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| 'alif ba' ta' by erinscafeamerician |
This summer, I've been taking
Introduction to Arabic. Most introductory language classes cover greetings, numbers, and days of the week first; however, with Arabic, my class has focused on learning the
alphabet. So far we're twenty-four letters in with four more to go. I can't quite pronounce many of those letters right and I get my
ya' confused with my
ta', but going through the process of learning the Arabic alphabet has made me think a lot about language acquisition. In particular, I had one big "Whoa! That's what it feels like." moment. A DVD came with the book and has a section that shows pictures from street signs. The fonts that are used are decorative and not the fonts that we've been learning to recognize. Most of the letters were incredibly difficult to make out. I made it through a few signs but got really tired and frustrated fast. But then came the "Aha." People learning English feel this way, too. This is why legal forms and community education materials need to use
legible fonts, like
Times New Roman,
Arial, and
Helvetica. Fancy fonts, though pretty, are a barrier for people struggling to read. When you learn to read, you get big letters and clear fonts because it is easier to recognize the letters. (Check out
Dick and Jane if you've forgotten.) As you become a stronger and more competent reader, you start to see and understand more variation because you recognize the underlying letter patterns. If you don't become a strong reader or haven't had the chance to become a strong reader yet, those variations are going to be difficult to see and interpret. So now, except for certain very special occasions, I'll be sticking to Arial- and Times-like fonts. It will make my writing more accessible for everyone. - K
