Well, here we are friends, we've reached Episode 10 of Speaking Tongues and I'm so happy to have made it this far. Sure, I know that 10 is not a large number but for a show that's had some hiccups getting started, I'm truly happy to be here at number 10 and I'm looking forward to the next 10 with all of you.
My guest on today's episode is a truly, truly special person and a very good friend of mine. Rena is originally from Lebanon and currently lives and works in NYC as an interior designer. Full disclosure, we were colleagues many years ago and when I found out that she speaks Arabic, I would bug her from time to time to teach me some words because I've been wanting to learn Arabic for a long, long time. So having this opportunity with her to talk about her Lebanese culture and her native Arabic really means the world to me. Rena is one of the most positive minded people I've ever met and she always keeps me laughing- so get ready, there is a LOT of laughter in this episode.
What you'll notice in this episode is that while we talk about Lebanese Arabic, I also wanted the opportunity to learn some basic words and phrases and try to pronounce letters of the Arabic alphabet with her... and as you will hear, it got ROUGH! But it's ok because I want all of you listeners to know that the path to learning is not perfect, and it's not easy - I spent a lot of time laughing at myself in this episode and there were times where I did want to give up because I felt really embarrassed being out of my comfort zone.
During this episode, we talk about one element that we all struggle with - practicing new words and sounds in front of a native speaker. It's so daunting and we all know it can be discouraging and sometimes scary. I hope that's what I'm showing you all with the second half of this episode. That even though it can be terrifying the best thing to do is to just try to push through it.
And, before we get to it, I want to say a big huge shukran to Rena for her patience and positivity with teaching me (and all of you by extension) a little bit of Arabic. Who knows! She might have a second calling as an Arabic teacher. What do you think?
Rena's Design Work: http://renaelrayess.com
Mloukhiyeh Recipe: /https://youtu.be/SxOWXNI_KoE
To see sketches of Rena's notes during this episode visit :
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