul turkish? in turkey itself dialects are dying off pretty quickly among young people (Im the only one among my friends who uses dialect in daily life lol) but since cyprus is its own country I've been wondering about you guys' views on this
@ Though I’ve never lived in Turkey, I can more or less say that the local dialect is much more common among young people than it is in Turkey. The government of North uses TDK as the standard Turkish for written affairs but vocally the dialect is still dominant in national assembly. Obviously whether you’re a cityboy like me or a rural person also effects your speech and some places talk in ways that other people of Cyprus even find it hard to understand(Omorfolular ve Dillirolar).
Because of all the media I consumed in childhood effected my speech I myself have been criticized by my family for being a “Gaco”(semi-pejorative term we use for people of Turkey, it was originally used by Romanis to refer to non-Romani people) and was told to stop speaking “Türkiyelice” I don’t know how to even translate “Türkiyelice” to English, “Turkey language”?
Though we are also not 100% pure in localism, it’s still taken in higher value to speak in Cypriot dialect rather than İstanbul dialect within the community.
The uniqueness of Lebanon's multilingualism is often exaggerated by the Lebanese (especially given that a whole host of other post-colonial Arab states - Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria - are undergoing a similar shift from Arabic-French bilingualism to Arabic-English-French trilingualism, to most likely arrive at a stable Arabic-English bilingualism, at least that's my perspective from a foreign British standpoint).
Tangentially, there's an increasingly common phenomenon in the developing world (including Lebanon) of people who largely undergo their secondary and tertiary education in a foreign languages of finally not being able to acquire native-like proficiency in any of them - i.e the percentage of Lebanese people who can speak English or French as well as a native is trifling, but a majority of them aren't particularly able in MSA either - which can potentially have troubling intellectual consequences on a society.
Of course French is an identity marker for the Maronites and perhaps other Christians more generally - easy to see given the proliferation of French names amongst them, but this obvious linguistic insecurity around Arabic has always befuddled me given the extensive liturgical use of Arabic in the Maronite tradition (both liturgy and hymns), I mean make up your mind!
To me, knowing as many languages as possible is always a blessing. However, I understand why it can be seen as a curse at the national level, especially when there are issues with leadership and policy. When managed well, though, multilingualism can be a significant advantage. Good examples include Singapore, Switzerland, and many others.
According to Nassim Taleb, the French language and French cultural influence in Lebanon is an inheritance from the Ottoman Empire which were huge Francophiles.
Same thing in Algeria. Some would even switch between 4 languages (Berber+Arabic+French+English).
English pas trop....arabe français oui. Mais berbère plutôt dans la région des aures et kabylie
@@neoqueen4270 english parmi les jeunes
Pareil en Belgique, surtout à Bruxelles: français, flamand et souvent une troisième langue
@@neoqueen4270 le dialecte Algérien est rempli de mots berbères.
Even here in France, we have conservative nostalgists who say that the level of proficiency in French of the younger generations has been steadily declining since 1968 or whatever. And funny enough, they often point their fingers at Arabic and English.
That said, while English is now taught everywhere, a lot of people still struggle with it. And Arabic is surprisingly hard to come by, despite the large Arab population here.
Bravo aleyk! This is an interesting topic and I appreciate very much how you presented it. Growing up in the US of Lebanese and Syrian family, I find myself conflicted on much of what you shared and find that I am compartmentalizing certain topics/concepts in one particular language and representative of the local and larger communites of that given language and cultural tendencies, so I truly feel a pull in different directions and that can be enriching as well as conflicting at times. Thank you for such a presentation.
Glad you liked it! Peace from Lebanon 💚
Peace, enchallah. Merci, kheyeh. Allah ma'ak.
Why is it that the French Mandate seems to have left more of a mark (culturally and linguistically) on Lebanon than on Syria?
I have a friend from Lebanon who is Armenian and thus speaks:
Arabic
Armenian
English
French
German.
Total beast
Forte communauté libanaise a Montreal et on pourait rajouter beaucoup de pays africains francophone.. Si en plus on ajoute ls Bresil ou on parle portugais mais qui est une langue de la meme famille latine que le francais
Am Tunisian and we suffer from the same predicament (minus the religious diversity), trilingualism is heavily endorsed and even imposed at times to a point where a majority of tunisians especially younger generations are unable to conversate fully in their native language without using loan words which has enormous reprecutions on character and personality development and can even cause an identity crisis. It is very beneficial to speak multiple languages but it should never be on the expense of your native one.
@@AladinBenTerzi Religious diversity is not a good thing. There was a religious diversity in my country but it didn't work after some point.
I've been to Tunisia, and no one I ever interacted with spoke French at a fluent level.
Interesting video. Personally I feel like French and English are given much more priority and status compared to Arabic and it is even not legal, to my knowledge, to teach important subjects like science and maths in Arabic while there are plenty of English or French medium schools where you would get very little exposure to Arabic. Also in universities English and French are the overwhelming languages of instruction.
If things continue as they are right now I think Arabic might be overtaken by French and English in certain communities (probably also closely linked with religion and class) entirely further dividing an already divided country and distancing the people from their history and traditions.
Anyway I would say that I think they should make it legal and available to be taught with Arabic as MOI entirely if one prefers for all levels primary to tertiary etc.
دمتم بخير وسلامٌ عليكم 🫡
Thank you for your informative input! Much appreciated. 😊
@Patrick.Khoury I am hoping it helps the algorithm too 🙂↕️ Also I forgot to add that I think learning multiple languages is good just that I think that some are being prioritized over others where the others includes the native/heritage language. Anyhow Merry Christmas one day in advance 🥳
@@frasenp8411 Exactly! Merry Christmas to you too! It does help the algorithm hehe..shukran habibi!
There is a Lebanese guy in my university. He said he liked English and French lessons but not Arabic because he didn’t feel like he was learning due to standard Arabic not being a spoken language.
Also, as a note-opinion, I think changing the academic language is a risky idea especially now that even France is leaving away its strict approach against English as I’m hearing second-hand from some friends.
same here in Malaysia, we always combined English and Malay in our conversation and never be fluent to any each. Sometimes we really hope to be a monolingual country😅
@@jawijawijawi5047 But maybe this is what makes Malaysia...unique?
@Patrick.Khoury true😊
How did french gain so much prominence in only 23 years of direct french rule?
J'espère sincèrement que le français va continuer à prospérer et à se développer au Liban au lieu de l'anglais
Je l'espère également..🥹
J'espère évaporer ce fardeau colonial !
One of my favorite Brazilian writers is the late Hilda Hilst, and she once said that “one is not allowed to think in Portuguese. It’s great to think in English and German, but in Portuguese… they can’t accept it.” and I think it’s similar to how you described the role of the French language in Lebanon and how some basic human experiences, like education, were reserved to a limited group who speaks that prestige language.
Great vid. Thank you
Glad you liked it!
Very intersting topic, sounds challenging to live that way day by day... How much do you feel that language contributes to divides between the different sects? It was mentioned briefly and I wondered how much is that an obstacle to unifying the nation.
you can literally call every bilingual country in the world "trilingual" by including the lingua franca of the world - English, as one of the languages.
is Moldova trilingual? is Ukraine trilingual?
They are both trilingual if they can speak English, Russian, and their language.
English is used in Lebanese society and politics to an extent you'd never see in Moldova or Ukraine. You don't see people on local news speaking a mix of Ukrainian and English or giving political rallies using English like you would in Lebanon.
Actually, I would argue it's 3.5 Since there is a difference between Levantine Arabic
and Modern Standard Arabic, and correct me if I'm wrong, but Lebanese people are expected to understand Modern Standard Arabic as well
You are right about Lebanese Arabic and MSA being very different. However, MSA is only a written language and is reserved for official texts, religion, and literature, among others. No one in Lebanon speaks MSA on the streets. But interesting observation, nonetheless! Peace from Lebanon.
@@Patrick.Khourynon-Arabic speaker here - is Levantine Arabic widely enough understood across the wider Arabic speaking world, or do you speak something closer to Fusha/MSA when talking to speakers of other Arabic dialects?
@@TedMackey Levantine Arabic is understandable to the countries nearby. Of course you would have to explain a word or sentence here and there. It's not close to Fusha. People from Maghreb, north Africa (not Egypt), Sudan may not understand it at all.
@@crazyspider17 I was thinking the same thing. Surely the emphasis on French and English in formal academic contexts must mean that many Lebanese lack proficiency in MSA?
MSA is useless in real life, every country should develop their particular Arabic language because they are not dialects, but real different languages, then we could really use our languages without complexes,@@schadenfreude000
This sentiment is not really present in South Africa, with 12 official languages (though really more like 4 are used). Perhaps this is because it is a consequence of many multiple groups of people forming the country, rather than a few groups and successive colonialists.
Well done!
@@PatriciaAudreyHakim Merci ma chère Patitoupata 💚
@ us patitous stick together!♥️
@@PatriciaAudreyHakim Ouiiii 🥰
¿Por qué el título de tu vídeo es en Español si luego el vídeo es en inglés?
@@Instruisto31 El título no es en Español
@@Instruisto31 Es en inglés
Qué extraño, pues a mí me sale en español. Quizá algún traductor lo traduce de forma automática. En cualquier caso enhorabuena por tus vídeos, son muy interesantes. Un abrazo fuerte desde España.
زياد رحباني قال أنه في لبنان ببعرفوا من الفرنسي أول ٥ دقائق منه.
He is so handsome
We in india are also trilingual and none of us do not consider it as handicap. But have a sense of pride.
Infact our curriculum has 3 language formula and eveyone has to learn 2 mandatory languages of the region and 1 of your choice.
You should do same. Problem you listed may be big for a small country but can be easily solved by strong family aka societal support. Not everything school has to teach.
Hindi, English and language of the region???
@marcosffontes not exactly . That's why I did not go in details. Education is concurrent subject in india i.e. union and state govt both have responsibilities in this field and both run their own boards and schools.
So while schools run by union govt has hindi and english has mandatory subject. Third subject is choice. Some student choose local language ,some foreign language like french german and others sanskrit.
On other hand, state choose their own mandatory languages. Some hindi and english.
Some english and local language while others can choose any of 22 scheduled language as mandatory languages.
Third language is choice which school provide to students as per faculties available.
It shouldn't be a curse.. it depends on the individual how they forsee it.. if he or she is too narrow minded then it's a curse. You can always keep your identity while speaking several languages.. take for example Switzerland and Belgium, they also speak several languages but they don't fight or battle with each other.. on the contrary, they feel blessed to use this diversity to advance in the world globalization.
Belgium is probably the worse example you could you have picked.
Us moroccans are trying to up you, we've got amazigh on top 😆
You are not on your own. Vous n'etes pas le seul. Come to Belgium!!
Trilingualism is nice.
Knowing languages can be useful.
How about being sextilingual?
This is all very nice, but Lebanon belongs to the greater Israel plan, so soon it will not need Arabic, french could be optional. Just English may remain as a 2nd language.
From an outsider's perspective, Lebanon appears to be a deeply divided country where 'tribalism' has rendered any hope of national unity a fragile concept with little practical application. In France, for example, only French is recognized as the national language, despite the existence of older regional languages. This decision was made to prioritize unity as a foundation for the republic. Similarly, France adopted secularism to move beyond religious wars and divisions.
In Lebanon's case, however, its trilingualism is yet another obstacle to achieving national unity and pursuing common goals, further entrenching the country in eternal sectarianism. On top of that, the confessional political system-which divides power among various religious sects-is a complete disaster, rewarding tribal representation over merit and undermining the effectiveness of policies critical to the nation’s progress.
Hence, Lebanon doesn’t need 3, 4, or 5 languages to make it more 'connected' to others. What it urgently needs is one language-whatever it may be-that speaks to all its citizens, regardless of history, religion, tribal affiliation, political adherence, or class. Without this (added to the other problems), it is doomed to remain a failed state. And let’s not forget: citizenship should be granted to the Palestinians who have lived there for generations without being integrated into the national landscape.
Just pick a lane and stay in it. At least for official purposes.
Por eso al Líbano les va tan bien 😂😂 That's why Lebanon is doing so well 😂😂
No matter you like it or not, French is dying outside France. English is the new Lingua Franca. Get used to it!
@@DelfinaKS 😲😲
Statistics show that's not the case.
@@vexator19 What stats?
I spent last Christmas in Algeria - regular people in the street didn't speak French (for instance a barber I went to, waiters in coffee shops etc.), which surprised me (rather pleasantly actually).
@@DelfinaKS Of course English is the new lingua franca. The window of opportunity for French in that respect closed many decades ago. How can a language that has more speakers outside of France than inside be dying outside of France?
According to my experience there are scores and scores of Lebanese people who don't speak French or speak limited French.
Once Hezbollah is gone. Lebanese will be learning Hebrew instead of French insha'Allah.
@@tompeled6193 Why not learn both? 🧐
@Patrick.Khoury Both are good to learn. But Hebrew is much closer and not a colonial language.
@@tompeled6193 not a colonial language💀
@@kankankankankankankan Jews are indigenous to Israel. Arabs are not. They came as Islamic colonizers.
Children should learn in Arabic only in grammar school. You can introduce foreign languages after that. Fluency comes with practice, otherwise you will end up creating a new language.
What's wrong with creating a new language?
@ Nothing if it is done correctly. Causing confusion in children hurts them. It’s my humble opinion. I’m not an expert.
@@CristobalCornejo-i6w I don't think raising kids bilingual will confuse them. Trilingual or more may confuse them.
Just skip the French, nobody needs any more of that
I honestly thought that this was going to be about Arabic vs Aramaic. Boring...