Student learns Arabic during detention in Syria

[UndertheOcean]

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-04-06-vermont-student-syria-detain_N.htm

~snip~
His career at Damascus University was brief. He attended only three days of classes. Then March 18, he was exploring Damascus' Old City when he saw some sort of commotion in the distance — a demonstration, apparently, but he didn't know whether it was pro-government or anti-government. He took out his BlackBerry smartphone and held it up. The result was five seconds of indecipherable footage of some activity more than 100 yards away.
"Contrary to some reports," Root said, "I was not there for the purpose of taking pictures."
An undercover policeman grabbed him, took his passport and shoved him head-down into a Chevy Suburban. The ride to the prison took about five minutes. The prison guards took everything but his clothes — shoelaces, camera, wallet, BlackBerry.
~snip~


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His American Passport probably saved him. Not much luck for Syrians living in that North Korea-like government .

[Obamanaut]

1. The article and the title of the article don't really agree. The article

suggests that Root already had some degree of fluency, and that he was jailed for only about three weeks.

Given his fluency, and the short stay in jail, he did not 'learn' Arabic in jail, maybe improved his knowledge via the interrogations and conversations with jail mates, but he didn't 'learn' it.