My interest in the Arabic language stems from having lived in Khartoum, Sudan for five years during my early childhood. I began my formal study of the language while a college student, traveling to and studying in Egypt and Morocco as part of my undergraduate degree in Religious Studies and Classical Languages. I went on to make Arabic and Islamic studies the focus of my master’s degree in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School, and decided upon completion of that degree that I wanted to work as a translator.
Since 2005 I have worked on freelance basis providing Arabic translation services as well as consulting for clients working in the Arabic speaking world. My main areas of specialization are legal and governmental documents, current events materials, and religious texts. I am a member of the American Translators Association and the Colorado Translators Association. For more information on my experience, please go to my list of previous clients, or click here to download a PDF copy of my CV.
Teaching Experience
In addition to my work as a translator, since the fall of 2006 I have taught at several colleges and universities in the Denver metro area. I am currently the main instructor of Arabic at the University of Colorado at Boulder, where I offer elementary, intermediate, and advanced level Arabic courses through the Department of Asian Languages and Civilizations. I am also an adjunct faculty member in the Department of Religious Studies at Naropa University, where I offer a course entitled "Contemplative Islam." In the past I have offered Arabic language courses through Front Range Community College and the Boulder Valley School District’s Lifelong Learning program.
In addition to teaching in the classroom, I have also begun developing multimedia materials to be used by students as supplements to textbooks provided by publishers. One example is a set of video podcasts (developed through a "Teaching with Technology" grant from Front Range Community College's Department of Online Learning) designed to help students learn the Arabic alphabet. These videos are available on iTunes. Another example is a short Animoto video exploring the Benni Youssuf madrassa located in Marrakech, Morocco.
