Lebanese Maroun Atieh, a Multilingual Med Student at the Young Age of 19
Maroun Atieh is a Lebanese medicine student who was able to master five different languages and an extensive knowledge in two others at the young age of nineteen, not to mention his drawing and writing skills.
Atieh is enjoying a stay with his family members and friends in Jounieh's Sahel Alma in Lebanon, but it's only a temporary one because the multilingual youth has plans to travel to Germany to complete his studies in medicine and master other languages.
At the age of thirteen, he joined the Instituto Cervantes in Kaslik where he learned Spanish. One and a half years later he graduated and continued to improve his learnings through additional courses on the internet and with the assistance of books.
In addition to his mother-tongue, Arabic, Atieh did not stop at learning the basic principles of French and English which he mastered at the St. Joseph institute in Aintoura Keserwan, but relied on his own intensive readings that qualified him to pass the SAT test at the young age of sixteen.
The ambitious young man was learning German as well when he decided to leave to Germany where he joined the University of Heidelberg.
In the diaspora, Atieh had another aim and that was to learn the Russian language. He started collecting and reading Russian books and references.
“I cannot deny the assistance of some of my friends at the university who speak Russian and German fluently," he told Naharnet in an interview.
The Japanese language was another curiosity to Atieh. He started attending Japanese courses which he followed with exuberance, buying Japanese references and books to reinforce his knowledge about the science and technology rich country.
Atieh is dedicated to continue his studies in medicine. “Currently I am following training courses in Heidelberg Hospital. There are so many different cases from all over the world suffering from intractable diseases,” he told Naharnet.
The diverse nationalities of patients open a new door for Atieh to add to his lingual and cultural knowledge. He likes to communicate and keep track with his patients to learn more about their different civilizations.
“One can understand people who have a different reasoning than we do. Each language adds a new point of view to our knowledge. Communication paves the way for more sources to broaden my knowledge,” he stated.
“I meet a lot of friends from different countries and try to brief them on our Lebanese culture and civilization.”
Atieh, a secular, does not like to keep his knowledge to himself. He likes to exchange it with university colleagues. Before classes, they meet, talk, discuss and argue but never lose their sportsmanship.
A defender of freedom of expression, the young man says “in the future I would like to work with the international human rights organizations mainly the ones dealing with medicine and health care.”
“I might launch a website specialized in teaching different languages,” he revealed to Naharnet.
The Chinese and Thai languages are a new goal to achieve for that promising Lebanese, who also practices drawing, a favorite hobby.
A Memorable Syncope and Unblessed are two novels of his writings that have not seen the light yet. But that can soon change.
Source: Naharnet
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