أهلا و سهلا
Hello!, ⴰⵣⵓⵍ !, Bună ziua!, שָׁלוֹם !, Terve!, Здравствуйте!, Ciao!, Γειά σας!, Hola!, Grüß Gott !, Sana selamlar! سلام , Olá !, Bonjour !,
As a kid, whenever people asked me what I wanted to be when I grow up, my reply was not to be a doctor or a lawyer or an engineer but to be able to understand every language spoken in the world ! Well so much for childhood dreams since there was no library or even a language book available to me and more importantly, no Anatole France around for encouragement (Nine tenth of education is encouragement !).
Today, however (Al hamdu lillah!), I am thrilled to be able to read, write, speak and listen to at least eight languages on a daily basis. My enthusiastic interest for languages had driven me to study Spanish and get a Graduate degree in Spanish Letters and Arts, learn Bertolt Brecht’s language on my own, and as of late, start working on the learning of seven other languages.
I had taught Spanish for several years at different colleges including the University of Colorado in Boulder, CO before I started teaching Arabic at the Defense Language Institute in Monterrey, CA then at CU Boulder and finally here at Wesleyan University.
I had also taught French and other courses such as Islamic Spain and Globalization. Furthermore, besides my regular load of Arabic classes, I have been teaching CLAC courses (Cultures and Languages Across the Curriculum, sponsored by the Fries Center for Gobal studies) in the art of Translation (English-Arabic), a culture and history class in Islamic Spain taught in Spanish, and now Introduction to Tamzight.
My academic interests and passions are Translation and interpreting, linguistics, the study of foreign languages and their similarities, History, particularly Islamic History in North Africa and Iberia, Law and the US legal system,
I am fascinated by the art of language interpretation and translation. In fact, I find myself always incorporating the translation approachin my classes. Nothing beats creating and producing language in the target language!
My classroom teaching philosophy can be summed up in the self-made acronym “Craftti”: Communicative language, Reflective teaching, Applying what one learns, Fun learning environment, Use of Technology, Translation method, and finally the Integration of the five Cs of Foreign Language Education.
I have translated Mutter Zunge (Mother language) by German Turkish-born renowned author Emine Sevgi Özdamar) from German into Arabic, and I have several pending academic projects that include a short stories semi-biographical novel in Arabic: يومياتي مع بني هرقن, the top 200 survival & conversational phrases you will ever need in eight LCTL: Arabic, Hebrew, Farsi, Turkish, Finnish, Romanian, Russian & Greek, Common errors students of Arabic make and how to avoid them, Arabic words in world languages beyond Hebrew, Spanish & Farsi, A closer look at Non-Arabic words in Moroccan Arabic: from Khizzou (Tamazight) to Saia (Portuguese) to Kaghit (Turkish), and finally Tips & Tricks to memorize the Arabic Measure Chart.
الأستاذ عبد الرحمان عيسى
Fries Center for Global Studies
Office: Fisk Hall, 306
Office hours: T & R: 09:45-10:45 & by apptmt.
Tel: 860-685-2553
aaissa@wesleyan.edu
للسعادة أسباب أولها أن نقول الحمد لله
Balık baştan kokar.
Să știți că Tatăl nostru
ⵖⴰⵙ ⴰⵢⴷⵉ ⴰⴳⵜⵍⵍⴻⵖⵏ ⵉⵅⴼⵏⵏⴻⵙ
Quando finisce la partita il re ed il pedone finiscono nella stessa scatola
Mikä laulaen tulee, se viheltäen menee
Jedes Wort ist ein Vorurteil.
Алтынного вора вешают, а полтинного чествуют
águas passadas não movem moinho
كوه به کوه نمیرسد, آدم به آدم میرسد
La raíz de todos los males es el amor al dinero
תהיה עצמך ו יחיה בסדר
Όποιος γίνεται πρόβατο τον τρώει ο λύκος
À cœur vaillant rien d’impossible