0% found this document useful (0 votes)
153 views12 pagesArabic Speakers - Chapter From Learner English - Swan
Uploaded by
Susan JafarovaCopyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF or read online on Scribd
0% found this document useful (0 votes)
153 views12 pagesArabic Speakers - Chapter From Learner English - Swan
Uploaded by
Susan JafarovaCopyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF or read online on Scribd
/ 12
Learner English
cept
Nene on cHeCie}
ané other problems
ee eRcsar eevee ie eett
tes aarti areti
about your students? mother tongues?
eee eae eres eres
Riis Norstar tse is
Perr ecrece Perec eaters
meee teeter
Goce
Rune cd eee a ona
Case obec sme stuart
specielists with experience in teaching students
eee recess cence et
Gre iniamai ttl
promunciation, grammat, vocabulary and other
ibe se aaenuo aeons sgn
Rein ani nomretccniginiinh
German, French, Italian, Spanish, Catalan,
Recast
PN Ueg ie enanev cara gt (cure
Paracrecrese eu haUa aIAare
ices rites
Pearce Cremer b er
Burra occu sat seer tnt)
Rater og eames
Girciratimectbes a
RP ea rc rt ee
omen ot er rea
Pea ee are eee
Per ea eee
Pearce
SBN 0-521-77939-1
mn
ll Cormaly ri clepe- Com,
Sound forward
ee ~— es
O) showing awareness of how a leamer's/learners' background(s), previous learning experience and leaming style(s) affect
leaming
Q identitying the learner's/learners’ language/skills needs .
correctly using terminology relating to the description of language systems and language skills
O selecting appropriate material and/or resources to aid the leamer's/leamers’ language development
Q providing rationale for using specific activities with a learner/leamers
O finding, selecting and referencing information from one or more sources using written language that is clear, accurate and
appropriate to the task
Phonolgy 1 a gad Feld jo wrk on
Plus” Farsi speakers
An idiomatic translation
i ifez's
For hundreds of years Farsi speakers have enjoyed reading Fiat
anthology, respecting and loving the precious heritage of this ‘fortune
teller?
Hafez has the dual virtue that at the seme time as he is interesting to
students of literature, writers, literary crities and scientists, he is popular
with and loved by the general public.
(Feo Hafex's Anthology edited by A. Bagheri)
Handwriting difficulties: a sample written by a
Farsi-speaking student
The E nyleh Language oi the moh PEF lank
Aeogiage — The worlds sod amar tne wont
to fd a beta fob mutt tarneng Engl.
4 tcomt to Learning & ngs Lacadte § wont
te cta dy — Eayheh Language Unupartely
Mew § Gand cpu and well @ nghih
beh when bend te me te meme till mah
Ryne tee ameam eg ef Te ERGbih watd Mal
fmt ate wencresaily
Arabic speakers
Bernard Smith
Distribution
ALGERIA, BAHRAIN, EGYPT, IRAQ, JORDAN, KUWAIT,
LEBANON, LIBYA, MOROCCO, OMAN, PALESTINE, QATAR,
SAUDI ARABIA, SUDAN, SYRIA, TUNISIA, UNITED . ARAB
EMIRATES, YEMEN REPUBLIC.
Arabic is a second major language in Chad, Israel, Mauritania,
Djibouti, Bangladesh; also in Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan,
‘Tajikistar, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and Chechnya,
( addition, Arabic being tlie language of the Koran, the holy word of
Islam, all Muslims of whatever nationality are to some extent familiar
with Arabic, can recite extensively in it, and are therefore influenced-by
it in their ideas of how language works. Islam has a significant following,
in Senegal, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Guinea, Somali Republic, Kenya, Iran,
Afghanistan, Pakistan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines,
northern China, Mongolia and Turkey, approximately 400,000,000
people in all, and increasing.
Introduction
Arabic is a Semitic language, having a geammatical system similar to
Assyrian, Aramaic, Hebrew and Ethiopian. There is a universal ‘pan-
Arabic’ language, which is taught in schools, used by the mass media in
all Arab countries, and for all communications of an official nature,
Within each country, often in quite small areas, a wide variety of
colloquial dialects have developed, differing one from another not only
in pronunciation, but also in common lexieal items and, to some extent,
in structure. The differences from country ro country are more marked
than, say, differences between UK, US ancl Australian English.
Phonology
General
The Arabic and English phonofogical systems are very different, not
only in the range of sounds used, bur in the emphasis placecl on vowels Arabic speakers
and consonants in expressing meaning. While English hes 22 vowels
and diphthongs to 24 consonants, Arabic has only eight vowels and
diphthongs (three short, theee ong and two dipathongs) to 32 con-
sonants.
‘The three short vowels in Arabic have very little significance: they are
almost allophonic. They are not even written in the script. It is the
consonants and long vowels and diphthongs which give meaning.
‘Arabic speakers tend, therefore, to gloss over and confuse English shore
vowel sounds, while unduly emphasising consonants, avoiding elisions
and shortened forms. .
“Among the features of Arabic which give rise to an “Arabic accent’ in
English are:
= More energetic articulation than English, with more stressed syl-
fables, bur fewer clearly articulated vowels, giving a dull, staccato
Sabber’ effect.
~ The use of glottal stops before initial vowels, a common feature of
Arabic, thus breaking up the natural catenations of English. :
— A general reluctance to omit consonants, once the written form is
known, e.g. /klatmbed! for climbed.
or
wo
‘a8
Shaded phonemes have equivalents or near equivalents in Arabic and
should therefore be perceived and articulated without great difficulty,
although some confusions may still arise. Unsheded phonemes may
cause problems. For detailed comments, see below.
While virtually all vowels may cause problems, the following are the
‘most common confusions:
1. /i/ and Jel ace often confused: bit for bet.
2. fol and /oi! are often confused: cot for caught.
3. Diphthongs /ev/ and fou! are usually pronounced rather short, and
are confused with /e/ and Jol: red for raid; hop for hope.
196
Arabic spealeers
Consonants
P [DID | v [Ca komhitas al
8 Nig) 3 dg
tne) y |) r :
Shaded phonemes have equivalents or near equivalents in Arabig and
should therefore be perceived and articulated without great difficulty,
although some confusions may still arise. Unshaded phonemes may
cause problems. For detailed comments, see below.
1. Arabic has only one letter in the /g/—/d3/ area, which is pronounced
as g/ in some regions, notably Egypt, and as /ds/ in others. Arabic
speakers tend, therefore, to pronounce an English g, and sometimes
even a, in all positions according to theic local dialects,
2. iff as'a phoneme is found only in a few dialects, but the sound
‘occurs naturally in all dialects in junctures of ft/ and /f/.
There are two approximations to the English /h/ ia Arabic. The
commoner of them is an unvoiced, harsh aspication; Arabic speakers
tend therefore to pronounce an English /h/ rather harshly.
4. Inf isa voiced flap, very unlike the RP i. Arabic speakers commonly
‘overpronounce the post-vocalic r, as in car park.
5. Ip/ and fof are allophonic and tend to be used rather randomly:
I baid ten bence for a bicture of Pig Pen.
6. Iv/ and Hf/ are allophonic, and are usually both pronounced as /f/
Iris a fery nice fillage.
7. dg/ and /k/ are often confused, especially by chose Arabs whose
dialects do not include the phoneme /g/. Pairs like goat/coat and bag!
back cause difficulty.
8. Although /0/ and /8/ occur in literary Arabic, most dialects pro-
ounce them as // and /al respectively, The same tends to happen in
students’ English,
Tink dat dey are brudders.
9. The phoneme /y/ is usually pronounced as /n/ or /ng/, or even fn.
3.
Consonant clusters
‘The range of consonant clusters occurring in English is much wider than
in Arabic. Initial two-segment clusters not occurring in Arabic include:
197 Arabic speakers
pl. gr gl, thr, thio, sp. Initial three-segment clusters do not occur in
Mrbict al, evga spr; sr, sir, spl In all of the above cases there is a
tendency among Arabic speakers to insert short vowels to ‘assist’
pronunciation:
‘perice’ or ‘pirice’ OF price .
‘spring’ ox ‘sipring’ for spring
‘The range of final clusters is also much smaller in Arabic, OF the 78
three-segment clusters and fourteen four-seamenr clusters occurring,
finally in English, none occurs in Arabic. Arabic speakers tend again 0
insert short vowels.
‘arrangid’ for arranged
‘monthiz’ for months
‘neckist’ for next .
‘Teachers will meet innumerable examples of such pronunciations,
which also carry over into the spelling of such words in Arab students’
written English.
Note Bees detsled comparative analysis of English and Arabic
consonant clusters (and much other useful information) see The
Teaching of English to Arab Students by Raja T. Nast (Longman, 1963).
Influence of English spelling on pronunciation
While there are no similarities between the Arabic and English writing
systems, Arabic spelling within its own system is simple and virtually
phonetic. Arabic speakers tend, therefore, to attempt to pronounce
English words phonetically. Add to this the reverence for consonants,
and you get severe pronunciation problems caused by the influence of
the written form:
‘“istobbid’ for stopped
‘forigen’ for foreign
Rhythm and stress
Arabic’ is a stress-timed language, and word stress in particular is
predictable and. regular, Arabic speakers, therefore, have problems
‘gasping the unpredictable nature of English word stress. The idea that
stress can alter meaning, as in a toy factory and a ‘oy factory, or
contvict (verb) and ‘convict (noun) is completely strange.
Phrase and sentence rhythms are similar in the two languages, and
should cause few problems. Primary stresses occur more frequently in.
‘Arabic, and unstressed syllables are pronounced more clearly, with
neutral vowels, but not ‘swallowed” as in English. Arabs reading English
Arabic speakers
aloud will often avoid contracted forms and elisions, and read with a
rather heavy staccato rhythm.
Intonation
Intonation patterns in Arabic are similar to those of English in contour
and meaning. Questions, suggestions and offers are marieed much more
feequenty by a sising tune than by any structoral marker, and this f
carried over into English,
‘When reading aloud, however, ag opposed to conversing, the Arabic
speaker tends to intone or chant, redicing intonation to a low fall at the
ends of phrases and sentences.
Juncture
As the glottal stop is a common phoneme in Arabic, and few words
begin with a vowel, there is resistance in speaking English to linking a
final consonant with a following initial vowel.
Junetures producing consonant clusters will cause problems, es
described under the section ‘Consonant clusters’. A juncture such os
next spring produces a number of extra vowels.
The many instances of phonetic change in English through the
juncture of certain phonemes, e.g. // + /i/ as in what you need /wotsut
nisdl, or /d/ and [if as in Did you see him? /dtdgu: siz hum/ are resisted
strongly by Arabic speakers, who see any loss of or change in consonant
pronunciation as a serious threat to communication.
Orthography and punctuation
Arabic orthography is a cursive system, ranning from right to left. Only
consonants and long vowels are written. There is no upper and lower
case distinction, nor can the isolated forms of letters normally’ be
juxtaposed to form words.
Arabic speakers must, therefore, learn an entirely new alphabet for
English, including a capital letter system; and then master its rather
unconventional spelling patterns. All aspects of writing in English cause
‘major problems for Arabic speakers, and they should not be expected t0
cope with reading or writing at the same evel or pace as European
students who are ata similar level of proficiency in oral English.
‘Typical problems ace:
~ Misteading letters with ‘mirror’ shapes, e.g. p and q; d and b. Arabic speakers
— Misveading lettecs within words by right to left eye movements, ¢.g,
form for from; ‘won’ for town. These errors occur in the writing of
Arab stralents, t00, of course.
— Malformation of individual letters, owing to insufficient carly
training, ot the development of an idiosyncratic writing system. This
jig most usually seen with capital letters (aften omitced}, with the
letters 0, a, t, d, g, and the cursive linking of almost any letters. Many
adult Arabs continue to print in English rather than attempt cursive
script.
‘The numerals used in Arab countries are different from the ‘Arabic’
numerals used in Europe, though they are written from lefe to right.
Reading and pronouncing numbers is a major problem.
Punctuation
Arabic punctuation is now similar to western style punctuation, though
some of the symbols are inverted or reversed, e.g. for ?, and ‘for,
“The use of full stops and commas is much freer than in English, and it
is common to begin each new sentence with te equivalent of Ard or
So. Connected writing in English tends therefore to contain long, loose
sentences, linked by commas and ands.
Grammar
General
‘As Arabic is a Semitic language, its grammatical structure is very
different from that of Indo-European languages. There are, therefore,
for fewer areas of facilitation, and far greater areas of interference, This
must be borne in mind when Aiabic speakers aré mixed with, say,
European students.
‘The basis of the Arabic language is the three-consonant root. A
notion such as writing, cooking, or cating is represented by three
consonants in a particular order. All verb forms, nouns, adjectives,
participles, etc. are then formed by patting these three raot consonants
into fixed patterns, modified sometimes by simple prefixes and suffixes.
Root Thy iti Rol (= writing)
‘A person who does
this for living —_—kattaab
Passive participle maktoob
Present tense yaktubuh (= he writes it)
Arabic speakers
wounding or cutting)
=a surgeon)
Root J it Dh
Aperson who does djaraah
this for a living
Passive participle majrooh (= wounded or a battle
casualty)
Present tense yajruhuh (= be wounds/euts him)
‘There are over $0 patterns, and by no means all Forms are found for
each soot, but this isthe structural basis of the language.
Ir f6llows that Arabic speakers have great difficulty in grasping the
confusing range of patterns for all words in English: thar nouns, verbs,
and adjectives follow no regular patterns to distinguish one from another,
and may, indeed, have the same orthographic form. Such regulacities of
morphology as English has, particularly in the area of affixes, will be
readily geasped by Arabie speakers, e.g. -ing, able, un, etc.
Word order
In principle the Arabic sentence places the verb first, followed by the
subject. This convention is followed more in writing than in speech,
writing:
“Decided the minister yesterday to visit the school.
Questions and negatives; auxiliaries
‘The auxiliary do has n0 equivalent in Arabic. Where no specific question
word is used, a question is marked only by its rising intonation:
*When you went to London?
You like coffee?
Nowe chat che Armbic for wher? is waye, which is inevimbly confased
with when?. Negatives are formed by putting a particle (laa o
before the verb: a aaa calae
“He not play football.
To be
‘There is no verb to be in Arabic in the present tense. The copula (am, is,
not expressed. It is, therefore, commonly omitted in English by
“Arabic speakers, particularly in the present progressive verb forms: Atabic speakers
*He teacher.
*The boy tall.
*He going to school.
Pronouns
‘Arabic verb forms incorporate the personal pronouns, subject and
object, as prefixes and suffixes. It is common to have them repeated in
English as part of the ver
“John be works there.
Time, tense, and aspect
A. Past time
1. Arabic has a past, or perfect tense, which signifies an action
completed at the time of speaking. There is, therefore, in colloquial
‘Arabic, no distinction drawn between what in English would be a
simple past or a present perfect verb:
*T lost my camera. Did you see it?
‘2. There is a past perfect tense, used approximately as in English,
formed by the past tense of the verb to be, followed by the past tense
verb (he was ke ate = he bad eaten):
“He was ate his dinner when I came. (fox He had eaten bis dinner
when I came.)
3. There is a past progressive tense formed by the past tense of the verb
to be followed by the present tense verb (he was he eats = be was
eating).
“He was eat his dinner when I came. (for He was eating bis
dinner when camse.)
4, In eeported speech Arabic tends to use the tense of the original
speech, not the past tense conventions of English.
"He said he (is) going to London.
‘The use of direct speech is more common,
as:
*He told me I am (for be was) going to London.
*Hle said me she will meet me tomorrow.
jving rise to Such errors
B. Present time
1, Arabic has a simple present tense form, which signifies an action
unfinished at the time of speaking. It covers the areos of the English
Arabic speakers
simple and progressive present tenses, including their use to refer to
future time. The lack of a present tense of the verb to be, coupled
swith this single present tense, causes a wide range of error in present
tenses in English:
"He go with me now / every day.
“He going with me now / every day.
*He is go with me now / every day. :
*What you do?
“When you come / coming back?
2. This present tense also refers to duration of time up to the time of
speaking, expressed in English by the present perfect:
"I learn /I learning English two years now.
3. This present tense is also used as a subjunctive after that for
subordinaze clauses, a very common pattern in Arabic, which only
occasionally overlaps with English usage:
“He wants that he go with me.
“It was necessary that he goes to the office.
lie is impossibie that he stay bere.
4, With a few verbs of movement, 2 present participle pattern (literally
going, walking, etc.) is used (without a copola) to express movement
happening at the time of speaking or in the near future. This
approximates in a limited way to a present prugressive tense, and
Arabic speakers use it easily, though omitting tle copula,
* Where you going tomorrow?
“I going to London.
C. Future time
1, There is no future tense form in Arabic. As often happens in English,
1a present tense form is used to refer to the future.
2, Various furure-indicating particles are used in colloquial and pan-
Arabic to indicate a reference to the future. They are placed before
the present tense verb and, thus, approximate to the English use of
willand shall.
Modal verbs
‘There are no modal verbs in Arabic. Their function is performed by
normal verbs, often impersonal, or prepositions followed by a sub-
junctive (present) tense:
Tean go: *Ican that I go.
“From the possible that I go.
Trnust go: "From the necessary that } go.
“aaa Arabic speakers
*Onme that Igo.
Imay go: *From the possible that I go.
Arabic speakers, therefore, have problems in grasping and using the
form and function of modal verbs, and will add regular verb endings to
them and use auxiliaries with them.
"Does he can do that? Yes, he cans do that.
‘There is also a strong tendency to overuse that clauses both with miodals
and other yerbs taking an object + infinitive construction in English.
{See ‘Non-fnite forms’ below.)
*It (is) possible that I come with you?
*Ican that I help you.
*He wants that he belps you.
Non-finite forms
“The gerund does not exist in Arabic. Its functions are performed by
verbal nouns of separate patterns, or by regular verb forms.
‘in Smoking is bad for you, the Arabic equivalent of the verbal noun
smoking. is of a quite separate pattern from any tenses of the verb to
smoke.
“The Arabic equivalent of I enjoy smoking would be *I enjoy smoke,
In I prefer working to playing, the Arabic equivalent construction
would be "I prefer (that) I work to (that) I play.
Similarly, there is no infinitive form in Arabic; again the infinitive is
expressed as a second simple verb, with or without that,
*I want (that) I go out.
(gis necessary that I go out.
Ie follows that Arab learnecs will have not only the usual problems of
making the correct choice between gerund and infritive, but also basic
problems of form and concept for both.
The active and passive voices
‘There’are active and passive forms for all tenses in Arabic, but they are
virtually identical to the active forms, differing only in the pronunciation
of the (unwritten) short vowelling. A passive verb in a text is therefore
only recognisable as such from its context and is used far less frequently
in Arabie writing than in English, and bardly at all in everyday speech.
Thus while the concepts of active and passive should readily be under-
stood, the forms and uses of the passive will cause problems.
“The preposition for the agent in Arabic is bi, which facilitates the use
of by in English.
Arabic speakers
This is often overused, giving rise to:
*He was stabbed by a knife.
“The letter was written by a pen.
‘Common errors arise from the use of active verb forms for passive:
*He bit by a stone,
*The bill paid by the government.
Another common circurnlocution is simply to make the passive verb
acti
"The bill, the government paid it,
Articles
‘There is no indefinite article in Acabic, and the definite article has a
range of use different from English. The indefinite article causes the
most obvious problems as it is commonly omitted with singular and
plural countables:
*This is book. Or even *This book. (for This isa book)
*He was soldier.
When the English indefinite article has been presented, it tends to be
used wherever the definite article is not used:
"These are a books.
*Twant a tice.
“There is « definite article form in Arabic, though it takes the form of a
prefix (a). It is used, as in English, to refer hack to indefinite nouns
preven ‘mentioned, and also for unique references (the sun, on the
loon, ete).
‘The most common problem with the definite article arises from
interference from the Arabic genitive construction:
English Axabic
Jobn’s book. (er The book of Jobr.) Book John,
~ ‘Aman’s work. (or The work of aman.) Work man.
‘The teacher's car. (or The cur of the teacher.) Car the teacher.
Most errors of word order and use of articles in genitive constructions
are interference of this kind: .
*This is book the teacher.
*Thisis the key door.
It follows that Arabic speakers have great difficulties with the English ‘s
genitive construction.
‘The cases in which English omits the article, e.g. im bed, at dawn, on
Thursday, for breakfast, etc. usually take che definite article in Arabic:
“At the sunset we made the camp.
* What would you like for the breakfast the Sunday?
All days of the week, some months in the Muslim calendar, and many Arabic speakers
names of towns, cities and countries include the definite article in
‘Arabic, which is often translated, appropriately or not:
* We lived in the India.
* We had a flat in the Khartours.
We travelled to the Yemen.
Adjectives and adverbs
‘Adjectives follow their nouns in Arabic and agree in gender and
number. This may cause beginners to make mistakes:
“He (is) man tall. (for He is a tall mar.)
Adverbs are used less commonly in Arabic than in English and, except
for adverbs of time, do not have a fixed patter. Adverbs of manner are
often expressed in’ phrase: quickly is expressed as with speed, and
dangerously as ina dangerous way. There is frequent confusion between
the adjective and adverb forms in English, and the adjective form is
usually overused:
“He drives very dangerous.
Gender and number
Arabic has two genders, masculine and feminine, which are usually
evident from word ending or word meaning. Plurals of nouns not
referring to human beings are considered feminine singular:
“Where are the books?” *‘She is on the table. I gave her to the
teacher.”
Plurals of nouns in Arabic are very often formed by internal pattern
changes (as with mouse ~ mice in English). The addition of an -s suffix
for the plural seems almost too easy for Arabic speakers, and it is often
omitted:
“I bave many book. .
For nouns following numbers above ten, itis the rule in Arabic to use a
singular form, and this is often transferred:
"Ihave ten brothers and sixteen uncle. ,
Prepositions and particles
Arabic hes a wealth of fixed prepositions and particles, used with both
verbs and adjectives. Many of these do not coincide with their direct
English translations:
Arabic speakers
*to arrive to “afraid from Yargry on
*a picture from (for of) “near from *to lock to (for at)
“to be short to “in spite from "an expert by
“responsible from
Some prepositions have verbal force.
— The equivalent of on can express obligation:
*Itisonme that I pay bim.
~ The equivalents of to and for can express possession:
*This book is 10 me / for me. (for This book is rina.)
~ The equivalent of with can express preseat possession: :
"With me my camera. (for I have my camera with [on me)
= The equivalent of for can express purpose:
*I went home for (1) get my book. (for I went home to get my
book.) :
There are no phrasal verbs in Arabic and this whole area is one of great
difficulty for Arabic speakers. Defence mechanisms may involve se-
lecting alternative but regular verbs to avoid using phrasal verbs
altogether, or the misuse or omission of the preposition ox particle,
*I search my keys,
*T look my keys,
*I dress me.
*] put my clothes (off).
As prepositions in Arabic are always followed by or linked to a noun or
pronoun, preposition-stranding patterns in English (Who did you bey it
for? That's the woman I was talking about.) will usually be avoided in
favour of the Arabic pattsrs, which are often similar to more formal
English. For example: For whom did you buy it? or *For who you
bought it? That's the woman about whom I was talking. Ox, more
often, “That's the woman I was talking about her. (The addition of the
redundant pronoun is necessary in Arabic syntax ~ see also ‘Subordinate
clauses” below.)
Confusion of it and there
The expressions there islare are expressed in most colloquial Arabic
dialects by the preposition fee (im), but this is not commonly carried
‘over into English. In more formal Arabic the concept is expressed by a
passive of the verb zo find, meaning £0 exist:
*It exists a horse in that field.
A horse is found in that field.
Since the verbs to exist or to be found are not known to early
learners, they are usually replaced by the verb 10 be: . Arabic speakers
* Ibis a horse in that field.
The word there, when encountered, is usually understood as a posi-
tional marker. There is a horse in that field would be understood more
as Over there (there) is a borse in that field.
It follows that the distinction between the use of it and there in such
expressions needs careful grounding.
Question tags
There are question tags in common use in all Arabic dialects, usually
some unchanging form along the lines of ‘Is that not so?”
The problems, therefore, with question tags are not conceptual, but
syntactic, and Arab learners, like most others, are bewildered by the
multitude of changing forms in English question tags.
Subordinate clauses
A. Purpose
Clauses introduced by it order that are introduced in Arabic by a
conjunction loosely translated as for and followed by the subjunctive
(present) tense:
* went to the shop for (I) buy some shoes.
B. Relative
The relative pronoun (which, who, that) makes a distinction in Arabic
sccording to gender, but not human and non-human. ‘There is, there-
fore, confusion in the choice of who or which.
In Arabic it is necessary to include the object of a verb in a relative
clause, which in English must be omitted:
This is the book which I bought it yesterday.
“The hotel, which I stayed init last year, was very good.
©. Conditional .
Arabic has two words for if, which indicate the degree of likelihood of
the condition. In conditional sentences which in English use conditional
verb forms, Arabic uses the simple past in both main and conditional
clauses:
*If be went to Spain, he learned Spanish. (for If he went to Spain,
he would learn Spanish and If ke bad gone to Spain, be would
have learned Spanish.)
ra
Arabic speakers
Vocabulary
‘The acquisition of vocabulary is particularly difficult for Arab learners,
They have virtually no positive transfer: only a minimal number of
words in English are borrowed from Arabic. A small range of mainly
technical words, such as radar, helicopter and television, have been
taken into Arabic, but these are common to most languages. Arabic
speakers have very few aids to reading and listening comprehension by
virtue of their first language, and they should not be expected to acquire
English at anyzhing like the same pace as European learners.
The following Fnglish words sound similar to vulgar words in
Arabic, and sensitive teachers should avoid them if possible: zip, zipper,
air, tease, kiss, cuss, nick, unique,
Culture
Literacy is highly regarded in the Arab world and the teacher is usually
a respected figure. The approach to learning varies greatly between
countries but, in general, it could be said that teaching is much more
reliant on rote learning and the receiving of information than itis in the
western world. Systems of teaching in which ideas and answers are
elicited and discussed may be rejected as unsound, since it is for the
teacher to know and impart all knowledge. Tests and examinations,
+00, frequently require only the reproduction of rote-learned notes, and
tasks requiring original thought or the expression of personal opinions
may be consicered unfais,
‘The written language is revered and a good writer admired. Collo-
guial language has little stams or value and English lessons concen-
trating on ‘everyday colloquial English’ may not be popular.
‘Add to this the difficulties which adult Arab leamers have in coping
with an informal teaching approach, in which the teacher uses first
names and acts as_an equal rather than a superior (though TEFL.
methodology in Arab schools is being up-dated rapidly} and you have a
situation in which lesson content, methodology and teacher may be
rejected as useless. If in doubt, teachers should err on the side of
formality and always be prepared to explain where there is confusion.
Teachers, male and female, should always dress carefully and keep
arms and legs reasonably covered. What the students are exposed to in
the streets and on the beaches is another matrer: the teacher has a staras
to maintain. It should be remembered that in many Arab countries
schools are strictly segregated at all levels, and men and women are not
permitted to mix socially at all outside the immediate family circle. The
casual mixing of the sexes in a typical UK language school ean produce Arabic speakers
emotional tucmoil. Above all, teachers (of either sex) should maintain a
femly professional relationship with Arab learners. Once a female
teacher has reached an age which bestows on her the mature ‘mother’
image, rather than the ‘sister’ image, she will have fewer problems.
The cultural changes in many ‘Arab countries brought about by
contact with the west (as regards such matters as the role of women,
diet, dress and mazriage customs) seem to be swinging back in many
countries towards Islamic tradition and orthodoxy under the strong
influence of Islam. It must be accepted that, in many areas of the Arab
world, western values, politics and influences are very unpopulac. There
is a long history of distrust and many Arab nations are very defensive in
their attitudes to the USA and Britain in particular. Teachers should be
aware of history and Islamic culture and make every effort not to offend
unwittingly.
Written samples of Arabic
Type-written Arabic
dens oh BNL Lyk lls Geib e (2 galt
or Sithel Lie yest all ne, «Ait
Hane la yall Lae Ld
eis bl ee cet ell hope spl Li i] gil ate
BoM pM ELM okey toga all IU aldey pt pe LIT ad
sole eal Lady Lge ae gud
A direct transliteration
{ee galbi lundun taga’ sala waasi’a tusummee traafulghaar skweer aw, idha
aradnaa an nasta'mil Iahaa ismtaa al-'arabee al-aSiee, sasHat aT-Taraf al-
aghart. haadhi-s-saalia al-magSood minhaa iHyaa’ dhikra tila I-ma’raka
IntaSar feehaa alloord ison ‘ala naabulyoon gharbee shibh jazeerat
eebeoryaa. wa-yalawassaT haadhi-s-saaHa ‘amood murtaf’ ya'taleeh
timthaal i-oord nilsoon. wa-bijeanib haachi-s-saaHia al-ma'raD al-waTanee
{i-8-Suwar az-zeeteeya al-mashhoora wa-kaneesatil-qacees maartin,
Arabic speakers
A word-for-word translation
in heart London she-stands square broad she-is-called Trafalgar Square
or, if we-wanted that we-use to-her name-her the-Acabic the-original,
square the-headland the-beautiful. this the-square the-intended from-her
commemoration memory that the-battle which he-was-victorious in-her
the-lord Nelson on Napoleon westwards resemblance island Iberia. and-
he-centres this the-square column high he-surmounts-it statue the-lord
Nelson. and-beside this the-square che-gallery the-national for-the-
pictuses the-oiled the-famous and church the-saint Martin.
An idiomatic translation
Jn the heart of London there is a broad square called Trafalgar Square
of if we want to use its original Arabic name, the Square of Taraf
Ab-Agharr (the Beautiful Headland). This square was designed to per-
etuate the memory of that battle in which Lord Nelson won a victory
over Napoleon, west of the Iberian Peninsula. Standing in the centre of
this square isa tall column om top of which is a statue of Lord Nelson,
Beside the square is the National Gallery of famous oil paintings and
‘St Martin’s Church.
Printed Arabic
(This extract is from the catalogue of the Qatar National Museum. The
English translation from the same source is beside it.)
NV agdl ji Qatar in the Islamic Era
_¥ Sate os The people of the Qatar peninsula
wh ge JB bz 45 OS US were amongst the fist in Eastern
You might also like
