Academic Interests
Cole became interested in Islam and Arabic while a teenager living in Eritrea when his father was stationed there. He studied Arabic at Northwestern University, in Beirut, at the American University in Cairo, and at the University of California, Los Angeles, including classical historical, theological and philosophical texts and classical and modern literature. He speaks Arabic (Modern Standard as well as Lebanese and Egyptian dialects), Persian, and Urdu, and reads the Ottoman form of the Turkish. He also knows French, German and Spanish.
Read more about this topic: Juan Cole
Famous quotes containing the words academic and/or interests:
“You know lots of criticism is written by characters who are very academic and think it is a sign you are worthless if you make jokes or kid or even clown. I wouldn’t kid Our Lord if he was on the cross. But I would attempt a joke with him if I ran into him chasing the money changers out of the temple.”
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)
“Friendship can only exist between persons with similar interests and points of view. Man and woman by the conventions of society are born with different interests and different points of view.”
—J. August Strindberg (1849–1912)