The war in Iraq and the aftermath of the September 11 terrorist attacks have spurred a boom in interest among students in learning Arabic, but as a Los Angeles Times article describes today, Arabic-language courses are oversubscribed or unavailable because of a shortage of teachers and a lack of programs to train them. Students also drop out of Arabic classes at a relatively high rate because of the language’s difficulty. Recognizing the national-security implications of too few Arabic speakers, the federal government is expanding programs to foster training in the language (The Chronicle, January 6).