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The Woes of 3B

During a Qasid orientation session, they discussed the characteristics of the different levels of Arabic learning. They addressed the awe of level 1: the awe of seeing an “I” (alif) on page 1 and a (bah) on page 2. The awe of the new language carries you through level 1 and 2, so they said, with confidence that you will someday be fluent. Then, you come to level 3. This is where motivation slows down, and you start to lose your focus. Learning seems to plateau, and progress isn’t as clear. By levels 4 and 5, however, you see an upward swing again. You start to see how your work to learn Arabic will allow you to realize the goals that you set out to fulfill in deciding to learn Arabic. Sounds pretty great, right? Well, don’t get too excited ‘cause, you guessed it, I’m in level 3. 

The director of Qasid, who himself learned Arabic starting as a teenager, described the experience of level 3, with anecdotes that spoke directly to my soul: “All I know how to say in Arabic is “my father is an engineer” even though my father ISN’T an engineer” and “I only know how to say that I’m lonely in Arabic but I actually have a great social life and support system.” 

Learning a language is hard, and Arabic is one of the harder languages to learn. The US Foreign Service Institute estimates that it takes 2,200 hours to learn Arabic. As a comparison, they estimate that it takes about 600-750 hours to learn Spanish and 1,100 hours to learn Hebrew. To look at it another way, when talking to a Syrian friend about my continuing aspirations of learning Arabic several months ago, he responded that he didn’t know how anybody learned Arabic when there are 50 words for camel alone. 

My Arabic trajectory has also been somewhat unique. I did four years of Arabic in high school, three quarters at UChicago, some sporadic tutoring sessions while working at SYE, and then intensive tutoring last summer. I did about an hour a day for my first semester at the University of Notre Dame, and then about 6 hours total the following semester. 

ما شاء الله 

I have been placed into level 3b. From the beginning, everything about that level felt scary and the imposter syndrome has been strong. Level 3, really? I had hoped that I might be placed into the level that works with the second al-Kitaab book, but now that I’ve done it, it’s scary. What if the placement interviewer got me confused with somebody else? I don’t think the interview misrepresented my skills, but what if it did? In discussing the placements, Qasid has generally indicated that while they are open to a conversation about placement, they are also pretty confident in the ability of their staff to place us at the right levels, and when push comes to shove, the Qasid instructors get the final say. When I brought up my hesitation with my professor a week in, she said that I was fine, but that if the course was too overwhelming for me, that I could switch. 

Part of the issue, though, is that my education has been so atypical. I’m realizing how much I don’t know from al-Kitaab 1 and the first few chapters of al-Kitaab 2 — even though I’ve technically worked through them before. This summer has been incredibly beneficial in standardizing my education and filling in a lot of cracks (particularly with grammar!) so that I have a much stronger foundation. I also believe that this knowledge will be beneficial moving forward as I continue to learn Arabic on my own and with the support of the Syrian community that I have supported for so long. I am hopeful that this is a foundation – an essential foundation – to bring my Arabic skills to new levels.   

ان شاء الله

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D.I.V.E. into Contentious History

It came as no surprise to me that many Spaniards approach their colonial past from a very different perspective from the one I have been taught. My first experience with this Spanish perspective was during a tour of the Seville cathedral where the tomb of Christopher Columbus is located. Our tour guide, a professor from the university, told my group that although most Spaniards are well-aware of their less-than-savory history and the effect that their colonial rule had on Latin America, but she explained that many Spaniards don’t view colonialism as a major event in their history, because Spain also had a history of being conquered by the Visigoths, the Moors, the French, and more.

This description of history was rather startling to me. Although both the history of the conquest of Spain and its subsequent conquest of the Americas are evident throughout Granada (my residence hall was, in fact, built by Ferdinand and Isabelle following the reconquest of Granada), I was still struck by the flippant nature of the tour guide’s comments. I turned to my fellow students to verify that I had correctly interpreted what the tour guide had said. They, too, were surprised by this account of Spanish history. I decided that this incident was a good subject for our class the next week. My professor had a similar attitude regarding Spain’s history of colonialism. Contending versions of history are not rare, in fact, they are more common than historical consensus, but this incident taught me that even subjects that are relatively uncontentious in one culture can still be the subject of scholarly and societal debate. As a history student, Spain’s approach to their own history fascinates me, but it is not one that I feel obliged to counter with facts, figures, and testimonies. Instead, I have adopted the practice of listening and learning about the perspectives of contemporary Spaniards, without putting them on the defensive.

This approach is not one that has been easy to stomach, in fact, I often need to discuss my thoughts with my peers, but immersing oneself in a different culture will always be an uncomfortable experience. Like us, they too have dark periods in their history, but as a foreigner, their history will always be more shocking to me and their complacent attitude challenges me to consider in what ways, I am complacent to the historical burdens of my culture and history. Diving into a different culture, although uncomfortable at times, is an experience that I contend improves our self-awareness and when done correctly, should motivate self-questioning.

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Un Jour à la Rivière



I came home from school one evening and I met my host sister in tears. First thought that came to mind was that she had been hurt by someone. I could barely wait for her to tell me who it was, how it happened rather than listen to what it was and what had happened. I was becoming impatient when she blurted out “I saw a dead body at the river today”. In my mind I was like “hold up, so you weren’t hurt. That’s ok.” And then I remembered she just said she saw a dead body. I asked her to calm down because she was shaking all over and crying. When she was a bit relaxed, she continued the conversation. As usual, she had been to the river with her friends and they were swimming in the river when they saw the dead body. In my mind I could finally comprehend what had happened. It was indeed a terrifying experience to be swimming one moment and then see a body pop out of the water the next minute. We both came to the conclusion that it was not right to go out alone. Probably, the person she saw could have been murdered and the body dumped in the river. In her fear, she told me to help her relate the news to our host parents.

During dinner that evening, I told our host parents what happened at the river that day. Thankfully, our host father is a police officer. So, he explained that the person that was found in the river had been missing for a couple of days. He was diagnosed with cancer and did not want to go through chemotherapy, so he took an overdose of sleeping drugs and jumped into the river. He was a man in his seventies.
His explanation cancelled the notion that he had been murdered because he had actually committed suicide.
As I look back on that incident, I notice that my host sister and I interpreted and evaluated the situation before getting a good description of what had happened and verifying. But then, verification would have been the last option in mind in that scenario. At least not until, one was past the feeling of having seen a dead body. We both felt relaxed after the explanation. We also saw it on the news. I must confess that it is difficult to use the D.I.V.E method because our brains are swift to respond. It will take a lot of practice. I sincerely do not recommend it in severe cases like if one hears gunshots. It would be better to call 911 first then leave it to capable hands to D.I.V.E.

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Post 4

A couple of days ago, I took a longer train ride from Germany to France on the French TGV. All went smoothly, and it was a delightful and even relaxing trip, but then, all of a sudden, a man in our compartment started speaking very loudly while on the phone. I remember thinking that this was very rude and inconsiderate to all the other passengers. This man had to know that in Europe, on these train rides, one does take a phone call in the compartment. If the call is truly important, one should take it between the compartments after closing the doors. This man seemed to think that his phone call was so important that it could not wait for any second.

But now, I notice that this interpretation is not necessarily accurate. If I had to describe the scene more objectively, I would even say that he was talking on the phone in a rather normal voice and a foreign language. This could mean that he was a tourist and unaware of the common etiquette rules in France or Germany. If that were the case, it would certainly change my evaluation, for I would no longer consider him rude or inconsiderate but only uninformed.