<p>Hello. I am a long-time lurker, first-time poster here. My D is a rising sophomore interested in study abroad junior year in an Arabic-speaking nation (there is a thread in "College Life" about study abroad in Cairo, but there are not many responses). I am very concerned about this given the state of the world these days! The study abroad office at her school had not been very helpful during the year. She has suggested travel to the UAE, Jordan, or Egypt. There seem to be extensive safety warnings concerning Jordan and Egypt on the State Department travel website, and I am ashamed to admit I have never even heard of the UAE, although there do not seem to be as many warnings on its page (this mom is less culturally literate than D :)). Can you knowledgeable CC parents help?</p>
<p>I don't know anything about the university opportunities there, but I have a friend who is presently living in Qatar. She said she feels very safe, most shop keepers, etc. speak English but Arabic is national language.</p>
<p>She could contact the Study Abroad office at her school for recommendations. Jordan is a wonderful, safe country. Good school in Amman is Qasid. Take a look at their website. Son has had friends study there and will be attending this summer. One friend has been back more than once, he was so happy there.</p>
<p>My son spent last summer in Cairo -- Egypt is safe, but you do need to remain in the populated areas. Most travel warnings are for particular areas of the country. The American University in Cairo has some excellent programs and years of experience with US exchange students.</p>
<p>I have also heard that Morocco is safe and has many Arabic programs. </p>
<p>You daughter needs to do some research regarding which dialect of Arabic she wants to learn. Most Arabic students learn Modern Standard Arabic and then they also learn the dialect of a particular country. Egyptian colloquial Arabic is very common -- but it is different than Morrocan Colloquial Arabic. My son studies Egyptian Colloquial and MSA -- he finds Morrocan difficult to understand.</p>
<p>Look for programs with a great deal of experience and check references. also ask about evacuation policies (this became an issue last year during the war between Lebanon and Israel -- some exchange students were rushed out on charter planes, others were told to contact the American Embassy and follow instructions. different programs have different levels of protection and emergency procedures in place).</p>
<p>There are many posters on this board who have students who have studies abroad in the middle-east, so you should get some good information -- you might try a search.</p>
<p>Thank you both for the suggestions and search links. My D was most interested in study in Cairo, but I was very concerned about periodic terrorist attacks (weren't there kidnappings of Westerners in the city fairly recently?). She is also very interested in Jordan. To be honest, I do not think she has done much research about what dialect she wishes to learn. She has also clarified that she was not really interested in travel to the UAE.</p>
<p>I live in the UAE, (Dubai specifically), and I'd have to say that you'll find English, Hindi and Urdu along with snatches of Malayalam and Tamil to be the major lingua franca, so your D wouldn't be getting a complete immersion if Arabic's her interest, so she's probably made the right decision. On the other hand, Dubai is a very unique city, and is definitely positioning itself as a hub for business in the Arabian Gulf and the Middle East, so it's worth looking into.</p>
<p>I'd agree with the different Arabic accents part, my father speaks and understands Arabic and from what he's told me, the Arabic that you'll hear spoken in Morocco would be very different from that spoken in say, Jordan, or Egypt. (Morocco would be a very unique mixture of French and Arabic and so on...)</p>
<p>The above friend I mentioned was originally to go to Cairo--but government, at last minute, refused to allow family members to accompany to Egypt due to safety concerns---this was after the 2006 spring bombings. Thus they opted for the position in Qatar.</p>
<p>Link to the arabic language program at Qatar U. <a href="http://www.qu.edu.qa/qu/colleges/arts_sciences/cas_ar_nonative.html%5B/url%5D">http://www.qu.edu.qa/qu/colleges/arts_sciences/cas_ar_nonative.html</a></p>
<p>Thanks for the link, mkm6. The news from Cairo recently is not encouraging. I'm not sure how to evaluate the safety of different regions and programs, though. It's a pretty overwhelming task. My first inclination was to ban her from travel to the Middle East (or Egypt) completely! I am, however, really trying to rationally evaluate what choices she has.</p>
<p>Oh, puh-leeez do not describe the study and travel experiences of boys and immediately generalize that girls will have the same ease of association, ambulation and so on in the Middle East.</p>
<p>If I were looking for a daughter I'd surely want to hear from the parents of other DAUGHTERS, country by country.</p>
<p>For example, if a boy wants to take a study break and get a coffee on the streets of Egypt or Jordan, off he goes. It's fascinating to talk to the other boys and men in the cafes..</p>
<p>If a girl wants a study break, should she gather other girls and go together, or will that attract negative unwanted attention to the group? Should she find a male friend from the program to go along with her? Can she even consider walking into a coffee spot alone, or will she be harassed there so it's unpleasant and upsetting for her?</p>
<p>I'd want to know all of these things, and not just the academic program.</p>
<p>paying3tuitions -- I was just about to post the same information. While I felt that my son was safe, I don't have daughters. many of the kids on the exchange program were girls -- but I have to say that the rules and restrictions were much greater for them.</p>
<p>I think you need to find some adults (particularly women) who have experience travelling and have been to the area you are trying to research RECENTLY. Especially in the middle-east, what was perfectly safe two years ago may now be a very dangerous place. On the other hand -- you don't necessarily want to believe the opinions of people whose knowledge comes from television and newspaper reports.</p>
<p>Try contacting some professors of middle-eastern studies at various universities and ask for a referral to female students studying in XX country. I think you could get your best information that way.</p>
<p>^^^SUPER good idea in that last paragraph above! Bravissima!! (oh, that was Italian for "Bravo" but for a woman...)</p>
<p>That is an excellent idea that I have not thought about! Although my immediate concern was definitely threats to her life, I have been wondering in the back of my head how she will fare as a female in many of the countries she is considering. I was definitely wary of boys' positive experiences.</p>
<p>We are busy researching that now, as d. has just been awarded one of those AFS Arabic Language Institute scholarships to Cairo for the summer. Her experiences might be a little different - she is adopted from India, and would most likely pass as a local. One of her concerns was that, as a competitive gymnast, she wouldn't get to work out. We e-mailed the Egyptian Gymnastics Federation and in less than 24 hours a board member wrote us back, offering to set things up for her, and even offering her the opportunity to work out with the national team at their Olympic Training Center. </p>
<p>We will be asking all these questions before making a final decision.</p>
<p>another difference you might find, mini, is that kids attending the AFS exchange in Cairo live with their host family as a member of the family -- and have to follow the rules of the family, including dress and behavior. My son was told that groups of American citizens might be a target -- but an individual who was with other Egyptians was rarely even noticed. When the AFS group travelled together -- the security precautions were much stricter. My son is 100% American -- with an English background -- but somewhere in that gene pool he ended up with olive skin and dark eyes/hair. He didn't look Egyptian, but most Egyptians thought he was Syrian (he has also been mistaken for an ethnic Jew, but he was going for for the Syrian look while in Egypt).</p>
<p>American university students study abroad in Egypt can tend to stick out if they are with other Americans and frequent places that Americans like to go to.</p>
<p>limepopsicle -- I think you may find that the concern of "threats to her life" and "how she will fare as a female" are directly related in the case of many middle-eastern areas. It is a great cultural experience to learn that there are different rules for boys and girls, different codes of behavior and different expectations -- but in some areas, those differences can cause very unwanted consequences.</p>
<p>D, like your son, is not obviously American. Olive skin/dark hair/thick eyebrows comes from the Italian side of the family! You make a good point about homestays vs. university dorming. D has actually expressed more interest in homestays because the language immersion is more complete, but I am sure she did not think about safety (she usually doesn't).</p>
<p>A potential study abroad gem that few Americans know about is Oman. Oman, on the southern coast of the Arabian peninsula, is a peaceful and progressive state in which the reigning sultan has set priorities regarding the education of women. My daughter, a HS junior, took Arabic I and II last year at a local university from a female Omani Fulbright Scholar who spent a year in the States. The scholar gave us a number of materials about current educational theory and practice in Oman, which frankly sounds more progressive than in most areas of the U.S. Oman is eager for international tourists and is trying to build its reputation as an Arab state that is open and welcoming to the West.</p>
<p>Wow! I checked out Oman a bit per your suggestion, and it seems like a wonderful option. Surprised D has not mentioned it. She does have a bit of time to think about it still. Truthfully, my preliminary research has only consisted of visits to the Department of State Travel website, but it is a good way to cross-off immediate "no-go"s. Oman is the first country to really pass the first check point: </p>
<p>1.) No reported terrorist attacks against Americans
2.) Described as progressive and accepting of many religions and Westerners
3.) Low violent crime</p>
<p>Sounds good! I will suggest D and I look into it more. Thank you very much.</p>
<p>I lived in Oman for 9 years, so in case your D does choose to go there, if you need any general information feel free to PM me.</p>
<p>I think that if someone is thinking of studying Arabic and then applying it long term in a career they need to consider that they are setting themselves up for not just short term considerations about safety, but in fact long term considerations. Having lived for many years in a Moslem country with varying degrees of security/anti- Western issues I would say that this must be addressed--Not everyone is temperamentally well suited for this life style. </p>
<p>Some locations are 'safer'- you are fooling yourself to think anywhere is safe. The same is true in the rest of the world, perhaps, but there are elements of lives in these countries which you just have to accept as a given. </p>
<p>My son is studying Arabic as well, and my father in law grew up in Egypt so this is hardly an issue in the abstract for us.</p>
<p>"Some locations are 'safer'- you are fooling yourself to think anywhere is safe. The same is true in the rest of the world, perhaps, but there are elements of lives in these countries which you just have to accept as a given."</p>
<p>I agree, and things must be put in perspective. There were more than 30,000 gun-related deaths in the U.S. last year. If you added up ALL the terrorist train bombing deaths, all the deaths in the conflict in Kashmir, all guerrilla activity, all burnings of women, all gun deaths in India last year - a country with four times the U.S. population - there were fewer than a fifth the number of gun-related deaths in the U.S. Last year, the murder rate in Washington, DC, a tourist mecca, was 950 times the murder rate in Egypt.</p>
<p>We don't live in a very safe place.</p>