Last week, I had the good fortune to attend an end-of-the-term dinner with Fahim Idais and forty or so of his Arabic students. The company was great, and the food was magnificent — we practically took over the Phoenician Resto Café. Other than the baba ganoush, one of the highlights of the evening was that I got a crash course in Arabic greetings when Fahim had all the students go around the table and introduce themselves. How’s this:
مرحباً
اسمي ماثيو
I’m proud of our Arabic program, and of the department of foreign languages that supports and sustains it. Not many community colleges can boast about offering so many languages. The central image for our recent International Festival features most of them: Russian, Spanish, Japanese, French, Chinese, German, Italian, and Korean. ACC also teaches ASL and Latin. And English. 😉
Did you know we offer Arabic I through IV? We have an AA in Arabic, too.
Why do we teach Arabic at ACC?
Because people first started talking about the concept of zero in Arabic.
Because it’s one of six official languages of the United Nations.
Because it was a major artery of culture in the Middle Ages.
Because Arabic is spoken by 313 million people today.
Because Aristotle’s works were preserved in Arabic.
Because it’s the lingua franca of the Arab world.
Because it’s the language of the Qur’an.
Because Arabic grammar is sweet.
Because ACC is happening.
Because it’s there.
Why not?
As dean, I get to experience pretty amazing things, but this time, it wasn’t just a dean thing. Rather, I was invited to this party, by one of the Arabic students. Let me put it like this:
أنا والد لويزا
Thanks, Luiza!
And thanks to you, Fahim, for everything you do for our students!
