At the age of seven, I could read almost every Arabic book under the sun. I borrowed books from my neighbour’s library, read the newspaper my father brought home, and could even read the subtitles in movies. That was exciting — no other child on our street could do that.

But there was one book I couldn’t read.

At the time, my uncle was 18 and in his final year of secondary school in Egypt. I could read all his books except for one large blue book. When I opened it, the letters looked strange, and I couldn’t understand a single word.

It became a challenge for me.

‘Why can’t I read this book?’ I asked my uncle.

 ‘This is the Longman English Dictionary,’ he replied.

That was the first time I had ever heard of a dictionary. Back then, English was only introduced in schools at the age of 12 in Egypt.

By the age of 10, I had pronounced my first English letter — it was ‘H’.

At 14, I started reading English short stories I found in a library an hour away from my home.
At 18, I read my first English newspaper — an Egyptian publication issued in English.
By 20, I was able to read full books written in English.
And at 21, everything changed.

When I turned 21, I gained access to the internet. Suddenly, a whole new world of knowledge written in English was at my fingertips. I read English novels that were too expensive to buy locally. I explored biographies of successful people. I made friends who didn’t speak Arabic. I even learned how to write long articles. That’s when I began to see the return on the time I had invested in learning a second language. I also tried to learn other languages, such as Spanish and French.

Not only that, but I also built a career in the translation and localisation industry, where I translated medical, legal, financial, and technical content into Arabic. By doing so, I helped make information that was once only available in English accessible to over 300 million Arabic speakers online.

My passion for language learning and translation eventually led me to train and coach other translators, in both Arabic and English. I developed training programmes, created YouTube content, launched a video podcast, and presented at conferences across Europe and Africa.

At the age of 43, I joined Open Language Initiative (OLI). Joining OLI as Head of Training Programme was a natural next step.

OLI was founded to support mission-driven organisations through professional, volunteer-based language services. It brings together my deep belief in multilingualism and my passion for sharing knowledge.

In my role, I support our volunteer translators — the backbone of OLI — by providing them with the training and knowledge they need to deliver top-quality language services. Through OLI, I’m able to help make knowledge accessible to marginalised communities around the world and celebrate the power of multilingualism.

That’s why I truly enjoy my work at OLI, alongside an inspiring and dedicated team.