Arabic

This course of Intensive First Year Arabic is designed for students who have already completed Intensive first semester First Year Arabic, or its equivalent. We will continue learning, through the communicative method and audio/visual material to listen to, speak, read and write Modern Standard Arabic, the form of Arabic shared by educated people of the Arabic Speaking World. Classroom time is mainly devoted to activating the material students already prepared through conversation, discussions, short writing activities and grammar drills. The class will be regularly introduced to authentic cultural materials derived from a variety of the living contexts of the more than 300 million Arabic-speaking people. The aim is to advance students to a higher level of the language and proficiency.
Our main textbook has audio/video components made available on the publisher’s website: Lingco (Please get access if you have not already done that in the Fall.) There are many activities that will help you continue to develop your listening and pronunciation skills, and will immensely help you in your studies. Closely studying the content of the audio/video material and trying to reproduce them will help you acquire more vocabulary and express yourself more eloquently.
No language can be studied in a vacuum and has to be tied to the culture that utilizes it. Arabic is spoken in over twenty African and Asian countries. The written language is standardized, mainly because of the Qur’ân, the spoken dialects vary from one country to another and even from one region to another within the same country. In addition to MSA, you can become familiar with one or another of two major dialects if you so wish; later, you can select other dialects to suit your needs, especially as you travel overseas.