A Language Club Officially Launches at AUC

By: Sawsan Ali
@SawsanHishamAli

An AUC Language Club is officially launching this Spring to give linguistics enthusiasts a space to connect and exchange knowledge about their various dialects and cultural backgrounds.

The club is headed by Kristina Antonyan, a Junior majoring in Middle Eastern Studies, who believes the club will not only bring people together, but also help them see value in their own unique identities.

She says the club started out as an idea on a WhatsApp group with other international students, and feels its mission runs far deeper than language exchange.

Their plan now is to select from among the top three languages voted on by students which are Spanish, French, and German.

“We want [the] foreign students that are coming to AUC to feel important, to feel integrated within the AUC student body, to engage more with the local students and to show that they are really important and they can also give something to this place. They can exchange their knowledge and receive this knowledge from the other students,” Antonyan said.

In addition to European languages, there are also plans to offer a platform for the many students at AUC from various Arabic speaking countries. This is meant to allow them to share knowledge about their unique dialect and feel proud of it.

“I studied translation from Arabic and Arabic linguistics [and] I really see that many locals or Arabic speaking people, they don’t notice the importance of the Arabic language and they underestimate the fact that they are the native speakers of this language,” Antonyan said.

She added that they are also considering opening a section for standard (fusha) Arabic if there is enough demand. She thinks it is important for locals to maintain knowledge of at least some level of standard Arabic.

“What we want [is for] all students who would love to participate in this initiative [to] feel how cool they are [and] how smart they are that they are native speakers [of] such a gorgeous language and they can deliver knowledge about this language,” stated Antonyan.

The language sessions offered by the club will be delivered by major supervisors, who are native speakers of the languages, and minor supervisors who have some level of proficiency in the languages.

Antonyan explains that the purpose of the division between major and minor supervisors is to give people the opportunity to feel included.

She believes that the psychological aspect of feeling important is key and hopes this club will allow everyone to see the value of their own language, culture, and identity.

“Everybody wants to feel important and nobody loves to feel strange. I’ve been in that place when, for example, you don’t understand the language the majority of people are speaking around you and you feel a little bit odd,” Antonyanadded.

The cultural component also forms an integral part of the language sessions that will be delivered, aiming to provide a platform for students of different cultures to get closer together and learn from one another.

Session supervisors will be  encouraged to introduce their traditions, culture and history, in addition to any other piece of knowledge they are interested in sharing about their country.

“When you open up to another person, it is a good feeling, especially when this person accepts [you], and we are just like a safe space to do so, to open up, to say, ‘Yes, I am Palestinian. Yes, I am Armenian. Yes, I am French. Yes, I am Tunisian, but we are still all together,’” Antonyan said.

Mohamed Khaled, the club’s Academics Head, says participants will collectively agree on a schedule for the language sessions and then commit to it.

He adds that they plan on having weekly cultural nights, likely in the gardens, for people of different backgrounds to get together.

Khaled also says their team has been in contact with the International Programs and Services Office (IPSO) aiming to use it as a platform to get in touch with international students who may be interested in joining the club as supervisors. This is together with the recruitment forms shared through WhatsApp groups and on Facebook groups.

Moving forward, they are excited to expand their team and are especially looking forward to welcoming on board more graphic designers, says Antonyan.

Although Janna Ahmed, a sophomore majoring in Anthropology, seems intrigued by the idea of the club and is considering applying to join as a member, she remains hesitant due to the time commitment she believes will be required to learn a language, while taking on university coursework.

“Learning to speak and pronounce words correctly and engage in conversations is difficult. So, having others guide you must be pretty beneficial … It would also be nice to interact with people from different backgrounds,” she said.

Political Science sophomore Ali Al-Sayed brought into the discussion a Quora comment written in 2020 from the perspective of a foreign student who studied at AUC for four months. The comment spoke specifically about how rare it is for foreign students to mix with Egyptian students due to the different social circles.

“I believe it [language club] is a very good initiative, because it will enable international students to mingle with [a] larger number of members from the AUC community … I am planning on applying, because the skills the club offers [us] an opportunity to develop are indispensable for my major,” he said.

Spring recruitment for the Language Club closes February 27.

The opening ceremony for the club is also scheduled to take place soon.

This will be the first public event they have this semester as a newly launched entity, which everyone is welcome to join.