#english
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…