Lab for saving old languages in Syria

A linguistic laboratory for documenting old languages has been opened at the Higher Institute of Languages in Damascus University (DU), as 3500 languages are at risk of extinction by the end of the current century.  

The Ling Lab is the first step to save the old tongues in Syria, such as the Aramaic, Armenian and Kurdish which represent the Syrian mosaic, Rector of the Damascus University Mohammad Hassan al-Kurdi said during the opening ceremony of the library and the multi-purpose hall on Sunday.

 He added that the hall will support the DU’s efforts to provide teachers and students with special needs with language skills in order to have a common education system linking between traditional learning and distance learning.

On her part, the Institute’s Dean Maysaa al-Syofi indicated that the institute faced a lot of difficulties over the past five years due to the war being waged on Syria.

“The department of teaching Arabic language to foreigners was closed and foreign experts, who were teaching Chinese, Japanese , Italian and Spanish Languages in the institute, left the country,” the dean said, adding that the Aramaic department in Ma’alula town was vandalized and looted when the terrorists captured the town.

She asserted that the institute depends now on local experts.

BasmaQaddour