15 July 2011
BEIRUT: Each year droves of students travel to the Middle East armed with dictionaries and determination to learn Arabic. Cairo and Damascus have long been popular hubs of Arabic study, attracting foreign students with competitive tuition and low living costs, but this year’s popular uprisings in the Middle East have derailed many well-laid plans.
Dylan Sodaro, a 20-year-old student from Syracuse University in the United States, left Egypt during the uprisings that brought down former President Hosni Mubarak.
Although he was pushed by his university to complete his studies in Istanbul or London, Sodaro wanted to stay in the Middle East. He chose to continue his course at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, which he considered to be the most stable option, despite the kidnapping of seven Estonian tourists in March and the five-month absence of a functioning government.
“My parents saw Lebanon as the fire and Egypt as the frying pan, but I really wanted to stick around the Middle East as I am studying Arab politics,” he explained.
As the popular uprising spread from Tunisia to Egypt and Syria, many students of Arabic like Sodaro found themselves looking for a place to continue their studies, and to the surprise of many of their family and friends, they decided on Beirut.
Helen Zuckerman, 21, followed a similar route, leaving Egypt and traveling to Beirut to study at AUB.
“I came to Lebanon because the program I was supposed to be doing in the spring – at Ain Shams University in Cairo – was canceled in early February in the wake of the revolution. I had to choose between losing the semester, or switching to Kuwait or Beirut.”
Zuckerman had enjoyed a tourist visit to Beirut in December, which she says made her decision to study in the city easier.
But the student also admits that Lebanon doesn’t usually enjoy the reputation of a safe haven. “I didn’t have any friends in Beirut when I arrived, and most of my friends in the States and Europe were pretty shocked when I said I was headed there,” she said.
Although they were forced to relocate, both students say that the recent uprisings have boosted their desire to learn Arabic.
“Everyone asked me why I am learning Arabic and that I should study Chinese or Spanish, but the revolts secured for me the idea that the Middle East is an important region in the world,” said Sodaro.
Zuckerman was also excited to be in a region on the edge of momentous change. “It was also validating in a way, proving to me that Arab countries and Muslim countries are only going to become more relevant, powerful, and empowered with time and that learning Arabic was more than ever an important and tangible goal,” she said.
While the number of applicants to AUB’s seven-week summer program for intensive Arabic, with a roughly $4,200 price tag, have remained the same, the number of student applications at Beirut’s Saifi Arabic Institute has increased.
Saifi’s director, Rana Dirani, says the institute has 180 students this summer, up 30 from last year, and charges $600 for its six-week intensive course.
Dirani attributes the rise to two changes: “The biggest reason is capacity. We have expanded and can now accommodate more students” but “one of the reasons [for the increase] is some students came from Syria.”
One such student is David Burkhart, 21, who studies International Relations and Arabic at the American University in Washington D.C. Burkhart was enrolled at the University of Aleppo in Syria, but left at the end of April and now takes courses at Saifi.
“I wanted to continue progressing in the language and I had already started studying the Levantine dialect,” he said of his decision to come to Beirut.
The University of Saint Joseph has also seen a boost in its numbers.
“Last year we had 74 students compared to this year when we have 94,” said Wafaa Abi Nahed, academic secretary at USJ.
One new student at USJ is Dr. Simon Nisan, 67.
“I was meant to go to Syria to see a friend who is actually the director of the Institute Francaise du Proche Orient, but the Foreign Affairs Ministry in Paris and the Consulate of Syria warned me against it,” said the business executive.
“I have never been to Syria and have always wanted to go but this year was not my luck,” said Simona Carrozzo, a student of Arabic translation and interpreting. Carrozzo was encouraged by a friend studying in Syria to take Arabic lessons there.
“Yet I changed my mind due to the revolutions that took place especially due to pressure from my parents. I had to decide between Morocco and Lebanon but chose to study here as I was advised by professors that Arabic is taught very well in Lebanon,” she said.
Students enroled at USJ weren’t deterred by a price increase, from $680 to $790, for the four-week course.
“Arabic lessons are not expensive here if you compare them with prices abroad,” said Nahed. “I think whatever happens, whether there are revolutions or political instability in the Middle East, Lebanon is still one of the best places to study Arabic. Foreigners like Beirut because it’s a vibrant city.”
But not every Arabic program in Beirut is seeing a rise in enrolment numbers. The Lebanese American University has seen its number of enroled students drop from 180 last year to 120 this summer.
According to Mimi Jiha, director of the summer Arabic program, a few students dropped out of the six-week program, which runs $2,200, because of the ongoing uprisings in Syria. But, she said, “most of our students here come fresh from the U.S.”
“We have a lot of partnerships with foreign universities,” she added.
Some students find it more difficult to learn Arabic in Beirut compared to Damascus or Cairo.
“It is difficult [in Beirut] to find the right atmosphere to learn the language – people will speak to you in English,” said Burkhart. “You have to seek out places where they don’t speak English, non-touristy places like Dora.”
“Every couple of days, I’ll go sit with a bunch of Syrian workers – even in a parking lot – and speak with them in Arabic because they don’t speak English,” he added.
But there are advantages as well.
According to Joseph Viste, a student at AUB, “studying Arabic in Lebanon gives you a different geopolitical insight that you wouldn’t be able to get anywhere else.”
Copyright The Daily Star 2011.
