Arabic language
Arabic has a Jewish dialect, and these women speak it
The Arab world used to be home to hundreds of thousands of Jews who spoke their own variants of Arabic. Today, Judeo-Arabic survives only in exile. We hear stories of language and exodus from three Judeo-Arabic speakers now living in Montreal. Plus, novelist Louie Cronin on satirizing linguistics.
To Change or Not to Change Script: Turkish vs Persian
After Ataturk switched Turkish from an Arabic to Latin script, the language made phonetic sense– but did it sever links to Turkish history? In contrast, Iranian leaders have rejected changes in its clunky, Arabic-based script and Persian remains difficult to read. But today's written Persian connects seamlessly with the past.
