Learning and Teaching Arabic

End of this blog

2007-01-05T10:50:00.000-08:00

I don't think that a blog is the appropriate format for me anymore. At some point in the future I hope to harvest my previous posts and sow them into a more useful medium, such as a webpage. Blogs are nice for rants and raves, but for information about learning and teaching Arabic plus various resources - I think a webpage would be much easier to navigate and organize. Who knows when this would be. Hopefully free and high-quality web designing programs and free online storage will be commonplace in the future.

'yalla bye' until then,

Jeremy

Hanbook for Students of Arabic

2006-12-03T20:22:00.000-08:00

Click on the title of this post, or here for a free handbook about learning Arabic for students.

The following is taken from NMELRC.org

Handbook for Students of Arabic

This online handbook is an introduction to strategies and resources that can help you, the student, in your study of the Arabic language. It has been developed under the auspices of the National Middle East Language Resource Center (NMELRC)

This handbook is primarily for the beginning student, but intermediate and advanced students may also profit from this information.

This information is of course not comprehensive or exhaustive. Above all, we hope that you find this information practical and even the bits of “theory” applicable to your needs. This handbook helps fulfill the NMELRC's mission to be "a coordinated concentration of educational research and training resources for improving the capacity to teach and learn foreign languages."

Aljazeera in English - hmmm. interesting

2006-11-15T20:48:00.000-08:00

Here it is folks: http://english.aljazeera.net/News Aljazeera in English. I think it will be most interesting to see what happens with this development.

It will be fun to see how they translate certain terms. For example, I noticed that Aljazeera used the term "Palestinian fighter" when the BBC used "Palestinian militant" to describe the same event in the news today.

I understand that Aljazeera has different politics, but why did they choose the term "fighter"? It sounds so unnatural and odd. I know they are looking for a more neutral word...but "fighter"? غريب. How about something like "combatant"?

This is going to be most interesting.

Article about learning Gulf Arabic

2006-11-15T20:35:00.000-08:00

Click on the title of this post to read an article about learning Gulf Arabic. The Article is from gulfnews.com and includes a general introduction of Arabic and some resources for learning the Gulf dialect.

Arabic – the language of peace اللغة العربية - لغة السلام

2006-11-06T20:17:00.000-08:00

Arabic could be the language of peace.

If Americans were able to speak Arabic, we just might be able to bridge the gaping cultural abyss that currently divides us.

If Americans could speak Arabic, we would be able to converse with friends and reason with enemies in real time and with real emotion.

In both Jordan and Syria I, at times, agreed with and, at other times, argued with storeowners, taxi drivers, university students, university professors, policemen, soldiers and many government officials in their own language. It was quite a “trip” for them to hear someone defending (and sometimes criticizing) America. Many have never heard any human being speak such sentiments in their own language. We often disagreed radically on many issues and sometimes the debates were quite heated. At the end of these arguments, however, we usually became friends and respected one another much more than could have ever happened via an interpreter or any other means of communication or interaction.

If Americans could speak Arabic, we could more easily influence Arab media. There are some Americans who appear on Aljazeera, but it is a rare occurrence - especially Americans who learned Arabic in school and not at home as children of native speakers.

What happens when Americans can really speak Arabic? Here is a name for you to research: Hume Horan. He recently passed away. He was a career diplomat and Arabic speaker in the United States government. He learned Arabic in Lebanon and Tunisia (I believe). His Arabic was so good that it scared Arab government officials. The Saudis did not want an American who could speak Arabic so well (and understand the culture) on their streets mixing with the locals! Ha! They were afraid that he might give them a second opinion and cause them to really consider other viewpoints.

If Americans could speak Arabic, so much would be different. But let’s not focus on the woulds and coulds. We need Arabic learning and teaching in the United Sates and the world from a young age.

If we must talk about the war on terrorism, let’s consider that it is also a war against cultural misunderstandings and lack of communication in real time with real people. There is so much good to be exchanged between all cultures. Understanding one another might just prevent future wars.

Onomatopoeia in Arabic

2006-10-31T21:23:00.000-08:00

I love onomatopoeia in English. Zap, Bang! Arabic has this linguistic phenomenon as well. Here is an example: غمغم /ghamghama/, which means to mutter or murmur (murmur is onomatopoeia in English!). The verb تمتم /tamtama/means the same and I think it is also an example of onomatopoeia.

Just an FYI...

Learning Arabic in Jordan

2006-10-30T20:55:00.000-08:00

I spent the entire summer in Jordan working with American students, who were studying Arabic at the University of Jordan. It was a wonderful experience. I really fell in love with Jordan. Living there gave me many opportunities to meet and speak with real Jordanians, who were really living in Jordan. Living in a country is an excellent way to become familiar with current thought, life, and language.

The University of Jordan has a generic program for foreign students that is quite similar to that found at Damascus University. I was quite surprised to see that there were many similarities between the two. The classrooms looked similar, the language center looked similar, the staff was similarly busy running to and fro being most helpful - usually.

I met quite a few American and foreign students while I was there. It seemed to me, as I might have expected, that the private programs at the language center took precedence over the normal in-house courses. They seemed to receive more support and attention from the administration.

I learned a great deal about how foreign language programs are run in the Arab world. It is great that there are so many native Arabic speakers out there interested in teaching Arabic to us gringos. Unfortunately, I witnessed an unpleasant amount of paralyzing bureaucracy and careerism during my stay in Jordan in the program. I suppose this is a problem all over the world, but there is something about the region that increases this. I am not a psychologist so I will stop the speculation.

On a more positive note, I also witnessed some of the best Arabic teaching I have ever seen and some of the most generous teachers and administrators one could hope to encounter.

And wow, the food was sooooo great!

More details about my experience to come…

I'm back

2006-10-30T20:49:00.000-08:00

مرحباً بكم

I guess I still get quite a few hits everyday. I think I might emerge from the shadows and whisper sweet nothings, that are really somethings to some, into this blog. It seems that lots of people all over the world want to learn about learning and teaching Arabic. مبروك عليكم

جرمي

where am I?

2006-10-11T00:01:00.000-07:00

This blog is not dead. This blog is not alive. I'm not sure what to say. I hope to go to a website. I think a website would be more useful.

There is lots of good info in my blog about learning Arabic. Good luck mining!

Jeremy

Going to a web page

2006-03-22T19:06:00.000-08:00

This blog will continue, but I am making a web page that will be easier to navigate. Click on the title of this post to go to my web page.

Jeremy

Hashemite University Summer Intensive Arabic Program

2006-03-07T10:27:00.000-08:00

Click on the title of this post to go to Hashemite University's website about their Summer Intensive Arabic program. Wow - Arabic programs are popping up all over the place! Anybody know anything about this one? I'll try to find out more about it when I am in Jordan this summer.

Jeremy

Arabic in Tunis

2006-02-17T20:46:00.000-08:00

Here is some information about studying Arabic in Tunis. Anyone know anything about it? Click on the title to go to thier site.

Jeremy

Damascus University and Brigham Young University

2006-02-08T19:40:00.000-08:00

My Alma Mater and Damascus University sign an accord for more student exchanges. Sounds like a great opportunity for both establishments. Click on the title of this post if you are interested in reading about it. Oops - the link no longer works. I am trying to find it on SANA.org.

Jeremy

Basics of Iraqi Arabic

2006-01-29T16:12:00.000-08:00

Click on the title to go to the Defense Language Institute's free online basics of Iraqi Arabic course complete with mp3s and more. Actually, this link takes you to a page where you will select the course. The course is, yes, basic but has some vocabulary that may come in useful. It is a bit on the military side, but much of the vocab and phrases are generic enough to be of use.

Jeremy

School System Adds Arabic and Chinese

2006-01-26T21:07:00.000-08:00

Click on the title of this post to go to an interesting article from connectionnewspapers.com about Arabic for middle and high schoolers. This is one of the keys to freeing the US from its monolingualism: get the kids to start learning foreign languages when they are younger so that when they grow up - the foreign languages aren't quite so foreign and seemingly unlearnable. This is one of the hot topics in education circles these days: How to get foreign language learning included the national standard exams.

Does your area offer any k-12 Arabic programs or classes?

Jeremy

Jeremy's Arabic notebooks. Featuring "Spotlight" and making phone calls

2006-01-24T21:40:00.000-08:00

So I have piles of language notebooks. I have digitized a few sections of one. I am considering putting my notes from my Syria program online. They would be seperated into Syrian colloquial and MSA. There may be some sub categories such as grammar, novels, news etc. What else would I do with all the knowledge I gained? I believe that sharing is caring folks. I will have to think about how and where to store all of these. They are currently in low resolution jpgs. I found that taking low res photos goes much faster than scanning or any other option I could think of. Tell me what you think and share ideas.

Above is an example of a vocab page from one of my notebooks. This is Syrian colloquial. The page on the right is from the Syrian TV series "Spotlight". The page on the left is notes from a speaking partner exchange.

Click on the photo to enlarge it. Oh, and I don't always complete my notes in English. Usually, but not always. For example on bottom of the left page there is the English that says simply "I will" - I should have written "I will no longer speak with you". The construction I was practicing was "to do something no more / no longer".

And don't take my word for everything. Learn from others' notes, but you should always verify and practice to make sure you and I are both correct.

Learning Arabic, and much more - in Amman

2006-01-19T21:16:00.000-08:00

Click on the title of this post to go to the article "Learning Arabic, and much more" by Justin Martin a fulbrighter in Amman, Jordan.

It seems that there is a good deal of interest in expanding and creating Arabic programs for foreigners in Amman. I want to see the new multi-million dollar center for foreigners who want to study Arabic. Excellent.

Book Review: Top 1,000 Words for Understanding Media Arabic

2006-01-16T09:47:00.000-08:00

I must first admit that I am a sucker for these types of books. This book seemed so cool on the shelf. This book is a collection of what Elisabeth Kendall considers to be the top 1,000 words you need to know to understand media Arabic. I bought this book from Powells for $11.95. The relatively cheap cost of this book is appropriate for what you get. The book is useful and does have many important words, but it also leaves much to be desired as far as organization is concerned. Here are what I consider to be problems with this book:

1) There is no mention regarding how this collection of words was gathered. I want to know whether a corpus engine was used and if so, which newspapers were harvested? The author writes the following vieled sentence in the introduction: "every effort has been made to select the most useful and/or common vocabulary items."

2) Not every effort has been made to organize this book. There are eight sections; general, politics, elections, military, economics, trade & industry, law & order, disaster & aid. Each section is anywhere from 4 to 24 pages long. The vocabulary items are not alphabetized. There are no subgroups. Each section is simply one long list of words with no apparent order.

3) This book is not a dictionary. You can't look up a word systematically. The book is listed as a reference book, though there is no index.

This book is potentially beneficial. Students, however, may want to reorganize the book in a more useful manner. The price of the book makes it worth buying. A little more information and organization from the author, however, would at least double the book's worth.

To expand foreign language mastery, attitudes must change

2006-01-15T15:59:00.000-08:00

Click on the title to go to the article at DesMoinesRegister.com. The author is David Maxwell.

Here is an article that is right up my alley of interest. The need for more students studying critical languages and people specializing in the teaching of foreign languages. I enjoyed the following quote from the article: A former "director of the National Foreign Language Center, Richard Lambert, called Americans 'the most devoutly monolingual people in the world.'"

It is sad that Americans are so monolingual. Many Americans have studied a foreign language but not enough to come close to our European friends.

Let's learn Arabic!

Status Report

2006-01-12T19:09:00.000-08:00

This semester's beginning has hit me like a train. I will try and post soon. Let me know if there are any particular questions or issues that would be of interest.

Jeremy

Initial Review of Using Arabic by Mahdi Alosh

2005-12-27T20:54:00.000-08:00

I purchased "Using Arabic: A Guide to Contemporary Usage" by Mahdi Alosh a week or so ago (See my previous post for more information aobut the book). I have spent a few hours going through the book since and have found it to be worth the 25$ I paid. The book is basically made up of two main sections - vocabulary and grammar. What I perhaps most enjoy about this book is the breadth of coverage. Most any grammatical aspect, usual or exceptional, is found in the book. The advantage of this book is that is written by an American Arab and it hasn't been translated from German or any other language. Yes, I am referring to certain reference grammars written in the 1800s and republished in the 1900s and 2000s. Those older grammar reference books seem to mostly attract stuffy old-school professors and diplomats who don't want to admit that spoken Arabic should be taught to students and that the glory of Arabic is found in knowing the most obscure structures that can only be used in the most uncommon of cirsumstances. This is, of course, only my anecdotal opnion.

My intial opinion of this book is that it is quite useful as a reference grammar for students of Arabic ranging from intermediate to advanced. The vocabulary sections could be better with some contextual sentences or readings, but it is useful in itself because it contains current phrases and words found in media, political and other genres.

This is the kind of book I might study from systematically day to day if I were in an intensive program. I would go through 5-10 pages a day and harvest the most useful vocabulary for memorization. I would then try to use the vocab throughout the day/week. As for the grammar, I would not spend too much time trying to internalize the rare aspects...but it would be useful to look through systematically as well.

Jeremy Palmer

Using Arabic - grammar book

2005-12-20T23:39:00.000-08:00

MarHaban,

I bought this book today and look forward to going through it. Mahdi Alosh is perhaps the premier Arabic grammarian and linguist. Click on the title of this post to go to the publisher's site. Anybody ever used it? What did you think? Here is the info from the publisher's website (Cambridge):

Using Arabic
A Guide to Contemporary Usage
Mahdi Alosh
Ohio State University

Paperback

(ISBN-10: 0521648327 | ISBN-13: 9780521648325)
Published June 2005 | 356 pages | 238 x 169 mm
In stock
(Stock level updated: 17:58 GMT, 20 December 2005)
£15.99
Textbook
Lecturers can request inspection copies of this title.
Courses: Arabic Grammar, Intermediate Arabic Conversation, Intermediate Modern Arabic, Advanced Modern Arabic, Arabic Society and Culture, Studying Arabic Prose.
Using Arabic is a guide to Arabic usage for students who have already acquired the basics of the language and wish to extend their knowledge. Focusing mainly on Modern Standard Arabic, it is divided into three clear sections on varieties of Arabic, grammar, and vocabulary. ‘Varieties of Arabic’ describes the linguistic situation in the Arab world, showing students variations in register through the use of authentic texts. The vocabulary section is designed not only to expand students’ knowledge of Arabic words, but also to show them which words are most current, and which are appropriate to different registers. The final chapter provides an overview of Arabic grammar, giving many modern-day examples, and highlighting common errors. Clear, readable and easy to consult, Using Arabic will prove an invaluable reference for students seeking to improve their fluency and confidence in Arabic.

• Defines aspects of the Arabic language clearly and functionally

• Provides examples of ‘real’ Arabic from the media

• Gives a concise yet adequate overview of Arabic grammar, and expands students’ vocabulary

Contents

Part I. Varieties of Arabic: 1. What is Arabic?; 2. Arabic diglossia; 3. Diglossia versus bilingualism; 4. Register; 5. Representative texts; Part II. Vocabulary: 1. Vocabulary study; 2. Word information; 3. Conceptual organization of words; 4. Semantic processing of words; Part III. Grammar: 1. What is grammar?; 2. An outline of Arabic grammar; 3. Grammatical categories; 4. The nominal sentence; 5. The verbal sentence; 6. Prepositions; 7. Negation; 8. Demonstratives; 9. Relative pronouns; 10. Interrogatives; 11. Conditionals; 12. Transition words; 13. Numbers; 14. Partitives; 15. Nominal forms with a verbal force; 16. The diminutive; 17. The vocative; 18. Relative adjectives; 19. Words of emphasis; 20. The permutative; 21. Conjunctions; 22. Exception; 23. The Construct; 24. Comparative/superlative adjectives; 25. Defective nouns; 26. Common errors.

Aswaat Arabiyya

2005-12-19T09:54:00.000-08:00

This website is super cool. Click on the title of this posting to go to the site. Mahmoud Al-Batal (project director) showed it to a group of us at a teacher training session in 2003. I forgot about this website for some time until the author of a new Arabic learning blog "The Arabist" at http://arabistfancy.blogspot.com/ posted it recently. The website contains television programs in Arabic from the Middle East for students of varying levels of Arabic knowledge. One of the coolest things about this site is that you can slow down some of the video clips for careful listening. The project is hosted by Emory College in Atlanta.

Check it out and enjoy! (Click on the title of this post to go to the site for Aswaat Arabiyya)

Jeremy

Gov't seeks Arabic translators

2005-12-18T16:12:00.000-08:00

As if you didn't know, the US Gov is looking for Arabic translators. I wish the US Gov were also looking so energetically for Arabic seakers to build bridges of cultural understanding and appreciation along with the document translation and other activities. The above image that shows which agencies are looking for Arabic speakers and what they are paying. This article is from the Chicago Sun-Times. You can go to the article by clicking on the title.

Jeremy

Teaching Spoken Arabic and Motivation

2005-12-05T20:59:00.000-08:00

One of the few articles that presents quantifiable data in support of teaching spoken Arabic (There are none that I know of that support the teaching of only Modern Standard Arabic (MSA)). The two go hand in hand it seems... to some extent. Teaching MSA only is a quick way to demotivate learners due to the lack of ability to speak with Arabs like they speak (ok, I don't have data to back up this claim). This article is about the teaching of spoken Arabic to young learners in Israel. The results show that student attitudes and motivation increased with the teaching of spoken Arabic. Here is the title followed by the source and authors:

The Effects of Teaching Spoken Arabic on Students’ Attitudes and Motivation in Israel

Modern Language Journal, Summer2004, Vol. 88 Issue 2, p217, 12p, 6 charts. Donitsa-Schmidt, Smadar; Inbar, Ofra; Shohamy, Elana

Here is the abstract:

The study investigated whether changes in the educational context of teaching Arabic as a second language in Israeli schools affect students' attitudes towards the language, its speakers and culture, and motivation to study the language. These changes included teaching spoken Arabic rather than Modern Standard Arabic and lowering the starting age of instruction. Self-report questionnaires were distributed to 692 students (4th–6th grade) and 362 parents from 14 elementary schools. The findings revealed that students who study spoken Arabic (experimental group), as opposed to those who do not (control group), report holding more positive attitudes towards the Arabic language, its culture, and speakers, and also claim to be more motivated to study the language. Findings also confirm the important role that parents have over their children's behavior because parents' attitudes constituted one of the predictors of students' motivation to study Arabic. Yet, the variable that best predicted students' motivation was their satisfaction with their Arabic study program. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Here is a paragraph from the body of the article:

"based on this research, it seems vital to include the spoken variety as a major component of the curricula. This inclusion is likely to allow students to communicate with Arabs using the colloquial variety of thelanguagethat isusedininformal settings
and may eventually lead to improved cultural understanding and better relations between the two ethnolinguistic groups. Finally, it is important to develop high quality programs and curricula for the teaching of the language in order to raise the level of satisfaction among students and their parents."

My comments:

One must take this article and my comments with a grain of salt. This article is talking specifically about the situation in Israel, and the research was performed on younger learners - not the kind reading this blog most likely. We can, however, learn from this article and follow the suggestions for future research as the field attempts to figure out how to teach MSA and spoken together. There are so many variables that such discussion is often simply avoided. For example, which dialect should be taught? How often? What about heritage learners? How can we present a spoken language to students? etc. Much more research needs to be done.

This article appeared in the Modern Language Journal, which is one of the most wide read and prestigious journals in the field of language learning. That fact alone gives the article credit.

Your comments?