Arabic The Hot Language on Campus

By Lisa Marie Gomez

SAN ANTONIO -- Just as the Cold War sparked an interest in Russian, current events in the Middle East are drawing more Americans to Arabic language courses.

Educators say they're meeting a growing demand from students who became interested in the Middle East and the Arab language in the wake of 9/11.

Interest is so high there are waiting lists for the fall courses. Students say they're driven to learn the language by job prospects, the desire to travel to the Arab world and sheer curiosity.

Trinity University student Deborah Cahill said she hopes to one day get a job with the Central Intelligence Agency.

"I was initially attracted to the language simply because it looked beautiful," said Cahill, 20, in an e-mail.

She is majoring in international relations with concentrations in the Middle East and Africa and ancient Mediterranean studies. "I would love to use Arabic in a future job. My wild dream job is the CIA."

Though the number of students wanting to learn Arabic still is low compared with Spanish, French and German -- the top languages taught in the U.S. -- demand is growing.

A survey by the Modern Language Association showed a 92.3 percent increase in the number of students studying Arabic at U.S. colleges -- to 10,584 -- between 1998 and 2002, the latest numbers available.

"And that's probably doubled by now," said Matthew Stroud, the director of language at Trinity University. He cautioned, however: "It sounds like such an amazing figure, but when it's such a small number it doesn't take much to almost double it."

Even so, the MLA survey also showed Arabic had the biggest growth of any language except American Sign Language.

Cahill took Trinity's self-instruction course and is thrilled the university now is offering "real Arabic classes." She's registered to take an intermediate Arabic class in the fall.

Right now, though, she's in Jordan, where she is learning Arabic first-hand through a scholarship from the Council of American Overseas Research Centers, under the U.S. Department of State.

The U.S. government considers Arabic to be a "critical language" -- it's the fifth most spoken language in the world -- and encourages people to learn it. Cahill's scholarship includes airfare, room and board, lessons and cultural excursions, and she received a $1,000 stipend.

Michael Greene, a senior in political science at Trinity, wants to learn Arabic for professional reasons. An officer candidate in the Marine Corps, he read about a Marine who had trouble in Iraq when a translator didn't convey the message he wanted to give villagers.

"He told his translator, 'Tell these people we have water for everyone and they are to proceed in an orderly fashion,"' Greene said. "And the translator told the villagers, 'These Marines have water for anyone who is a Shiite, and if you're a Sunni, you need to give me your cigarettes or they will kill you."'

Greene added: "I want to be proficient enough in Arabic so that doesn't happen to me."

Local language institutes are seeing more people from the military sign up for Arabic lessons, and enrollment nationwide is also on the rise. With the growing trend comes growing pains. There aren't enough qualified teachers to take on the demand, for instance.

"A lot of people speak Arabic, but it's difficult to find people who know the right kind," said John Nahal, 40, who teaches Arabic at San Antonio College and St. Mary's University.

In the U.S., the common version taught is called Modern Standard Arabic, which can be understood in any Arabic-speaking country. Using federal funds, the immersion camp at Concordia Language Village in Minnesota has added Arabic as its 14th language, beginning with two, two-week sessions.

So far, the camp has 80 kids enrolled from 23 states and two countries.

Collin Caldwell, 17, entering his senior year, has had an opportunity to live abroad because his parents, Rick and Lori Anne Caldwell, are in the military.

"I believe that knowledge of diverse cultures and languages promotes peace and understanding," said Caldwell, who is fluent in German after living there.

"I also believe that we all have a duty to know more about the world than American culture and to speak another language other than English."

He believes, too, that Arabic is one of the "central languages of the world" along with English, Spanish and Chinese.

So how hard is it to learn?

Arabic has a number of sounds that aren't used in English, so the pronunciation is quite different. It's considered on a par with learning Chinese, Japanese and Korean, Stroud said.

"You have to use the back of your throat a lot," Stroud said. "People who know Spanish actually have a leg up because there are some sounds like 'hah,' as in 'jefe,' that are in Spanish but not in English."

c) 2006 San Antonio Express-News