20 questions for people who are passionate about Arabic
Inspired by the 9,273 roots in the famous Classical Arabic dictionary, Lisan al-‘Arab (ููุณุงู ุงููุนูุฑูุจ, the ‘9273 Roots’ series features in-depth interviews about Arabic. We explore the dedication and passion of people who work with, teach, or simply love the language. In each conversation, you’ll discover the unique journey of each guest.
Each person is unique in a certain way. They will come from different parts of life and from all parts of the world, ranging from teachers, diplomats, journalists, language nerds, translators as well as more experienced and established experts.
Every person is asked the same 20 questions.
So far, the following people have been interviewed:
“Teaching Arabic is deeply ingrained in my DNA” | Haytham Ibrahim | 9273 Roots #35
“Don’t let anyone tell you Arabic is a difficult language” | Eamonn Gearon | 9273 Roots #34
“I hope mastering Arabic takes nothing less than a lifetime” | Mennan Salih | 9273 Roots #33
“Arabic is the ‘endurance sport’ of the worldโs languages” | Dominic Herbert | 9273 Roots #32
“Being a lexicographer is a lifelong sentence” | Jan Hoogland | 9273 Roots #31
“Seeking to discover the world through literature” | Betรผl Aslan | 9273 Roots #30
“I went from zero to fluent in Levantine Arabic in one year” | Uchechi Kalu | 9273 Roots #28
“I drove 4 hours across mountains for an Arabic class” | Marco Rateitschak | 9273 Roots #27
“Learning (languages) should become a joy, your job, and a friend” | Andreas Dietrich | 9273 Roots #26
“I became just knowledgeable enough about Arabic to be really annoying at parties” | Connor Seidenschwarz | 9273 Roots #25
“If only I were happy with my fate, I would be free” | Yehia Moldan | 9273 Roots #24
“If your friend was honey, don’t lick him all up” | Sami Morcos | 9273 Roots #23
“If you’ve been burned by soup you blow on yogurt” | Nesrin Amin | 9273 Roots #22
“The relatives are scorpions” | Nikolaos van Dam | 9273 Roots #21
“I believe that design can change the world” | Ghada Wali | 9273 Roots #20
CALL FOR SUGGESTIONS: Who should we interview soon?
Do you know an interesting person who has a special relationship with the Arabic language? Then tell us why we should interview this person!