About
"We shall not forget our language as long as words are made of breath and as long as we breathe the breath of life."
My name is Dr. Madeleine Davis Moradkhan.
I was born in the Middle East as an Assyrian; however since Assyria does not exist anymore to call homeland, I have made the entire world my home. I have lived most of my life in France and England, and since September 2009, I have moved to my new home in the USA.
It's not difficult for me to call the entire world 'Home' because wherever I go I find it teeming with the discoveries and inventions of the Ancient Assyrians. Unfortunately, their greatest achievements in science, medicine, engineering, art, architecture, music, philosophy, astronomy, astrology, literature, religion, cuisine, etc., are nowadays attributed to other nations such as Greeks, Egyptians, Arabs and Turks; and very few people give them the place they deserve.
Everywhere that I have lived, I have striven to integrate well in the host society, and I have not tried to impose my personal beliefs and thoughts on non-Assyrians. However, I have avoided assimilation and have tried to preserve my Assyrian identity, customs and language.
Teaching the Assyrian language, which one may call the "Language of God", for reasons explained in the Introductory video of the Speech Lessons Book 1, has been my hobby for many years. I have taught children, teenagers and adults; and today I'm trying to teach a larger audience through my books and videos.
I believe that we, the descendants of Assyrians, are capable of maintaining and guarding our language even in the Diaspora, just as our forefathers have done since the fall of Nineveh. Even though they lived and died in the Diaspora for 2500 years, they managed to preserve and pass on this precious gift to us. It is now up to us to do whatever is in our power to protect and nurture this endangered and fragile heritage, and hand it over to the future generations.
Madeleine