Story of Dr Fiona Hill with Arabic

UN Arabic Language Day is observed annually on December 18. On this occasion we shed the light on the importance of the Arabic language in Australia and we learn about the experience of Dr Fiona Hill who studied Arabic and worked in Syria in the 1980s and learned the Bedouin accent from people on the Euphrates River bank.

Dr Fiona Hill speaking at a forum with Arab women Source: F Hill

Fiona E Hill (PhD Anthropology, BA Hons Mid East Studies) is the Owner & Lead Consultant of Almanar Consultancy with professional experience in the GCC, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Morocco, and Iran and Senegal.

In a voluntary capacity Fiona is current State Chair & National Board Member of the Australia Arab Chamber of Commerce & Industry (AACCI).

She was appointed by DFAT to serve on the inaugural Council for Australian Arab Relations (CAAR) and was granted an Australian Endeavour Executive Award to observe at the Jeddah Chamber of Commerce, KSA (2008). For her voluntary work in Australia-Arab relations Fiona was honoured with an Asia Institute Graduate Community Award (2014) and a Victorian Multicultural Award for Community Service (2017).

The event was established by the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in 2010 to seeking "to celebrate multilingualism and cultural diversity as well as to promote equal use of all six of its official working languages throughout the organization". December 18 was chosen as the date for the Arabic language as it is "the day in 1973 when the General Assembly approved Arabic as an official UN language ".