Officially my name is Leston Chandler Buell, but in Arabic I’m simply known as Dr. Bulbul. I’m an American linguist and Arabic instructor living in Amsterdam, as well as the author of the beginning textbook Bite-Size Arabic: Learn to Read and Write Arabic Using the Tiniest Bit of Vocabulary and Grammar. I design and teach all of the Arabic courses at UvA Talen, and also occasionally teach courses at Leiden University’s Academic Language Centre.

I lived in Egypt for a total ten years in the 1980s and early 1990s. There I primarily worked as a private Arabic instructor for foreign residents, but during my final two years there I also worked as an in-house translator for a development project. I also studied for two years at the Higher Institute for Arabic Music in Egypt.

As a theoretical linguist with a Ph.D. from UCLA, I have conducted extensive fieldwork on Zulu and other African languages. When I’m not teaching or translating, you will most likely find like line-dancing, cooking Indian dishes, or speaking Esperanto with friends.