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IDF officers learn Arabic
Yair Altman
Published: 25.11.10, 16:20
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19 Talkbacks for this article
1. betafeek :) = good luck : )
Salma ,   Palestine   (11.25.10)
but what deos this mean?!! you'll be in our faces forever !
2. Salma remember there is a Spanish/Arabic saying:
Sally Forth ,   Jerusalem of course!   (11.25.10)
"Hablando se entiende la gente" meaning that in speaking to one another people come to an understanding. I believe that the Arabic saying translates to something like: "I will arrive at your door by speaking words" (P.S. I say that it is Spanish/Arabic saying because it is a common saying in Andalucia, Spain and as we both know Andalucia is that part of Spain in which Moors lived for over 800 years so there is "cross pollination" in the sayings which exist in both languages)
3. Good for you, and now for Arab countries to learn Hebrew!!
He Brew ,   Land of Israel   (11.25.10)
Life is a 2 way street dont cha know...
4. about time?!
Ashmir ,   Germany   (11.25.10)
Well, after 40 years of presence in the West Bank, isn't it a miracle that the military finally had the amazing idea to teach the soldiers Arabic?
5. Nice, only 40+ years late
Adam   (11.25.10)
For being such a smart country, it's pretty ridiculous that it took this long to realize a program like this might be a good idea...
6. Great, now only teach them some manners
orit   (11.25.10)
and civility and we good to go.
7. For you cynics: The original Sephardic
Robert Haymond ,   Israel/Canada   (11.25.10)
Jews and a significant number of their offspring speak Arabic. This would constitute a high percentage of the total Israeli-Jewish population. Arabic is one of the two official languages of Israel, Hebrew being the other, of course.
8. #3 got news 4 u...back in the early 80s...
(11.25.10)
Jordan already had news broadcast in Hebrew. The Arab countries have a large number of Hebrew speakers. The West Bank also has a large number of Hebrew speakers. The ones who are slow in the Hebrew language process are new immigrants from English speaking countries. The rest of the world easily picks up the language.
9. 4 & 5 better late than never! don't ya think?
(11.25.10)
and besides how do you know that we haven't been reading, writing, and speaking Arabic in other branches of the Army?
10. WE need to learn our enemies language
MOshe haim ,   israel   (11.25.10)
smart move idf
11. this should have been taught to officers long ago
zionist forever   (11.25.10)
When non of your enemies speak hebrew but they all speak arabic. Officers at least should understand arabic to a certain minimum standard. Whilst its good the IDF are now going to teach the officers arabic now they shouldn't boast about to much considering they should have adopted this policy decades ago. We also need to extend this by putting arabic on the school curriculum for all ages. In a region where everybody speaks arabic Israelis should have a basic grasp of the language.
12. what took so long? also, require arabic in schools.
dante ,   uk   (11.25.10)
13. #12 Arabic is required in junior high & high school but...
(11.25.10)
kids being as they are they don't really study it
14. #7 u r correct on 1 point...
(11.25.10)
Arabic is the other official language of the State of Israel. However, are you talking about with respect to Sephardic Jews? You must mean Mizrachi Jews from Arab speaking countries. Please do get your Jewish ethnic groups sorted out. Further, like the immigrant children of immigrants everywhere the children of Mizrachi Jews learned Hebrew, French, English etc etc anything BUT Arabic!
15. May be We should invite for Islam
tea man ,   marjayoun   (11.26.10)
Once you read arabic and understand you become closer to comprehend the truth I was christian who lived in a divided country after my 18th birth day i start to study Islam just to know how its Now I revert not convert and i am thanking my lucky stars I hope those officers who learn arabic and their hand are not bloody to see the light After all we are not far apart
16. Teaching Arabic in IDF
Amir   (11.26.10)
Its about time!!!
17. 25%-30% of Knesset ministers speak Arabic
Z   (11.26.10)
Some because their families immigrated from Iraq or Morocco or other parts of the Arab world; some because they are Arabs and some because they wanted to learn it.
18. #7 Robert - Separdi Jews spoke LADINO, not Arabic!
Scott ,   USA   (01.20.11)
19. great article
Tzvi ,   USA   (11.14.12)
As we all know, Arabic instruction in high school is sometimes less than optimal, so I am very glad to see that the IDF is beginning to train more and more officers in Arabic. What is even more important, however, is that "the rest of the division officers look on with envy and ask to take part as well." This simple statement shows that many in the IDF recognize the need to understand the Palestinians, which I hope will lead to peace in the future. Ambivalence toward Arabic in high school has hurt our progress, but I think that if more Israelis, both in and out of the IDF, learned Arabic, it would go a long way towards resolving the conflict.
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