Michael Mendoza

I started out thinking I was going to be a concert pianist and used to practice at the conservatory up to 8 or 9 hours per day. I moved to France to continue music studies and everything changed. I focused on French language there and quickly realized that I wanted to learn Arabic as well. I eventually moved back to the States to finish my undergraduate degree and spent two years in Egypt studying in ALI and CASA respectively. I then lived and worked in Qatar for 5 years where my love of Gulf culture, heritage and - last but not least - dialects flourished. It was in Qatar that I knew that I would somehow have to work with Arabic in order to be happy. Til this moment, some of my most rewarding experiences have been as a teacher and it is in that capacity that I envision much of my future projects involving Arabic.