The End of Arabic and the Dumbing Down of America
What happens when public universities begin shutting down entire area studies departments, and learning foreign languages becomes a luxury?
Tag: Arabic
The Artist at Work—a Conversation with Souad Massi
Jordan Elgrably interviews the Algerian-French iconoclast about her first album after Covid and about why she's devoted her life to freedom.
The Markaz Review Interview—Hisham Bustani
Rana Asfour interviews fellow Jordanian writer Hisham Bustani about his stories, writing in Arabic and ideas on history and quantum physics.
TMR’s Multilingual Lexicon of Love for Valentine’s Day
Expressions of love in Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Turkish and Kurdish, to give Valentine's Day a new meaning.
Berlin-Based Palestinian Returns to Arabic in new Amrat Album
Music writer Melissa Chemam interviews Rasha Nahas on her new Arabic-language album, "Amrat."
Sudden Journeys: Morocco Encore
Jenine Abboushi in her latest travel essay, returns to Morocco for a long-overdue visit.
Faces Hidden in the Dust by Ghalib—Two Ghazals
Tony Barnstone and Bilal Shaw present their book of Ghabib ghazals, translated from the Urdu.
Translating Walter Benjamin on Berlin, a German-Arabic Journey
Ahmed Farouk, the Arabic translator of Günter Grass, W. G. Sebald and Rosa Luxemburg, among others, struggles with Walter Benjamin.
Two Women Artists Dialogue with Berlin and the Biennale
Viola Shafik profiles Jihan El-Tahiri and Myriam El Haïk, two Arab artists in the 2022 Berlin Biennale.
Libyan Stories from the novel “Bread on Uncle Milad’s Table”
The Markaz Review presents Libya's Mohammed al-Naas in these exclusive excerpts translated by Rana Asfour.
“Disappearance/Muteness”—Tales from a Life in Translation
A writer born into both Arabic and Hebrew linguistic traditions finds herself writing in English but longing for Arabic.
Rabih Alameddine: “Remembering Nasser”
Winner of the 2022 PEN/Faulkner award, novelist Rabih Alameddine tells an essential story from his Beirut childhood.
Dima Mikhayel Matta: “This Text Is a Very Lonely Document”
A bold excerpt from the new Saqi anthology, "This Arab is Queer," in which a non-binary person from Lebanon explores solitude and family.
“The Salamander”—fiction from Sarah AlKahly-Mills
In this magical tale set in Lebanon and on a mysterious Mediterranean island, people dream of escape while a biologist seeks an elusive salamander.
Can the Bilingual Speak?
Anton Shammas — the Palestinian novelist who wrote the Hebrew-language "Arabeques" — attempts to sort himself.