After stepping off the plane in Jordan a few weeks ago, one of my first experiences was watching many people stop what they were doing to listen to the Muslim Call to Prayer.

While the deep, religious meaning was lost on me, the rhythmic Arabic notes stopped me in my tracks. Multiple moments like that first experience shaped my first weeks in Amman, Jordan.

During my first week abroad, my days were spent touring the city, meeting my peers, moving in with my host family and traveling around a city whose language is relatively new to me.

The language barrier weighs on my mind as classes begin this semester. I took a year of Arabic before attending this abroad program, and that education has greatly helped me move more confidently around the city.

Before even stepping foot in Jordan, I didn’t know many people who wanted to visit the Middle East, let alone study abroad there. I didn’t realize, until I did some research, just how few students stayed long-term in an Arabic-speaking country.

Only 2.2 percent of American students studied abroad in the Middle East and North Africa in 2015, according to the 2015 Open Doors Report on International Educational Exchange. I quickly learned that one reason this number is so low is because Arabic is difficult for many native English speakers to learn.  On top of that, it’s easy to forget the language.

Over the summer, I took my written and oral assessments for placement in Arabic and Jordanian dialect language courses. My poorly-planned decision to take the tests months after my last Arabic class at Syracuse University clearly displayed that I didn’t do a great job of retaining the language.

Losing the ability to communicate in a different language is fairly easy to do, especially with one of the hardest languages for English speakers to learn. Arabic requires, on average, 88 weeks or 2,200 class hours to reach speaking and reading proficiency, according to an article by Business Insider.

Of the 42 students in our program, only a handful of students have never studied Arabic before. This is a practice I wouldn’t recommend for anyone living in a country with a language barrier.

Most students I have talked to agree to speak only Arabic to their host families after a few weeks, even though it’s not a requirement of the program. This practice allows students to practice the language with local Jordanians who speak the language fluently.

Some students said they came to Amman solely to immerse themselves in the language — some even say they chose random regional content courses for the sole purpose of taking the required limit to fit program requirements.

I think every person who plans to stay in a country for an extended amount of time should strive to know at least the basics of the primary language of the country you’ll be living in.

My year’s worth of Arabic study, if nothing else, has made me feel more confident in maneuvering through daily life, although I haven’t yet had the experience of catching a taxi, ordering food or asking for directions in Arabic. I will inevitably have the opportunity to effectively complete those tasks within the next few weeks.

As it’s an extremely westernized city in the Middle East, it’s pretty easy to spend a semester in Amman without having to speak a lot of Arabic.  I believe that even though it’s easy to only speak English, the key to actually forming connections with the people around me is learning and practicing the language, however hard that may be.

Katelyn Faubel is a junior newspaper and online journalism and international relations dual major. Her column appears weekly in Pulp. You can email her at kmfaubel@syr.edu. 

Published on August 29, 2016 at 10:50 pm