Walking across campus, people might hear students talking to each other in a foreign language. It’s not Spanish. It’s not French. It’s not Chinese.
“You want to know, ‘what is it that they are speaking?’,” said Kyle Taylor, an international affairs major.
Perhaps they are speaking Arabic.
Last semester, USF St. Petersburg began offering Arabic as a foreign language. Shortly after, a few students got together and formed the Arabic Club. The club is for any students interested in the Arabic language and culture.
“We were never officially established as a club,” said Amanda Smolen, a recent graduate of the journalism program. Smolen is taking Arabic to help benefit her journalism career.
They didn’t make the club official because at the time they were unsure of the number of dedicated members. Now that they are more organized, they are considering establishing their club within the university.
The first meeting of the semester was on Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 12:30 p.m. in the back corner of the library on the first floor, and the group plans to keep this time and location all semester. On Jan. 25, a little over 10 people greeted each other in Arabic as they sat down for the meeting. The members come from all different walks of life.
There was plenty to discuss, from what types of events they want to hold this semester to reactions they’ve noticed when people see their textbooks. Their textbooks, covered in Arabic, open from left to right, since the language is written opposite of English.
Smolen shared how last semester she was carrying her Arabic book with her, while wearing a cross around her neck. A man approached her speaking Arabic, and quickly turning their conversation into a religious debate.
They do not discuss religion or politics in class— just the language. If the conversation starts to turn that way the professor will steer it somewhere else. Club meetings are more open to discussion.
“The Arabic Club is a place where we can learn through knowledge and friendship,” Smolen said.
A few students in the group have an Arabic background, and others are simply there because they feel learning Arabic will impact their major. George Mustafa, who is half Palestinian and half Columbian, said that Arabic is not a religion. It is a language and a culture, and there are Arab people with all different religious backgrounds, which can be difficult to understand for people unfamiliar with it.
It was this topic that gets the conversation at the meeting flowing. They talked about what they see in the media and how different it is from people they encounter in real life. “It’s not a stereotype,” said Whitney Porter, of the authenticity of her friends’ experiences with the culture.
Arabic Professor Raja Benchekroun, who is from Morocco, said that there is a huge difference between Arabs who live in the Arabic world and Arabs who live in the United States. “They share the same values, they just have different practices,” she said.
Karim Abdelbary, a finance major, was born and raised in America but is 100 percent Egyptian, his parents both coming from Alexandria, Egypt.
“[Egypt] is one of the oldest countries,” Abdelbary said. “It’s just a cool region based on the history.”
Porter, who is one of the club leaders, said that many people in the club have political science in common, and that learning Arabic is an “unspoken requirement career wise” when it comes to political science. Sarah Partin, another club member, agreed.
Ameana Hamid is a psychology major and is half Palestinian, which is part of the reason she wants to learn the language. Her goal is to do translations for the military.
John Engelke, another club leader, said that his interest grew from a Middle East politics class. His professor encouraged him to study the language. “I kind of fell in love with it,” he said.
The club is open to new members, and wants people to know they are on campus.
Arabic is one of the most commonly spoken languages in the world.
For those interested in learning more about Arabic culture, the language course offers a lab on Tuesdays at 5 p.m. held in Davis 232 that is open to the public.
Email: life@crowsneststpete.com
Photos by Lenay Ruhl
