Trust Your Ear
Listening deeply and then mimicking exactly what you hear
is a powerful way to strengthen not only your listening skills,
but also your pronunciation.
Poetry that is rhythmic and musical
is the perfect place to learn this technique.
For our practice today, we will listen to two versions of the famous poem
"Think of Others"
by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish.
Practice
First, listen to the poem in English
to get a feel for its structure and meaning.
Notice where the repetition occurs.
Next, listen to the original Arabic version
read by the author.
Let your ear drop deeply into listening to the sounds you hear.
What do you hear?
Listen and repeat, mimicking the sounds as you hear them, without necessarily knowing or understanding what the words mean.
Take the repeated phrase:
"Think of others"
in Arabic, I hear the pattern:
da da da DA da
I also hear these sounds:
fa ke bo IRE ray
I don't know the grammar or what each word means
but that is part of the fun and freedom of this technique:
your ear is focused purely on sound and rhythm,
the way a child’s ear is, when first learning to speak.
Learning to trust your ear
is a profound practice.
Have fun with it!
Think of Others
As you prepare your breakfast, think of others
(do not forget the pigeon's food).
As you wage your wars, think of others
(do not forget those who seek peace).
As you pay your water bill, think of others
(those who are nursed by clouds).
As you return home, to your home, think of others
(do not forget the people of the camps).
As. you sleep and count the stars, think of others
(those who have nowhere to sleep).
As you express yourself in metaphor, think of others
(those who have lost the right to speak).
As you think of others far away, think of yourself
(say: If only I were a candle in the dark).
Mahmoud Darwish
Translated by Mohammad Shaheen
