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English: A Barometer of Intelligence and Class in the Middle East?

July 27, 2023
Photo credit: Shutterstock

A while back, I stumbled across a digital illustration on social media which read “English is a language, not a way to measure someone’s intelligence.” The meme resonated with me. It spoke to a phenomenon that happens across the Arab world and particularly in Egypt where a native’s level of proficiency in English — or whatever second language they speak — has become a measure of their worth and an indicator of their socio-economic class. Many Egyptians have refined and perfected their English, at times to the detriment of their mother tongue, which they have lost due to a lack of practice, or rather due to the disproportionate weight placed on speaking a foreign language. An individual with advanced skills in the Arabic language — considered one of the hardest to learn for English-speakers — and a beginner’s level English is perceived differently socially from the individual with advanced English and beginner’s Arabic. This concept permeates many aspects of society in Egypt where entry to several bars and clubs around the capital hinge upon one’s level of spoken English, which is used to gauge patrons’ education and socio-economic class. If…


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