In celebration of World Arabic Language Day on December 18, NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD) has connected with ten current and former students who now speak Arabic as a result of learning the language during their time at the University.
Over the past decade, NYUAD has been igniting students’ passion for the fifth most spoken language in the world, and the official language of 22 countries worldwide.
- Victoria AnatolyevnaBlinova
Originally from Russia, NYUAD alumna Class of 2017 Victoria Blinova majored in Social Research and Public Policy, with a minor in Arabic. She decided to learn Arabic when she moved to Abu Dhabi, during her freshman year. Blinova chose to learn the Shami dialect because she had many friends from that region. She is currently based in Dubai and works at Nestlé, leading digital marketing for the B2B team for the MENA region. Blinova said that Arabic helped her significantly in job applications, as employers always prefer when applicants study the local language or speak multiple languages. Blinova always advises anyone planning to work in the MENA region or at an international company to study Arabic, as it sets multilinguals apart.
Blinova also uses her social media platforms to practice the language and share her knowledge with her followers from all over the world. Her favourite phrase is ‘حب مش حرب’, which means Love not War.
- Gabrielle (Gabi) Branche
From Trinidad and Tobago, NYUAD Class of 2021 student Gabrielle (Gabi) Branche is majoring in Interactive Media with a minor in Dance. She teaches Contemporary Dance for Attitude Dance Club, a student dance group at NYUAD, and is studying Arabic.
Branche believes that when one moves to a new place, it is important to learn the language spoken of that country. She was influenced by her many Shami friends from high school to learn Arabic even before she arrived at NYUAD. As she began studying Arabic during her freshman year she fell in love with the language. Branche says: “It’s such a beautiful, poetic language and I feel honored to be able to speak it, even if just a little bit.”
In her day-to-day life, she tries to integrate Arabic into conversations with friends who enjoy helping her improve. Her favorite Arabic word is ‘حياة’ which means life. Moreover, she loves the expression ‘مليان بالحياة’ which means ‘full of life’ because this describes her and the Caribbean culture.
She plans to continue learning Arabic and believes that every NYUAD student should take at least one Arabic class as it is a gateway to a new culture and history – and is also just plain fun.
- Emma Chiu
Class of 2020 alumna Emma Chiu, majored in philosophy, with a minor in Arabic. She started her Arabic learning journey during her freshman year as she was determined to connect to the Arab culture. Ethnically Taiwanese, but raised in Panama, Chiu says that she was unaware of the richness and diversity of Arabic until she began learning the language.
While Chiu studied the Shami and the Gulf dialects, she focused on Shami as it was easier to understand and became further attached to the dialect after spending two months in Palestine. She said: “It’s a beautiful dialect to learn and is intelligible to most of the Arab world.”
She says that one of her favorite Arabic expressions is ‘تقبرني’, which is an expression of love, and literally means ‘bury me’ – meaning “I hope that I die before I have to live without you.” The expression shows how romantic and rich the Arabic language is, with countless ways to express different types of love.
Based between Paraguay and Taiwan, Chiu teaches Arabic to third grade children every week as it enables her to continue to practice the language and she enjoys the challenge of teaching young children.
- Joseph Chu
Chinese-Australian NYUAD Class of 2017 alumnus Joseph Chu majored in Political Science with a minor in Arabic. He is currently a graduate student of law at the University of Adelaide, where he is based. He intends to work at a law firm in the UAE after he completes his law degree, which will enable him to further utilize his language skills.
Chu decided to learn Arabic as soon as he was accepted by NYUAD. At first, he saw learning Arabic as a professional skill but the more he studied the more he appreciated the depth of meaning and its embodiment of culture.
He has studied Emirati, Shami and Egyptian dialects. His language skills came in handy while travelling in the Middle East with groups in which he was the only Arabic speaker, and he now uses Arabic to help new immigrants in Australia. Even though opportunities to use Arabic daily are rare, Joseph has now become part of Adelaide’s Arab community. They have been amazed that a young man of Asian origin in Australia was able to speak their dialect. “It takes them a few seconds to register that I am not speaking in English, and all of a sudden their faces light up.”
His favorite word in Arabic is ‘حبطرش’, an old Palestinian word meaning ‘a lot,’ or ‘abundant.’ It reminds him that during his Arabic studies there have been a lot of hours, a lot of words, a lot of laughs, a lot of great memories and of course, a lot of food. Joseph believes that his success in Arabic is largely due to the commitment and passion of the great teachers at NYUAD.
- Killian Marie Dumont
NYUAD Class of 2021 student Killian Dumont from the US is majoring in Social Research and Public Policy, and is currently studying remotely from Louisiana. She started learning Arabic the summer after her junior year of high school through a program that gave her an opportunity to travel to Jordan. At that time, she thought it was an interesting experience in a region of the world she knew nothing about, so she decided to dive in. She has learned Moroccan, Egyptian, and Shami dialects so far and hopes to learn more in the future. She chose to start with the Moroccan dialect while spending a gap year in Morocco after high school, where she lived with a Moroccan family and studied Arabic. Dumont said, “It’s definitely the most different dialect, but also a lot of fun!”
Dumont’s favorite Arabic word is ‘وطواط’ – the word for a bat – she thinks it sounds fun, and she is particularly fond of bats.
- Nabil Haskanbancha
NYUAD Class of 2021 student Nabil Haskanbancha, from Thailand, has studied Arabic since his first year at NYUAD and had a strong affinity for Arab culture before he arrived at the University. Majoring in Social Research and Public Policy, and minoring in Arabic, Haskanbancha is planning to live and work in the UAE after graduation. He is highly motivated to master Arabic as he believes it will be incredibly useful in his professional career.
He has studied Shami, Emirati, and Egyptian dialects to help foster a stronger connection with friends from different Arab countries. He uses Arabic daily to read the news and chat with friends. His favorite Arabic word is ‘Yalla’ as it is understood in all Arabic dialects and can mean various things such as ‘let’s go’ or ‘hurry up.’
- Katharina Klaunig
NYUAD Class of 2021 student Katharina Klaunig, majoring in Social Research and Public Policy, started learning Arabic in the summer of 2016 through the National Security Language Initiative for Youth (NSLI-Y), which is a US State department-sponsored program. She chose to learn Arabic prior to coming to NYUAD because she was interested in the Middle East and in potentially working with migrants from Arabic speaking countries.
German-American Klaunig is studying the Emirati dialect because she wants to be able to speak with and understand the people of the Gulf region as well as explore popular culture in the UAE. She has used Arabic while completing volunteer work in Abu Dhabi and New York.
Klaunig’s favorite expression is ‘الأمم المتحدة’ which means the United Nations. As she learned this before other basic vocabulary and the strangeness of learning this word so early on, makes it one of her most memorable Arabic words. She also likes ‘أتمنى’ which means ‘I wish.’ She likes the way the word sounds in Arabic and its meaning.
- Tereza Petrovicova
From the Czech Republic, Tereza Petrovicova graduated in 2020 with a major in Economics and a minor in Arabic. She is based in Abu Dhabi, working as a research assistant in the Social Science Experimental Lab at NYUAD. Her work involves conducting and analyzing data from behavioral experiments in economics and political science. She decided to study Arabic when she joined NYUAD as she wanted to travel and work in the Middle East.
She first learned the Emirati dialect because she wanted to interact more with the UAE culture and had heard great reviews about the immersive Emirati dialect course taught over the University’s January Term (J-Term), in Al Ain. During her last semester at NYUAD, Petrovicova learned the Egyptian dialect through Egyptian media, songs, movies, and TV shows.
Her favorite expression is ‘InshaAllah’ because its use is a common and versatile word. It means ‘God willing’ and comes with multiple connotations. While Inshallah is meant to be used when you really want something to happen, it has a much more liberal usage such as ‘Yes, I will do it if I have time’ or even ‘I will probably not get to it.’
Petrovicova speaks Arabic daily, at work and in shops and restaurants, and listens to Arabic music.
- Jakob Plaschke
NYUAD Class of 2020 alumnus Jakob Plaschke knew that he wanted to study Arabic before he came to the University in 2016, because he wished to pursue a career in journalism based in the region. He started learning the local Emirati dialect as a way of showing his respect to the people of his adopted home and because it enabled him to become more involved in the city and the country.
Originally from Denmark and currently based in Tunis, Plaschke also studied the Tunisian and Syrian dialects. He uses Arabic daily, from getting his morning coffee to shopping for groceries in the city of Tunis. He takes advanced Arabic classes at Georgetown University, where he is pursuing his MA in Arab Studies, meeting with his class four times a week on Zoom.
His favorite Arabic word is ‘شلفقة’, from the rural Palestinian dialect, and it means ‘to do something in a less than thorough way.’ It was especially appropriate during his final semester, when he and his classmates were tackling the heavy workload of senior year.
- Henry Roberts
Henry Roberts, Class of 2021, is from Australia and is majoring in Physics with a minor in Arabic. Roberts is also a research assistant in the Astroparticle Physics Lab and in the Dhakira Centre for Heritage Studies. He has travelled across the UAE, volunteered in the Levant, interned in a local Australian-Emirati company, and helped teach Arabic to visiting students.
Roberts decided to study Arabic the moment he was accepted by NYUAD and felt that it was appropriate as he would spend a few years as a guest in the UAE. He took introductory Arabic courses to familiarize himself with basic Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and in doing so he developed a passion for the language. After moving to the UAE, he continued to study Arabic to be more involved in Arab culture.
Roberts is studying the Emirati and Shami dialects. He chose Emirati because he wanted to be able to engage with the culture and the course consisted of a three-week homestay with an Emirati family in Al Ain. The desire to learn the Shami dialect came about after becoming a huge fan of the Professor who teaches the course.
He uses Arabic while working and travelling in the UAE and feels that it has made it easier to build connections. After graduation he intends to put it to use in a professional context. His favorite word is ‘بنفسجي’ – meaning the color violet – because he likes the sound of it and as it is the color of the University.
