http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=114279&d=14&m=9&y=2008
Sunday 14 September 2008 (14 Ramadan 1429)
Learning Arabic in the Kingdom a challenge
Najah Alosaimi | Arab News
RIYADH: Stine Haeatta came to work in the Kingdom eight months ago. She
thought it would be easy to learn Arabic in any Arab country, but she was wrong.
"I'm interested in learning Modern Standard Arabic but I don't know where
to take lessons," she said.
According to Al-Faisal International Academy (AIFAC) General Director
Ahmed Al-Taweel, there are no special schools available in the Kingdom that
teach Arabic because demand for the classes is restricted to well-paid foreign
workers.
"Saudi businessmen don't see the investing in Arabic teaching as
profitable as investing in English or computer-science teaching, which enjoy
heavy demand," said Al-Taweel.
AIFAC is considering this plan, but Al-Taweel says, "such a project
should meet the highest teaching standard in order to succeed, otherwise it
will be useless."
Meanwhile, the interest in learning Arabic has been growing in the West.
Many foreign nationals have moved to countries like Egypt and Syria in an
effort to learn the language.
Saudi Arabia, however, cannot compete with other countries in promoting
Arabic studies because of the bureaucratic and social challenges involved, says
Al-Taweel.
"Visas to the Kingdom are still not easy to issue. Besides, the learner
needs to interact with the public, which may be hard in this conservative Saudi
society," he said.
He also pointed out that learning methods don't need to be restricted to
classes but also can be done through living with families. But the concept of
hosting a foreign student in the home is virtually unthinkable in Saudi Arabia.
"We can't use this teaching method as most Saudis are unable to accept it," he
said.
With lot of difficulties in finding a school in Riyadh, Ian - a foreign
resident - hired a private teacher. He decided to take private lessons from the
beginning of Ramadan since he works fewer hours.
"Studying in a regular classroom is more motivating and less costly for
me, but I couldn't find any school to join here," he said.
By attending the class, Ian said he wants to gain enough knowledge so
that he can communicate effectively in his workplace.
"I need to keep up with my colleagues - especially during meetings -
because I constantly feel lost," he said.
Despite the large number of universities in the Kingdom, surprisingly few
of them have Arabic language curriculums.
King Saud University's Institution of Teaching Arabic for Non-Arabs
offers two months' courses for both men and women. Nasir Al-Ghali, the director
of the institution, said each class has about 12 students, a number that has
declined since the institution started charging for the courses. Simon Salter,
a student at the institution, said the course is challenging because all the
course material is in Arabic, even at the intermediate level.
"I think the course is excellent but less publicized," said Salter. "The
Arabic language is not very difficult if it is taught through specialized
schools." The only difficulty Salter faced while he was taking the course at
King Saud University is that the program is in Arabic, which is difficult for
beginners. "The course book is also written in Arabic, which is a problem if
the student can't read the script," he said.
Meanwhile, those seeking Arabic courses often wind up going to private
tutors, which can be expensive. Alexander Weber, who works in a
telecommunication company, said he pays SR80 an hour, a 25 percent discount for
having recruited five of his colleagues to the same tutor. He also spent SR380
on a textbook, dictionary and CD.
Other options for Arabic courses include a program by the World Assembly
of Muslim Youth, or WAMY. But those courses, which are free, "are restricted to
diplomats and managers," said Esam Attiyah, director of the WAMY program.
Despite the limitation, WAMY has added two more classes due to high demand.
"Sixty people enrolled in all the four levels last year," said Attiyah,
adding that the course can't be offered to all. "This needs financial and human
resources."
Dawa (Islamic Propagation and Guidance) centers also offer courses for
people wishing to learn Arabic as part of Muslim conversion. Salter said he
didn't go to a Dawa center for classes because, "the unspoken message for these
courses is this: 'Learn Islam and we'll also teach you Arabic'," he said.
Lazlo, a German student Slater recruited for tutoring for the 25 percent
discount, said he was looking for some simple reading, writing and speaking
skills.
"It's not very important for my professional life to speak Arabic," he
said. "But I realize that everybody opens their heart when I speak their
language and I am trying to understand the culture, which is very difficult for
Germans."
Randa Sioufi, an Arabic tutor for the past 18 years, said that foreigners
and non-Arab Muslims are very interested in learning the language because it
helps them to understand the culture and communicate well with the public. She
says she teaches about seven people a year.
"The market for learning Arabic could flourish even more if this great
interest was accompanied by an availability of specialized schools," she said,
She encourages her students to learn Classical Arabic - not just the
language of the Qur'an but also the most formal and pedantic of the Arabic
derivatives. The reason is simple: While classical Arabic can sound exceedingly
formal, and isn't used on the street very often, it is the Arabic that everyone
can understand.
"Slang would be useless when foreigners return home," she said. "However,
learning Classical Arabic would help read an Arabic novel or check an Arabic
news website after they return to their country," she said. As a teacher, she
faces difficulties in preparing materials. "I miss the good curriculum, which
cover five main points: Reading, writing, speaking and grammar in one book,"
she said, pointing out that many textbooks cover only one of these points, and
are often full of archaic vocabularies.
She pointed out that some students tend to give up after a couple of
month because they lack proper motivation to learn this challenging language.
One of the primary advantages to learning any language while living in a
country where that language is spoken is the ability to practice and learn
vocabulary by the simple osmosis of being immersed in the language. But Sioufi
says that, in Saudi Arabia, this opportunity is quelled by the cultural norms.
Additionally, she says, many learners of Arabic end up practicing with other
foreign speakers who learned Arabic informally, thus creating a cycle of
incorrect grammar among expatriates.
"The learner in Saudi Arabia can't practice the language because of the
lack of social interaction with locals, so the learner only uses Arabic to
communicate with drivers and labors - and most of them speak incorrect Arabic,
so they help in a wrong way," she said.
So while Saudi Arabia may not be the best place to learn Arabic, there's
always Syria or Egypt.
Origin of Arabic language - the disputes
THERE has been some dispute as to the origins of the Arabic language, but
most scholars agree that modern Arabic comes from a prolific proto-Semitic
language group.
"Once, the Arabian Peninsula was thought to have been the 'cradle' of
proto-Semitic," says a report by Indiana University's Arabic Language and
Middle East/North Africa Studies. "But nowadays many scholars advocate the view
that it originated somewhere in East Africa, probably in the area of
Somalia/Ethiopia."
The problem with definitively placing the origins of Standard and
Classical Arabic is related to the many versions of Old Arabic that was spoken
throughout the region. For example, according to the Encyclopedia Aethiopica
(2003), in Yemen alone there were at least seven dialects of Old South Arabian
spoken 1,500 years before the birth of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
This proto-Semitic version of Arabic used the extinct Musnad script and not the
Arabic script we know today.
What is known is that with the rise of Islam, Classical Arabic - also
called fusha - swept across the region replacing earlier forms of the language
and its different alphabets. The standardization of the language can be
attributed in a large part to the dissemination of the Holy Qur'an.
Modern Standard Arabic has come in, thanks in large part to the rise of
radio, television and films, as well as the use of this form of the language in
formal speaking. According to William Facey's 1994 book "The Story of the
Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia," the earliest known ancient North Arabian
writing in what is known as Hasaitic (one of the various forms of Preclassical
Arabic spoken in the Kingdom back then) comes from what is now the Eastern
Province of Saudi Arabia in the 8th century BC in the Al-Hasa region.
It's important to note that all of these proto-Semitic languages are
considered Preclassical Arabic, which differ considerably from the Classical
and Standard Arabic we know today.
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