Kurdish Language classes are tentatively scheduled to be offered by WKI in the future, but have yet to be determined. Dr. Chyet’s Kurmanji dictionary or Shafiq Qazzaz’s Sorani dictionary are the texts that we use. Please contact WKI for more information.

Instructor Michael L. Chyet, a linguist/folklorist fluent in 15 languages, received his Ph.D from UC Berkeley in Languages and Cultures of the Middle East. From 1995 – 2000 he served as Senior Editor at Voice of America’s Kurdish Service. In 2001, Dr. Chyet taught Kurdish at INALCO (University of Paris) and the Kurdish Institute of Paris. His teaching repertoire includes Kurdish (both Kurmanji and Sorani), Arabic, Turkish, Hebrew, Aramaic and folklore. Dr. Chyet has taught Kurdish at WKI for ten semesters since 1997 and has developed teaching materials in Kurmanji and Sorani. His comprehensive Kurmanji-English Dictionary was published by Yale University Press in 2002.