To most of us “Terref arabi” looks like a typo.

But to Tyrone High School senior Katie Bowser, it’s a question.

It means, “Do you know Arabic?” To which Bowser can truthfully respond “Schway shway (a little bit),” thanks to the intensive Arabic language program she completed this summer at Penn State University.

Near the end of last school year Tyrone social studies teacher Suzy Burket shared an opportunity with her students to attend a 3-credit college course in Arabic. Due to the shortage of Arabic translators, the U.S. government offers full scholarships to select high school and college students to take introductory Arabic classes.

Bowser, who plans to major in business in college, recognized that fluency in Arabic could be a valuable skill. She applied for the scholarship and was accepted into the total immersion Arabic class at Penn State.

The intensive class ran 8 hours a day for 4 weeks. In addition to language, students also studied Arabic culture and religion.   “The instructors spoke Arabic 95% of the time,” said Bowser.  In the beginning, she said that the students had to guess what the instructors were saying.  But after much repetition, she and her classmates began to understand.  Many of her classmates, most of whom were college students, already spoke three languages.

Because it is common in many Arabic cultures for people to talk for hours at cafes and restaurants, the theme of the class was restaurants and food. At the end of the course the class enjoyed a catered lunch. The student’s parents were invited to the lunch, which was served by the class. The students took on various restaurant roles and demonstrated their knowledge of Arabic language and culture at the luncheon.

“There are many different Arabic dialects,” said Bowser, “We learned modern standard Arabic, so if I went to the Middle East they would know I’m not native.”

Bowser enjoyed learning Arabic so much that she applied for and received a scholarship for Arabic II, which she also completed this summer. When asked how many Arabic classes PSU offers, she said, “six.” When asked how many she wanted to take, she smiled and said, “six.”

Bowser still practices by watching Sponge Bob in Arabic and she uses an iPhone app that allows her to talk to native speakers.

“Arabic speakers like to talk to Americans so they can improve their English, so it’s easy to find someone to talk to,” said Bowser. She recently spoke to a young Syrian man who had just moved to Egypt because his brother and sister were killed in the Syrian civil war.

Bowser isn’t sure exactly how she will use her new language skills, but she definitely wants to minor in it.  Since translators can make up to $2,500 a week, she will definitely consider it as a career option.