Why Jordan leads the way in Arabic-language training

Why Jordan leads the way in Arabic-language training

THE COUNTER of Fahad Subeihi's falafel stand is stacked with piles of sliced tomatoes, onions and pickled turnips dyed pink. "The students love it," he says. Mr Subeihi's stand is located in the Jabal Amman neighbourhood of Jordan's capital, Amman, amid a bevy of Arabic-language schools. Mr Subeihi estimates that, before the pandemic, half of his customers were foreigners, mostly Western students.

Jordan has cornered the market in Arabic-language training in the region. Unlike many of its neighbours, it is relatively stable and at peace. Its nickname, the "Hashemite Kingdom of Boredom", may turn off thrill-seekers. But it attracts Western universities and grant programmes, which have largely stopped sending students to more volatile countries.

"Amman has become our largest centre," says Pauline Koetschet of the French Institute of the Near East (IFPO), which teaches mainly European students. IFPO used to have centres in Aleppo and Damascus, but closed them because of Syria's civil war. It still has a centre in Beirut, Lebanon's unruly capital, but schools are increasingly worried about sending students there. "We have universities that tend to prefer Amman for security," she says.