British and American Languages and Cultures in Syria

Despite success and adaptation to several scientific domains, weakness in foreign languages in general and in English in particular seems to be an inherited problem that old generations pass on to new generations in Syria. If we have a look at history in the last century, we discover that in spite of the French occupation of Syria, Syrians do not speak French. French sounds as foreign to them as any other Western language. Is this a personal opposition against foreign languages? Why do our neighbours in Lebanon, for instance, speak English and French well? Why do many people in the Arab West speak French fluently, sometimes even better than Arabic? Are traditions, religion, gender, media, educational system and political stances responsible for the acceptance of foreign languages and cultures or, conversely, their neglect? The book at hand presents an authentic and empirical attempt to answer these questions and to introduce convincing interpretations for the underdeveloped position of British and American languages and cultures in Syria.