Arabic Division

Department Head:

Division Head:

Department Secretary:

Ahlan wa-Sahlan. Welcome to Arabic at Hunter College.

Here at Hunter we teach Arabic as the living language used on a daily basis by more than two hundred million people, from Morocco in the West of the Arab World to Oman in the East. While local dialects vary from country to country and even within nations, we focus on the language of the media, of official occasions and of academic settings, usually referred to as Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) or Fusha. We do this via a communicative approach. In other words, instead of focusing on the translation of written texts, as Arabic has traditionally been taught, we teach our students how to read, speak, write and aurally comprehend the language.

At Hunter we firmly believe in the bond between language and culture. Thus we always strive to expose students to the cultural side of the Arab world in our language classes, in extracurricular activities, and in culture courses offered in English. We like to consider culture a fifth skill in addition to the four mentioned above. Outside of the Arab World itself, New York is arguably the best place to be for exposure to Arab culture. We keep our students abreast of local cultural and academic events related to Arabic or the Arab World.

For more information on the Arabic program at Hunter please contact Professor Christopher Stone (1303 Hunter West) at 212-650-3138 or cst@hunter.cuny.edu

Department of Classical and Oriental Studies
1425 HW
Hunter College, CUNY
695 Park Ave
New York, NY 10065
(212) 772-4960