Ghada Wali: How I'm using LEGO to teach Arabic
Ghada Wali: Come insegno l'arabo con i LEGO
A pioneering graphic designer in Egypt, Ghada Wali has designed fonts, brands and design-driven art projects. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
the Mother of the World.
la Madre del Mondo.
filled with stories of rebellion,
triumph and downfall
etnica, culturale e linguistica.
del potere del racconto.
in the power of storytelling.
with which to tell my story,
per raccontare la mia storia,
can bring the Arabic language to life.
può far rivivere la lingua araba.
perché intendo farlo.
why I want to do this.
can change the world.
possa cambiare il mondo.
two separate dictators.
due diversi dittatori.
nell'apportare cambiamenti positivi,
as a tool for positive change
was also a grassroots design revolution.
alla grafica "dal basso".
di poster, insegne, graffiti.
far louder than words
con più forza delle parole,
di oltre 90 milioni di voci
90 million voices were suppressed
and social suppression,
politica e sociale,
of the Arabic script in the region.
delle lettere arabe in quella zona.
in an increasingly globalized world,
sempre più globalizzato,
the Arabic script to communicate.
usa l'alfabeto arabo per comunicare.
I noticed myself missing Arabic.
ho notato quanto mi mancasse l'arabo.
il loro significato.
one of the biggest libraries in Italy
in una delle maggiori librerie italiane
that this is what they had
"Testi Arabi / Medio Oriente".
"Arabic/Middle Eastern books."
portrayed to the world,
to the world-renowned writers
a scrittori di fama mondiale
Nizar Qabbani?
come Mutanabbi e Nizar Qabbani?
of an entire region of the world,
di un'intera zona del mondo,
of an entire region of the world
di un'intera parte del mondo
di avere un impatto
any kind of real impact
and contemporary social discourse.
e sulle questioni sociali contemporanee.
la mia convinzione numero uno:
of my number one belief:
to catch a glimpse of your work,
from seeing us as evil,
che il mondo smettesse di vederci
la parola araba scritta
other people, other cultures?
con altre culture?
the two most significant symbols
i due simboli più significativi
riuscirebbe a notarlo.
innocent and fun as LEGO?
innocente e divertente dei LEGO?
infinite possibilità.
endless possibilities.
a bilingual solution for Arabic education,
bilingue per l'apprendimento dell'arabo,
e un insegnamento efficaci
communication and education
non solo rappresentano mondi diversi,
do not only represent different worlds
le comunità, Orientali e Occidentali,
for both Eastern and Western communities
why Arabic and Latin are different,
differiscono in molti modi
verso l'alto e verso il basso
in questa lingua,
to the Arabic language,
in order to articulate a given word.
per poter articolare una parola.
system of punctuation and diacritics.
per punteggiatura e segni diacritici.
different letter forms:
per ogni lettera:
to young learners, foreign speakers,
ai giovani studenti, agli stranieri,
integrate to their host societies
dei rifugiati nelle società ospitanti,
a bilingual learning system,
di apprendimento bilingue,
[Giochiamo].
a fun and engaging way of learning
coinvolgente e divertente
l'arabo moderno standard.
indica una lettera araba.
is explained in form, sound
nella forma, nel suono,
in caratteri latini.
nelle loro quattro diverse forme,
and the four different forms,
la traslitterazione latina
the transliteration in Latin
and chose the correct color background
il colore di sfondo più adatto
il set completo di lettere,
nelle quattro forme diverse.
times four different forms.
costruite in una sola settimana.
should and can be fun, portable.
debba essere divertente e portatile.
e tradurre in tutte le lingue possibili,
as many languages in the world,
becomes fun, easy and accessible globally.
e accessibile ovunque.
my nation's beautiful script.
la splendida lingua scritta del mio paese.
was a form of visual meditation,
è stata una forma di meditazione visiva,
made two languages.
ha dato vita a due lingue.
of the same building unit,
dello stesso mattoncino,
the world around us gets,
il mondo intorno a noi,
sull'ISIS, il gruppo terroristico
on ISIS, the terrorist group,
Egyptian goddess,
un mondo pieno di colori.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Ghada Wali - DesignerA pioneering graphic designer in Egypt, Ghada Wali has designed fonts, brands and design-driven art projects.
Why you should listen
Ghada Wali believes that graphic design can change the world. She developed an Arabic typeface that was chosen as one of the best 100 graphic design pieces in the world by the Society of Typographic Arts in Chicago. She won a silver in the International A DESIGN AWARDS, Italy. Her work has been featured in art exhibits around the world and showcased in various articles internationally such as the World Economic Forum, Quartz Africa, Wired Italia & Japan, Slanted Berlin and many more local and global platforms. Her work most recently won the Granshan competition in Munich, as well as two Adobe Design Achievement awards in San Diego. She has been awarded the AWDA, AIAP the women in Design Award in Milan, recognizing the influential women in the field.
Wali made it to Forbes Europe's List 2017 (Arts & Immigrants category), the first Egyptian woman ever to appear in this category. She was also named to the OKAYAFRICA-100WOMEN list for 2018. She has been featured on UN Women Egypt and has been representing the Egyptian Women Council empowerment campaign.
Wali holds a BA degree as one of the first design graduates of the German University in Cairo and an MA in Design from IED Istituto Europeo di Design, Florence, Italy, which she won as a scholarship basis. Her design experience includes MI7 Cairo, Fortune Promoseven and J. Walter Thompson, as well as teaching graphic design in both the German & American Universities in Cairo.
Ghada Wali | Speaker | TED.com