叙利亚内战中,库尔德人享有学习语言的自由

AS IT IS 2016-08-09 In Syria's Civil War, Kurds Enjoy Language Freedoms 叙利亚内战中,库尔德人享有学习语言的自由

Syria's civil war and the rise of militancy¹ have left Syrian Kurds with a chance to control areas in the north and northeast part of the country. This has given the Kurds time to exercise and promote their culture.

For years, the Kurdish language was banned in Syria under the rule of President Bashar al-Assad and his father, Hafez al-Assad.

Now, with almost no presence of Syrian government forces, Kurdish groups say they are free to learn and teach their language to a new generation.

"It's a great thing that is happening now," said Ismael Omar, a Kurdish-language teacher in the town of Amude. "We just graduated 31 students. We've been doing this since the start of the Syrian Revolution."

Before the fighting started in 2011, Arabic was the language of education throughout Kurdish areas in the country. Syrian Kurds were successful at preserving the use of their language at home. Yet they never had the chance to study it in schools.

Samira Hajj Ali is the head of the education commission² in the city of Qamishli. She said that under the new Kurdish administration, the official languages are Kurdish, Arabic and Syriac.

"In the coming school year, we will have textbooks designed for elementary schools," said Abdulselam Mohamad, who teaches at a public school in Qamishli. "All math and science textbooks are in Kurdish,” he said.

Disagreement

Many people are critical of the new education system. They say that students are not yet ready to be taught entirely³ in Kurdish.

Private schools, which teach in Arabic, are not a choice for all parents.

"We're not against teaching our kids Kurdish," said Nesrin Malla, a mother of three. "Kurdish is our mother tongue and we love it, but thrusting all those Kurdish textbooks on children at once is counterproductive," she said.

Language experts share these concerns.

"There has to be a gradual process in which Kurdish is introduced to students slowly," said Omar, a teacher. "You can't just teach them in a language they have never been exposed to in their education, and then expect them to succeed academically."

One problem is differences between the Kurdish and Arabic alphabets. Kurdish is an Indo-European language that uses a Latin script in some Kurdish dialects. Arabic is an Afro-Semitic language that uses the Arabic alphabet, and is written from right to left.

"This might seem like a minor⁴ issue," Omar said. "But it is actually problematic, given that students have to switch everything to the Latin script." He added that it would take a long time for students to understand and accept the new lettering.

Local Kurdish groups say that they are prepared to continue pushing for their language to be recognized in all aspects of life.

Words in This Story

promote – v. to make (something) more popular, well-known, etc.

commission – n. a group of people who have been given the official job of finding information about something or controlling something

elementary school – n. a school for young children ( also called grade school, grammar school, primary school)

textbook – n. grade school, grammar school, primary school

alphabet – n. the letters of a language arranged in their usual order

script – n. the letters of a language arranged in their usual order

aspect – n. a part of something

1 militancy   

n.warlike behavior or tendency

参考例句：

• Full of militancy and revolutionary ardour, the people of all nationalities in the country are working hard for the realization of the four modernizations. 全国各族人民意气风发， 斗志昂扬，为实现四个现代化而奋战。
• The seniority system is another factor that leads to union militancy. 排资论辈制度也是导致工会好斗争的另一因素。

2 commission   

n.委托，授权，委员会，拥金，回扣，委任状

参考例句：

• The salesman can get commission on everything he sells.这个售货员能得到所售每件货物的佣金。
• The commission is made up of five people,including two women.委员会由五人组成，其中包括两名妇女。

3 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

4 minor   

adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修

参考例句：

• The young actor was given a minor part in the new play.年轻的男演员在这出新戏里被分派担任一个小角色。
• I gave him a minor share of my wealth.我把小部分财产给了他。