Jordan Watch : Having Two Blogs is Like Having Two Wives!

From time to time I like to be satisfied with a few good traits in managing my life. One of them is that I do not leave issues unresolved for a long time and tend to take decisions soon to move on to the next level. One of the few things that I face trouble in sorting out is my blogging habits. As I decided from day one to have a bilingual blog with two separate interfaces I began to struggle with the issue of content and what to post in each and which one has the priority.

I guess having two blogs is as cumbersome as having two wives. A lot of energy and potential will be divided between the two and at the end of the day none will be satisfied! Needless to say that despite the religious doctorine I still think having two wives is not natural in the light of the main aim of marriage which is raising families based on unconditional and undivided love.

In addition both blogs (wives) will start to fight with each other for topping the priority list and the real passion of the blogger. My Arabic blog has by far the most readership with around 300,000 hits while this blog has around 138,000 but this is not the only indicator of quality. I still think I breath more freely while writing in English and enjoy the comments and debates more. I do not have a certain explanation for this observation and I do not want to get trapped into "linguistic superiority" illusions but still would love to have more time dedicated to my English blog.

It is obvious that the demand for Arabic blogs is much more mainly due to the fact that people interested in Jordanian issues are mainly Arabic speaking. Moreover, the majority of Jordanian blogs that tackle general issues are in English so the "supply" part in English is more and the demand for Arabic is more.

On the other hand there are three main reasons for any blogger to blog in English about Jordan:

1- Reflecting the conditions in Jordan from the perspectives of a Jordanian rather than a foreign reporter or researcher.

2- Reaching out to the wider global audience that may be interested in Jordan due to their work (NGOs, diplomates, researchers, etc...). Such connections might also be helpful in intercultural dialogue.

3- Evading the clutches of tight monitoring that is mainly associated with Arabic writings.

I realize that time availability is a limiting factor, but as I enjoyed writing this post more than my previous Arabic one I am determined to continue blogging in English and keeping the two wives together as both are complementary and cannot be removed from the scene. However my posts will be shorter and more to the point to minimize time in writing and maximize time of debates.