Arabic Offered as Part of Foreign Language Curriculum
Published: April 13, 2021
Arabic is the sixth most commonly spoken native language in the world. As the voice of such a growing population, Arabic has long been recognized as an important facet of world relations. This fact has recently moved to the forefront of concern for government and educational institutions alike. Greenville College is now offering this ancient language in recognition of its growing influence. Beginning during the Interterm session of this school year, the College offered courses in Elementary Arabic to its students as an option to fulfill the general education foreign language requirement.
By offering this new program, the College seeks to better prepare its students for success as they enter the struggling job market. As the official language of at least 20 countries, Arabic is rapidly expanding its circle of political influence. It has been recognized as an official language of several prominent organizations, including the United Nations , League of Arab States , Organization of Islamic Conference and the African Union . The scarcity of individuals in the Western world who are familiar with both Arabic language and culture has created a situation of high demand and low supply, thus creating numerous job opportunities for those who become fluent in the subject. Students from every class are taking advantage of this unique opportunity.
Greenville College currently offers two courses in this area of study: Elementary Arabic I and II. The first session offers instruction regarding Arabic phonology and orthography, or the Arabic sound and writing systems. The second course focuses primarily on reading, conversation and basic grammar. The program as a whole is dedicated to developing the students' vocabulary, and is spearheaded and taught by Greenville College Scholar in Residence, Dr. Mathias Zahniser .
Zahniser was first exposed to Arabic during a 12 hour course at the American University in Washington, D.C., during study for his Masters of International Service degree in 1962. He then went on to live in Upper Egypt for a time, studying both the local dialect of Arabic and written Arabic. Zahniser furthered his Arabic education when he devoted three years to its study during his doctoral program at Johns Hopkins University from 1967-1970. In the summer of 1969, he qualified for a National Defense Foreign Language Fellowship in Arabic at the University of Pennsylvania . In 1970, Zahniser returned to Egypt for 8 weeks to work on his doctoral dissertation, which involved reading more than 400 pages of Arabic, as well as improving his spoken Egyptian Arabic. Most recently, Zahniser returned to Egypt in January of 1981 for three weeks to brush up on his spoken and written Arabic.
The new course offerings are in accordance with Greenville College's long held tradition of exposing students to various cultures. In an effort to provide students with "experiences beyond their expectations," the College offers several off-campus study programs, presented by the Council for Christian Colleges and Universities(CCCU) . There are a total of eleven semester programs and one summer program designed to serve the academic interests of CCCU member institutions. The College also offers a yearly Interterm trip to a variety of international locations, designed to achieve this same purpose. The Arabic courses now offered by the College expose students to the geography, culture and religion of the Arabic Countries, in addition to basic language skills.
For more information contact media@greenville.edu .
