Qatar Foundation (QF) is offering its Education City university students the opportunity to learn Arabic for free with a newly launched course for native and non-native speakers alike.
The course, Discover Arabic, runs during the academic semester, offering a blend of in-person and online teaching, focusing on listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills.
Catering for various levels of Arabic language proficiency, the course and has been developed with the Translation and Interpreting Institute, part of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at Hamad Bin Khalifa University ( HBKU).
Firdavs Fayzillaev, a business administration student at Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q) joined the first edition of the course, which ran from September to December.
“I embarked on the journey of learning Arabic primarily because it is the language in which the Holy Qur’an was written. One of my ambitions is to be able to read and understand the Qur’an by the end of my academic journey at CMU-Q,” he said.
“I was surprised by the vast diversity of Arabic dialects, each uniquely shaped by its geographical context,” he said. “Understanding the intricacies of these dialects has given me valuable insights into the rich culture of the Arabic language."
Dina Mutassem, academic programming lead, QF, said: “At QF, one of our foremost priorities is being a custodian for the Arabic language. Our long-term vision is for every graduate of an Education City university to complete their academic journey with some level of Arabic proficiency."
