I Taught Myself Arabic With No Teacher. Then I Built Bayt Al-Lugha and Kept My Name Off It

This is an introduction from someone who decided, before publishing a single word, that you would never learn her name.

Designed by the author in Canva

You’re reading a piece in a publication about the people behind the writing, and the person behind this writing won’t tell you who she is. I know how that looks.

I made the decision before the first article, the first video and the first PDF. Bayt Al-Lugha would carry no name and no face. I haven’t changed my mind since.

A voice in my head objected at the time, and it still does. An autobiography without a name is a contradiction, it says. You’re asking strangers to trust a teacher they can’t look up.

I thought that voice was right for a while. Then I wrote down what a name would actually give you. You’d learn where I’m from. You’d guess my first language. You’d decide in about four seconds whether I’m the right kind of person to teach Arabic. None of that would help you produce the letter ع.

So here is what I can tell you, and all of it is true. I learned Arabic from zero, as an adult, with no teacher. I learned English the same way. Mandarin, Turkish, Japanese and Korean came the same way too…