Arabic After Grinnell

Jonathan Cohen ’14

Dubai in the clouds
Dubai in the clouds as seen by Jon Cohen ’14

Speaking Arabic gave me the opportunity to move to Dubai for three years. I was working as a recruiter at the time, and we were told to keep an eye out for people we thought would make good fits for a post in the UAE. I thought, “I know a guy!Three months later I was moving into an apartment in Dubai.

As it turns out, most people in the UAE speak English, but being able to speak Arabic was incredibly useful in establishing relationships and in traveling around the rest of the region to Oman, Jordan, Egypt, and Lebanon, to name a few. My Arabic classes at Grinnell opened the door to an amazing three years. Now, having just moved back to the States, I've found an Egyptian barber and an Arabic tutor.

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