University of Pittsburgh student Zahra Chittalia dreams of someday working to help refugees — and she knows that being able to communicate with them would make this work much more effective.
That’s why, when she enrolled at Pitt three years ago, Ms. Chittalia began taking Arabic language courses, hoping to earn Pitt’s Arabic language and linguistics certificate. Each year, thousands of refugees come from Arabic-speaking countries.
Now a senior, Ms. Chittalia will soon graduate with more than a certificate — she will earn a bachelor’s degree in Arabic thanks to Pitt’s new undergraduate program in Arabic language and culture.
She believes Pitt’s addition of an Arabic major this fall is “extremely important.”
“Having educated Americans who can speak Arabic is going to be extremely important to the diplomatic and political future of the U.S.,” said Ms. Chittalia, who also studies political science. “... And on a more person-to-person level, I think that it's really nice to have the opportunity to be able to communicate with more people. It's that simple.”
With more than 313 million native speakers, Arabic is the fifth most-spoken language in the world. The U.S. Department of State considers it one of 13 “critical languages.”
-Maddie Aiken, photography by Justin Guido