Hi all --

I'm writing an article for Belly Dance: A Raqs Sharqi Magazine on Arabic language ability or lack thereof among belly dancers. I know some dancers speak/read Arabic and there are probably many more who would like to but know only a little or none, whether because they've found it too difficult, haven't had the time to pursue it, or whatever. And also some who aren't really interested.

I'd like to hear from some of you about your experiences with language. If you have good Arabic language skill, how did you learn it? How difficult did you find it to learn? How important has it been to your understanding of the dance and Middle Eastern culture in general?
If you don't know Arabic, do you want to? Are you trying to learn it or have tried to learn it in the past? What has been your experience in trying to learn Arabic?

If you just want to share some brief comments or anecdotes, feel free to post them here. If you're interested in providing some more extensive input, please PM me; I might want to "interview" you through an exchange of e-mails.

Am also cross-posting this to some other tribes.

Thanks in advance.