``IT'S NOT HARD TO BE OPTIMISTIC'' - NIZAR HABASH, OLD DOMINION
UNIVERSITYPublished: May 9, 1997
Section:
DAILY BREAK, page E1
Source: PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
© 1997- Landmark Communications Inc.
AT AGE 15, Nizar Habash began creating his own
language, with its own script, resembling a cross between Japanese
and Arabic. He called it Delason.
He even made up a mythical Mideastern country where Delason
was spoken. That he named Salamon. And he constructed a history for
the nation, including its being overtaken by Napoleon. A momentary
teenage hobby? Not quite.
In the past eight years, he's kept at it, compiling a
1,200-word two-way dictionary with translations for words like
``approve'' and ``acid.'' (With a wink to Shakespeare, the Delason
translation of ``guilty'' is ``Makbeti.'')
The exploit showcases the insatiable interests of the Old
Dominion University senior - his love for languages, his mania for
detail: ``I don't like things that are vague or undefined; that bugs
me so much,'' he said.
And he says it subconsciously reflects something else about
him: his desire for harmony in the Mideast, where he someday hopes
to return to live in a Palestinian state. Salamon, he realized years
after his brainstorm, is not far from the Arabic salaam, which means
``peace.''
``There was this underlying need,'' he said, ``to have a
country and to have peace.''
Habash will graduate tomorrow with a dual degree in
linguistics and computer engineering - and a 3.96 average, just shy
of a straight-A. In the past few weeks, he's picked up a half-dozen
awards, including the Phi Kappa Phi Award for Excellence and the
award for best engineering student at ODU.
Habash, 23, who has Jordanian citizenship, considers himself
a Palestinian. As a youth, he lived in several countries, including
Lebanon, Syria and Tunisia. While in high school, he spent a summer
improving his English at ODU. He decided he'd return for college.
I moved so much, I finally wanted to stay in one place,'' he
said.
John P. Broderick, an English professor who has worked
closely with Habash, said: ``The thing about Nizar is, he's not only
an extremely bright student but he has an amazing interest in all
kinds of things and people. He's learning all the time.''
Broderick describes Habash as a student hungry for cultural
experiences, whether it's taking a pottery class or taking in the
opera. Habash says he also has tried to immerse himself in other
religions, visiting midnight Masses and Passover seders.
Habash will attend the University of Maryland at College Park
to pursue a doctorate in computer science. He hopes to return to the
Middle East to teach.
Recent tensions don't dampen his vision of living in a
Palestinian state at peace with Israel. ``It's not hard to be
optimistic; being pessimistic doesn't get you anywhere,'' he said.
Meanwhile, his new language is getting some exposure, at
least at ODU. His fellow graduates of the university's honors
program recently received two certificates - one in Latin, the other
in Delason.
Description of illustration(s):
Color photo
VICKI
CRONIS, The Virginian-Pilot
Nizar
Habash, a graduating senior at Old Dominion University, will
be
going to the University of Maryland for graduate school.
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