Four alumni share what studying Arabic has done for them—and it goes far beyond being able to speak the language.
Many students who study Arabic in college choose careers as foreign language teachers, translators, and government officials but studying Arabic equips students with skills necessary to excel in just about any occupation—even ones that don’t involve speaking Arabic. In August 2024, four BYU alumni joined the All Things Arabic podcast to share an inside perspective on how studying Arabic helped them develop valuable skills to use in their professional careers. Hoping to inspire other Arabic scholars, Neal Spackman (Middle East Studies/Arabic ’06), Sage Smiley (Journalism, Arabic Language ’19), Arturo Fuentes (Middle East Studies/Arabic ’10), and Emily Paxman (Middle East Studies/Arabic ’14) explained how studying Arabic at BYU opened many doors for them both professionally and personally.
From Undergrad to Industry Professional
After completing their undergrads at BYU, Spackman, Smiley, Fuentes, and Paxman each took very different career paths: currently, Fuentes works closely with a nongovernmental organization (NGO), Paxman works as a research analyst in Utah, Spackman founded a regenerative resources company, and Smiley works as a news director for an Alaskan radio station. Despite the differences in their jobs, they find ways to incorporate their language skills every day.
Spackman began using Arabic professionally in 2010, when he cofounded a watershed restoration project in Makkah, Saudi Arabia. In this role, he explained that he “was functionally embedded with tribes of settled nomads for about eight years.” He continued, “I was the only English speaker within 100 miles.” There, he spoke Arabic every day and was able to fully immerse himself in the culture and customs of the region. Spackman said, “Familiarity with culture and language was the only reason I got that job.”
Smiley notes that learning Arabic also improved her ability to learn other languages in general. As a news director for public media in the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta region, Smiley regularly interacts with indigenous Alaskan communities and says that knowing linguistic elements of Arabic has “really moved me along in my study of languages that have nothing to do with Arabic.” Though she doesn’t use Arabic with the indigenous peoples, Smiley finds she can lean on the language skills she learned during her undergrad while at work.
The Impact of One Culture
While discussing their time using Arabic abroad, the four alumni agreed that studying Arabic made them more culturally literate and accepting of new peoples, customs, and ideas. Fuentes has worked on various humanitarian projects throughout his career and has visited an estimated 30 countries as a result. He believes that a big part of his success abroad rests on his ability to connect with and understand the regions he visits. Fuentes recalled, “My professor. . . said, ‘You know what, play anthropologist: don’t get riled up, don’t feel like everybody has to have the same views as you, and just be playful with it.’” Now, he applies this principle to every international visit he makes and has helped his company build bridges around the world as a result.
For Paxman, studying Arabic gave her an opportunity to spearhead data collection on a research project that looked at women’s place in Arab cultures. Though completed in her undergrad, this project inspired her to pursue data collection for her career. She said, “My field has nothing to do with Arabic. I have no occasion to use it. But I use a lot of the skills that I learned from learning Arabic in my job.” Having used data collection to learn and understand more about Arab culture, Paxman found herself better able to ask questions about the world around her. She said, “Now, I’m getting to ask questions of myself and [about] how I view the world.”
Though their experiences with Arabic have been very different, studying Arabic at BYU helped each alumnus find a fulfilling career path. Whether or not they use Arabic at work, they all agree that the biggest takeaways from their undergrad go far beyond language acquisition. Because of his time studying Arabic, Fuentes said, “It’s become quite easy to just flow and connect [with other cultures] and, ultimately, have success in the work I have to do.”
Find the full All Things Arabic podcast on your favorite steaming site to learn more about these alumni.