Dr Charles Daniel Saliba, an academic at the Malta College of Arts, Science and Technology (MCAST), Gozo Campus, has completed a week-long Erasmus+ job shadowing mobility at Sofia University ‘St Kliment Ohridski, the oldest and most prestigious institution of higher education in Bulgaria.

Dr Saliba was hosted by the Department of Arabic and Semitic Studies within the Faculty of Classical and Modern Philology.

Saliba met with Prof. Gergana Petkova, Dean of the Faculty, Assoc. Prof. Galina Evstatieva, Arabist and Vice-Dean of the Faculty, and Prof. Simeon Evstatiev, Head of the Department of Arabic and Semitic Studies. Throughout the week, he was accompanied and assisted by Senior Assistant Prof. Stoyan Doklev.

Prof. Evstatiev invited Saliba to deliver a public lecture to students enrolled in undergraduate and Master’s degree programmes in Arabic or Middle East and Islamic Studies.

In his lecture, titled ‘The History of the Maltese Language,’ Saliba provided an overview of the historical developments that led to the formation of the Maltese language, while comparing and contrasting its lexicon, morphology and phonology with Arabic.

Saliba commented, ”it was an honour to be invited as a speaker at this world-renowned university during my Erasmus mobility. It was also very exciting to see a vibrant community of Semitic language students and scholars interested in hearing about Maltese-the only Semitic language recognised as an official language in the EU.”

Saliba also presented a copy of Level A1 of the Maltese for Foreigners series to the department library, as well as a copy of the trilingual book Provérbios Europeus/European Proverbs/Proverbji Ewropej (written in Portuguese, English and Maltese), that he co-authored with Prof. Rui Soares, President of the International Association of Paremiology, to serve as a reference for students studying Modern Standard Arabic and Arabic dialects for further immersion in the Maltese Language.

This experience was co-funded by the Erasmus+ Programme of the EU, underscoring MCAST’s commitment to internationalisation and professional excellence.

For further information, please visit: https://www.uni-sofia.bg/ or https://mcast.edu.mt/

Photo: Dr Charles Daniel Saliba with members from the Department of Arabic and Semitic Studies (left to right): Prof. Svetla Stoeva, Ms. Darina Katsarska, Prof. Galina Evstatieva, Dr Charles Daniel Saliba, Prof. Simeon Evstatiev, Prof. Ekaterina Dokleva and Prof. Stoyan Doklev

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