This is a quirky little post based on a half-formed idea. I hope that it serves as an encouragement for people to learn to read.

Several months ago IAM switched from the old Glassman alphabet to the International Phonetic Alphabet. I fully expected some grumbling, and for people to struggle with the funny new letters (ʃ, ɣ, ʒ, etc.). What was more surprising is that some people don’t want to write [tʃʌ] for ‘well’ because it’s really “chA.” That is, the Glassman way of writing the word is somehow, for that person, what the word really is.

I suspect that this has something to do with being a visual learner—90% of us are visual learners—and something to do with being literate people. Even if we don’t read and write Dari, we still cling to the visual representation of the word.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if the written form of Dari words could have that special place in our minds? Then the “real” form of the word would be چاه. Sure, there’s a silent ه at the end of that word, but a literate Afghan is no more inclined to leave it off than you would be to write “bom” instead of “bomb.”

So let this be an encouragement, or an exhortation, or whatever, to get into the written language. Part of the goal is cultural learning is to view the culture from a insider’s perspective; let’s make the same effort with the language!