Last Fall, I began studying the Arabic language at Swarthmore College. I soon fell in love the language-its patterns, its histories, its richness-and Swarthmore's distinct rigor. Though I initially struggled with adjusting to a new alphabet and fast-paced conversations in my drill, I now feel confident in my ability to talk about myself and my friends, and can even hold a basic conversation-and with this new knowledge, I've become hooked. While I first began Arabic out of sheer curiosity, I've become dedicated to learning the language for the academic challenge, my personal interests in Arabic literature, and the language's relevance to my research interests within my History and Philosophy majors.
Although I will complete my Sophomore year
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The ten-week intensive program meets twenty-one hours per week in conversation-rich classes, covering the equivalent of two semesters of intensive intermediate Arabic in the term. Conveniently, their curriculum and even textbook align with the Swarthmore Arabic department's, meaning that I could easily enroll in third-year, advanced Arabic upon completion of the program. (In fact, a friend of mine attended the same program last summer and had no issues jumping ahead.) Learning Arabic at a prestigious program such as Sijal will not only vastly improve my competence in the language, but also enrich my language learning experience through cultural immersion. With its central location on Rainbow Street, one of the most beautiful parts of Amman, I will improve my Arabic through everyday use outside of the classroom. In addition to the class time spent learning Modern Standard Arabic, I will also study Levantine dialect, which will smooth the transition to speaking with locals. Weekly excursions throughout the country, arranged by the program, will also make language acquisition I deeply cultural and historical