I have been often asked,
specially in the United States of America, since I live here for so many
years: "How come do I speak French since I come from Egypt?" I then explain that
they do speak French in Egypt and that this country was for most practical
purposes a bilingual, French and Arabic speaking country. People seem surprised
that they speak French in Egypt. I explain to them that even though Egypt had
been a British protectorate, France was there long before the British, since
perhaps Napoleon Bonaparte the 1st. They introduced the French
language, education and culture. Indeed in most of the country, specially its
big cities (Cairo and Alexandria which I am most familiar because I lived in
these cities) but other cities too, they speak both of these languages. They
spoke mostly English only in the area of the Suez Canal where the British troops
were stationed during its occupation.
Indeed one could mostly equally get by with only one of these two
languages, French or Arabic.
In the cities' streets all signs were written in both French and
Arabic: The streets' names, the store and offices signs such as their names,
their types of trade or commerce, what they sell or services they offer, all
advertisings, the prices on the merchandises, any list prices such as menus in
restaurants, tickets prices in movies cinema and theatres etc… Indeed business
were transacted in either French or Arabic equally, naturally and in complete
ease in both languages. Official business letterheads were printed in both
French and Arabic. The letters themselves were either written in French or
Arabic according to the fluency of both the sender and the
receiver.
The national local press: newspapers, magazines etc… were all in
French or Arabic, the radio transmitted in both languages.
Imported foreign languages movies, other than French or Arabic,
were subtitled in both Arabic as well as French for the benefits of those who
did not know these other languages. We had plays in French, either by local
actors and perhaps even local play writes, or by groups from outside Egypt,
notably from France such as "La troupe de la Comédie Française" or others. I
remember that once when I was a child we went to see "the ballet of Serge Lifard" at the
Opera of Cairo. The Opera of Cairo was itself a replica of the Opera Garnier of
Paris. Indeed much of Cairo seems to have been copied from Paris in
architecture, landscape etc…µµWe had cabarets and Music Halls built to copy
those in France where we would receive, welcome, listen, observe and appreciate
the varied talents of singers, actors, comedians etc… I remember that when I was
a child we went once to one of these places "The Auberge des Piramides" to see a
then famous French singer named Dario Moreno. Others stars that came in too
were: Charles Aznavor, Gilbert Becaud, George Ulmer and the famous Maurice
Chevalier, Josephine Baker and others, many of them no lesser celebrities and
equally talented too.
We had also, naturally, our own very outstanding national Egyptian
entertainment industry which to put it quite modestly was mostly second to none.
Our movies industry was the best develop in our corner of the world and very
much up to par with the best of the Western movie industries/ Paris, France,
Italian cinema and Hollywood USA. We had the actor-comedian Yismaiin Yassin who
was the equal of Charley Chaplain, Fernandel of France, Toto of Italy and
others. We had Shekuku, an actor-dancer-comedian who was the equal of Fred
Astaire, Gene Kelly, Bob Hope, Bing Crosby and others. I want to mention also
some of our great singers such as Abdel Luab, Farid El Atrash and perhaps the
greatest of all, the great diva of Egypt Omo Kalsoom 'our Edith Piaf, Marlena
Dietrich, Ethel Merman and all others songs tresses put together. I shall also
mention the name of at least one more legend of interest to our community: Leila
Murad.
The Jews in Egypt spoke mostly French or Arabic. However those who
spoke only French learned to speak also Arabic and those who spoke only Arabic
also learned to speak French, in both cases by necessity, the two languages were
often complementary.
Most of Jews went to French schools. I was going to the "Lycee
Français du Caire" a "Mission Laïque" (non denominational, non-religious
schools). When we lived in Alexandria I went to the "Lycee Français
d'Alexandrie" France had many such "Lycees" school in cities in Egypt as
throughout the Middle East and the world. We had also a "Lycee Français" at
Heliopolis, a suburb of Cairo, as well as at Zamalek, Daher and Meadi other
suburbs of Cairo.
We had also Jewish schools that taught in French, such as "L'Ecole
Btesh" in Cairo, or l'Ecole de l'Union Juive" in Alexandria etc… Also the Jewish
Community ran its own schools.
We
also had the schools of the Alliance: "Les écoles de l'Alliance Française" and
"les écoles de l'Alliance Israélite Universelle". The latter ones were
specifically for the pupils of the Jewish faith were they could learn the French
curricular as well as Jewish religious education.
We also had the missionary Christian/Catholics schools. Non
–Christians parents also would send their children to these schools. Girls would
go to "l'Ecole des Soeurs" (the sister' schools run by nuns) such as "l'Ecole
des Franciscaines" in Cairo, and boys would go to "le Collège des frères" (the
brothers' schools) such as "le college des Frères de La Salle" in Cairo ad "le college Saint
Marc" in Alexandria run by priest etc. No-Christian pupils were generally
exempted at this schools to attend religious studies and worships which were not
their own and conversions into Christianity were apparently not encouraged
though it seems that they were some instances when a couple of non-Christian
students converted to Christianity and joined the convent as nuns. As I write
this, it reminds me and I like to note that the current Cardinal of Paris was
not born Catholic, he converted, an now even has a good possibility of becoming
Pope.
We had also other schools that taught in different languages.
There were the Greek schools for the Greek nationals who chose to do so, some
chose to go to different schools such as those that taught in French. There was
a great community of Greeks in Alexandria, perhaps since they had started this
city (at the time of Alexander the Great). There were also similarly the Italian
schools for the Italian nationals etc… We had also English schools such as the
English Mission and Victoria College. Some Jewish parents chose to send their
children to one of these schools instead of to the French ones for varied
reasons: Perhaps they preferred one system of education to the other one. Also
some would send their children to Italian or British schools because they
somehow or other were nationals of these countries. However whatever schools
they attended, they all knew French and Arabic and even spoke at least one of
them at home.
As I mentioned earlier, I reiterate, most Jews in Egypt spoke
French, Arabic or both, even those who were nationals of a country such as
Greece, Italy or Great Britain where the language is different and whether their
children attended theses schools or opted for French schools.
Egypt was a very cosmopolitan country. It had many nationals
living in it, each speaking its own language and learning in their own schools.
We learned each other languages in addition to the most common of them (French
and Arabic) to communicate between each other in all of our daily lives. It was
very common that many people learnt and knew many languages. We also learned at
school a minimum of thee languages: French, Arabic and at least one foreign
language, which generally was English. Some learned Latin, though not as a
current speaking language. Others learned German, Italian, Greek or Spanish as a
first or sometimes second foreign languages. We Jews learnt also Hebrew
generally at least a minimum for our Bar Mitzvah. We sometimes spoke many
languages at home depending of the many origins of our
family.
Ashkenazim Jews from Russia and Eastern Europe spoke Yiddish.
Sephardim spoke Spanish (Ladino as some calls it or also Espanol). Those that
some calls the Mizrahi Jews (from the Orient or Arab countries) spoke Arabic
frequently with some small difference depending from which Arab countries they
originated (Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Irak, Yemem or others) and Turkish
too.
Today Egypt is no longer a rich, beautiful and cosmopolitan
country. As the world moved ahead chronologically to the 21st
century, Egypt moved backward historically into the 19th century or
much behind. People used to mention the city of Calcutta as an example of
poverty, overpopulation, general backwardness and decadence. Unfortunately,
Cairo most probably has replaced that city in that dubious
distinction.
This current article is a second part of a previous attempt to
describe former life condition in Egypt and the Middle East. With G-d's help I
will be able to continue and doing it well. I also hope and would like to be
joined by others in this effort because together we could do a much better job
at it than I alone.