This semester, the Penn State School of Languages and Literatures will officially launch its 11th foreign language program for study. Students are now able to enroll in the new Arabic Language minor, an option that was previously only partially fulfilled by the Middle East Studies minor. In the case of the Middle East Studies minor, Arabic courses could only count for half of the curriculum. With the addition of the Arabic minor, those wishing to truly focus on learning the language now have that option.

In addition to the 6 course levels available, there are several alternative options to fulfill the 21-credit minor requirement. Enrolled students are often able to conduct research, perform an independent study, or even participate in an internship for credit, based on availability each semester.

Anouar El-Younssi, a Penn State professor and native speaker of Arabic, said he was thrilled to see and experience the program’s launch.

“The addition of the Arabic minor at Penn State comes as an important and logical step to reflect the growth of the Arabic program at the school. [It] comes at a time when there is an increasing demand for Arabic at the college level nationwide.”

One of the top 5 most widely spoken languages in the world, Arabic is the mother tongue of some 250 million people worldwide, and finds its home in more than 22 countries spanning across the Middle East and North Africa.

Arabic is also one of the 6 official U.N. languages. Spoken in a region of strategic importance to the U.S. and other Western nations both politically and economically, there is a huge demand for it coupled with a huge shortage of speakers of Arabic in the Western world.

Arabic is unique among most languages; it’s a language of 28 letters, written right to left, and spoken in some 30 different colloquial dialects. The various forms are branched into the North African, Egyptian, Levantine, Arabian, and Iraqi dialects, based on the patterns of the region in which they are spoken. Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) was instilled as a common thread connecting all Arabs under one tongue, but the format is used mainly in media and formal speeches rather than everyday conversations. Colloquial Arabic (CA) is essentially the non-uniform mother tongue of all Arabs, making it difficult for all Arabic speakers to communicate effectively as they move across the Arab world. However, being that Egypt is the source of a sizeable portion of the Arab population, media, and entertainment, Penn State professors primarily teach the Egyptian colloquial in concurrence with MSA.

In that sense, learning Arabic is a lot like learning two very similar languages simultaneously. Needless to say, it is an incredibly complex language. “Complex,” however, is not the same as “hard.” It is complex in the same sense as a patterned (and much less boring) puzzle would be. Every word that comprises Arabic is a part formed from a pattern. When all the parts are formed, it’s a matter of connecting them each time in the (grammatical and logical) order that fits the pattern. Upon completion, speakers of Arabic have before them a seamless picture of a beautiful people, language, and culture. All rifts, myths, and misunderstandings can be clarified in the connection of the pieces.

With the addition of the minor, Penn State students now have an option to study a fascinating yet often unexplored language. Says Professor Younssi, “My dream, though, is to see an Arabic major become a reality at Penn State in the future.” As more and more students continue to enroll in the program, perhaps this goal is not far from it.