Language Can Bring Us Together, Keep Us Apart By Bob Sipchen in
the July 17, 2006 edition of the Los Angeles Times. I'm watching
a master language instructor demonstrate her techniques to a
group of Jewish and Muslim teachers, using kindergartners as
guinea pigs. But I slipped in after the session started. I don't
speak Arabic or Hebrew. The teacher's words enter my ears as
gibberish. Disoriented, I discreetly try to find clues as to
which language I'm hearing by reading the faces of the teachers
seated at the back of the room — the sound of an enemy's native
tongue, I figure, might well trigger a smirk of contempt or some
strange hateful tick. Only when one of the children blurts
"babushka" do I realize that I'm listening to Russian and that
the 20 language teachers, originally from Jordan, Israel,
Kuwait, Lebanon and Egypt, don't understand the seeming babble
any better than I do. They listen, though, as if something vital
is at stake. For almost two weeks these 20 teachers have tested
their skills on each