Arabic in the Middle East

[rlattin]

Hey guys,

I am interested in going to the middle east next year to study arabic. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what is the best program? I have only one year of MSA under my belt. Please give some reasons as well as I'm trying to figure out whats best for me.

Rob

[Dreams]

Hey guys,

I am interested in going to the middle east next year to study arabic. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what is the best program? I have only one year of MSA under my belt. Please give some reasons as well as I'm trying to figure out whats best for me.

Rob

Are you looking to do a degree program or just language study? If you are looking to do language study, you might want to look into the Boren fellowship and the Critical Language Scholarship. The Boren carries a government service requirement and is already accepting applications. The CLS will be opening very soon.

Another opportunity that may be able to net you a degree in the process is the National Flagship Scholarship for Arabic. All three opportunities are very competitive, especially with Arabic. So be sure to pull out all stops.

[rlattin]

Apart from those scholarships, what if I just want to go on my own to study Arabic? What is the best school for the best price? By the time i'm ready to go i'll have maybe a year and half of MSA. Any suggestions?

[NEPA]

Apart from those scholarships, what if I just want to go on my own to study Arabic? What is the best school for the best price? By the time i'm ready to go i'll have maybe a year and half of MSA. Any suggestions?

I'd suggest Amman or Damascus as a good place to study. (Damascus is obviously a bit more difficult because of visa requirements.) Both are great cities to live in, and allow for travel throughout the region. I know from experience that the Language Center at the University of Jordan is reasonably priced (I took classes through them but not directly, so I don't know the prices off hand) and I've heard good things about the Arabic Language Center in Damascus. Try Cairo (e.g., American University of Cairo) if you're a bit more adventurous and don't mind oppressive heat. Studying in Beirut or the Gulf may not give you as much chance to be forced to practice Arabic since so many people speak English in those places.

[vagabondage]

I'm on a Fulbright in Amman. Don't study here. Everyone speaks English. The University of Jordan sucks. I'm at the Qasid institute, but it's really expensive (alhumdullilah it's paid for by my scholarship) but it's really hard to practice outside of the institute. I studied at the YCMES in Yemen and it was amazing. I love Yemen and you will practice Arabic all the time in a place where the dialect is close to FusHa. Egypt is great and cheap. I would recommend Syria.

[sibil]

I love Yemen and you will practice Arabic all the time in a place where the dialect is close to FusHa.

Just to be clear, Yemen is great and all, but Yemeni colloquial Arabic is no closer to fusHa (Classical Arabic) than any other colloquial dialect, from Moroccan to Iraqi. It has retained some vocabulary or other features from the classical language that other dialects have lost, and it has equally lost things that other dialects have retained. There is no Arabic dialect currently spoken anywhere that is 'closer' to fusHa than the others.

[NorthernStar]

Just to be clear, Yemen is great and all, but Yemeni colloquial Arabic is no closer to fusHa (Classical Arabic) than any other colloquial dialect, from Moroccan to Iraqi. It has retained some vocabulary or other features from the classical language that other dialects have lost, and it has equally lost things that other dialects have retained. There is no Arabic dialect currently spoken anywhere that is 'closer' to fusHa than the others.

Fusha is NOT classical Arabic, but modern standard Arabic. Of course, the latter is derived from the classical, but attempting to read classical texts with only modern standard background - tough at best.

Since I am about to finish the advanced level at my university, I intend to go to Morocco next summer for some more extensive coursework and practice (I am familiar with the 'amiyya of my country of origin, but cannot understand a word of Maghribi lahajat). Heard very good things about Damascus (my supervisor went there), in particular the French institute, but I've never attended myself. Another friend was happy with al-fajr in Cairo, which is an Islamic institute with a rigorous Arabic program. She is now quite fluent, well ahead of her university level.

[sibil]

Fusha is NOT classical Arabic, but modern standard Arabic.

Most typically, 'fusHa' (فصحی) refers to both Classical and Modern Standard Arabic. When a distinction between the two is made, 'fusHa' specifies neither Classical nor MSA; instead, Classical is referred to as `arabiyya turathiyya and MSA is called `arabiyya mi`yariyya haditha, to the best of my knowledge.

Wikipedia adds this:

Most Arabs consider the two varieties to be two registers of one language, although the two registers can be described in Arabic as فصحى العصر fuṣḥā al-ʻaṣr (MSA) and فصحى التراث fuṣḥā at-turāth (CA)

[cooperstreet]

Sibil wrote:

"There is no Arabic dialect currently spoken anywhere that is 'closer' to fusHa than the others."

Sorry Sibil, but that simply isn't true. I studied MSA in Morocco. I couldn't understand a word of Moroccan Arabic. Its completely alien to me. However, I can understand both Egyptian and Levantine dialects with a little bit of effort.

This is pretty common knowledge--I don't know where you are getting your information, but it doesn't seem to be a good source.

[sibil]

Sorry Sibil, but that simply isn't true. I studied MSA in Morocco. I couldn't understand a word of Moroccan Arabic. Its completely alien to me. However, I can understand both Egyptian and Levantine dialects with a little bit of effort.

That's not how it works. Hopefully you would agree that Romanian, a Romance language, is more closely related to Latin than English-- and yet a Latin-speaker might have an easier time recognizing Latin loans in English than cognates in Romanian (i.e. Latin 'agilis' > English 'agile', Romanian 'ager'). Or to use another example: to the untrained eye, a hyrax (small furry rodent) does not seem to be related to the elephant in any way. However any evolutionary biologist can tell you that hyraxes are more closely related to elephants than other large, tusked mammals like walruses or boar. The surface appearance has little or nothing to do with the underlying genetic relationship.

Moroccan Arabic has been more innovative than other dialects in some aspects (such as phonology), which makes it hard for someone untrained in historical linguistics to recognize the changes that made Moroccan distinct from Classical Arabic. However, Moroccan Arabic can be more conservative in other aspects (like syntax) and it has retained some Classical vocabulary that other dialects have lost (like هبط for example). It's exactly for that reason that you can't say one dialect is closer to CA than another (though I would concede that some dialects may be closer in one particular aspect, such as phonology or syntax). Some claim the Najdi dialect is the most conservative and therefore closest to CA, but this is also hotly contested amongst linguists. In the realm of vocabulary, for example, it may have fewer foreign loans than some other dialects, but its vocabulary has also evolved and it has lost some Classical words while coining some new ones, as all dialects have.

This is pretty common knowledge--I don't know where you are getting your information, but it doesn't seem to be a good source.

In many places (especially in Iran and around the Gulf area), it's pretty common knowledge that Persian is closely related to Arabic (since they have such a great deal of words in common). Despite being such common knowledge, it is completely false; Persian and Arabic are about as related as English and Arabic (which is to say, not at all). Your having taken some MSA classes in Morocco does not mean you know anything about historical linguistics.

[GK Chesterton]

<br /> <img src='http://forum.thegradcafe.com/public/style_emoticons/default/rolleyes.gif' class='bbc_emoticon' alt='' /> That's not how it works. Hopefully you would agree that Romanian, a Romance language, is more closely related to Latin than English-- and yet a Latin-speaker might have an easier time recognizing Latin loans in English than cognates in Romanian (i.e. Latin 'agilis' &gt; English 'agile', Romanian 'ager'). Or to use another example: to the untrained eye, a <a href='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyrax' class='bbc_url' title='External link' rel='nofollow'>hyrax</a> (small furry rodent) does not seem to be related to the elephant in any way. However any evolutionary biologist can tell you that hyraxes are more closely related to elephants than other large, tusked mammals like walruses or boar. The surface appearance has little or nothing to do with the underlying genetic relationship.<br /><br />Moroccan Arabic has been more innovative than other dialects in some aspects (such as phonology), which makes it hard for someone untrained in historical linguistics to recognize the changes that made Moroccan distinct from Classical Arabic. However, Moroccan Arabic can be more conservative in other aspects (like syntax) and it has retained some Classical vocabulary that other dialects have lost (like هبط for example). It's exactly for that reason that you can't say one dialect is closer to CA than another (though I would concede that some dialects may be closer in one particular aspect, such as phonology or syntax). Some claim the Najdi dialect is the most conservative and therefore closest to CA, but this is also hotly contested amongst linguists. In the realm of vocabulary, for example, it may have fewer foreign loans than some other dialects, but its vocabulary has also evolved and it has lost some Classical words while coining some new ones, as all dialects have.<br /><br /><br />In many places (especially in Iran and around the Gulf area), it's pretty common knowledge that Persian is closely related to Arabic (since they have such a great deal of words in common). Despite being such common knowledge, it is completely false; Persian and Arabic are about as related as English and Arabic (which is to say, not at all). Your having taken some MSA classes in Morocco does not mean you know anything about historical linguistics.<br />

<br /><br /><br />

With the proviso that I know nothing about the topic at hand, from where I'm sitting it looks like someone just got owned.

[cooperstreet]

It would look like I got 'owned' if sibil and I were talking about the same thing--but we are not. To me, sibil seems to be making a category error. While the lesson in historical linguistics was informative, I don't see what it has to do with the dicussion at hand.

Recall vagabondage's comment that started this discussion: "I love Yemen and you will practice Arabic all the time in a place where the dialect is close to FusHa."

Obviously, the implication in vagabondage's comment is that learning fusha in Yemen will be more advantageous than learning fusha in Morocco, because conversing with people in the Yemeni dialect will complement the learning of fusha moreso than conversing with people in a Moroccan dialect. This is the sense in which I said that the Yemeni dialect was closer to fusha than the Moroccan dialect.

I thought that was clear because we were having a dicussion about learning Arabic, not about historical linguistics.

[sibil]

While the lesson in historical linguistics was informative, I don't see what it has to do with the dicussion at hand.

Recall vagabondage's comment that started this discussion: "I love Yemen and you will practice Arabic all the time in a place where the dialect is close to FusHa."

If you can't understand what linguistics has to do with determining whether Yemeni Arabic is closer to fusHa than other dialects, then I don't know what to tell you. The question of relationships between dialects of a language (in this case, Classical vs. colloquial Yemeni Arabic) is a linguistic one. To use another biological example, if someone claimed dolphins are related to fish and I said they're actually more closely related to dogs than to fish (and provided evidence from a biological standpoint) would you respond "While the lesson in evolutionary biology was informative, I don't see what it has to do with the discussion at hand"?

Obviously, the implication in vagabondage's comment is that learning fusha in Yemen will be more advantageous than learning fusha in Morocco, because conversing with people in the Yemeni dialect will complement the learning of fusha moreso than conversing with people in a Moroccan dialect. This is the sense in which I said that the Yemeni dialect was closer to fusha than the Moroccan dialect.

I see the distinction you're trying to make between "closer" in a scientific sense and "closer" from the perspective of an Arabic-learner, but it's still inaccurate. Anyone who is trying to become fluent in fusHa will find their studies complemented equally by the study of any currently-spoken dialect, if they learn about the specific changes that lead to the development of said dialect from fusHa. Any good Arabic course that teaches both Classical/Standard and a colloquial dialect should address that. If you just pick up the basics of a dialect, you might not get the connection to fusHa yet, but if one really studies the dialect, they will be able to recognize the continuity in vocabulary and pick out those features of the dialect (syntax, phonology, or what-have-you) carried over from fusHa. When you understand the science behind the language, it makes it easier to see how languages have developed and see at once how "close" and how "far" every dialect is from fusHa. In other words, when you know what to look for, every dialect becomes equally advantageous to the learner of fusHa. Someone just looking at a dolphin and a fish will say: "these two are obviously closley related; they look alike and live in the water." But someone who knows what to look for (things like bones and blood rather than external appearance) will conclude that dolphins and dogs are more closely related, despite not seeming that way from first glance.

Edited April 2, 2010 by sibil

[nescafe]

....an interesting discussion, but, er... to get back to the question: (awkward glance)

Depending on whether you need course credit for you Arabic study, there are numerous programs out there which can be very affordable and easy to access.

First, Damascus is the best place to study Arabic, IMHO. You can coordinate a place to stay through Yalla House or other conduits, apartments and standard of living is very inexpensive, and you can't beat the food or the locals there. If affordable is what you want and you do not need academic credits, you can attend the rolling classes offered in monthly increments at Damascus University. These are very affordable, come with joint MSA and Levantine Colloquial courses, and you can join the course at really any time. The catch? You have to register in person, so you have to take a small leap of faith and literally show up in Damascus before enrolling. Is it worth it? yes. Furthermore, you have to bring certification of an AIDs test (which you can get in Syria) and, upon enrolling, you may need to file for residency status. Now, normally I am not all about simsar services, "placement" agencies or brokers... but Yalla House can basically walk you through all of the above mentioned steps for a reasonable fee.... if it is your first time and you have no local contacts, this is definite plus.

Second, another affordable Arabic program with similar standing is the International Language Institute in Cairo. ILI also accepts students on a rolling basis, and while I am not positive about course credits (check this), I don't believe most American Schools would count them. But if you are going to pay your own way and want to progress in Arabic quickly, ILI is great, reasonably priced, and more flexible than its competitors at AUC (both CASA and ALI are worth noting for advanced seekers, but are very expensive and exclusive.... consider these programs after you have about 3 years of MSA under your belt.).

I will echo someone else in this thread that Beirut is less than ideal for learning Arabic in that most of the locals speak French or English to foreigners. That said, theCAMES Summer Program at AUB is great if you stay motivated to learn MSA; the draw-back is that this program is very pricey.

That's about all I got- hopefully a bit of this info helps.

[Bukharan]

I do not recommend AUC for Arabic.

I would suggest the Arabic Language Centre of the University of Damascus and perhaps that British Arabic Institute (not sure about the name) in Yemen. The best thing about both countries is that they are among a few Arab countries where you may still have a chance to practice Arabic when travelling around.

I found the quality of teaching at the ALC in Syria to be excellent!

[Alyanumbers]

Hi! Egyptian here, so I might be biased, but I would recommend either Lebanon or Egypt, maybe Syria, for a simple reason: biggest media producers. Egypt and Lebanon practically have a monopoly on pop music, movies, TV shows, etc., and Syria's starting to catch up to Egypt in TV series. Also, because of that, Egyptian and Levantine dialects are understood throughout the Arab world. Yemeni, by contrast, is difficult to understand for a non-Yemeni.

If you do choose Cairo, though, AUC is a bad idea (overpriced), but there are a lot of language schools in the downtown area, and in northern Cairo.

ETA: I will also add that the Syrian/Lebanese/Jordanian/Palestinian dialects are all very close to each other (as in, I can barely tell the difference, frankly), so it may be more advantageous to learn one of those rather than Egyptian.

Edited November 29, 2010 by Alyanumbers

[Esspweb]

Hey rlattin i think MSA is one of the best field in middle east as i heard from my friends who already leaving over there. So don't worry about it.

[hopehope]

Jordan is good but not in Amman the capital where people hardly speak Arabic or know Arabic.

Go to Irbid. The second biggest city. The university is Yarmouk University. It has a great program through Virginia U. and another one cheaper you can read about through the MESA website; around $ 4100 for ticket, classes and apartment which will go higher next year because it is simply too cheap!!

Syria is the best though. They know Arabic well.

Good luck.

[DevDoc82]

Although I am not applying to language Masters programs, I do know something about learning Arabic. I studied Arabic in Amman, Jordan and I must say that I loved it. After, a summer there, my reading skills reached advanced levels. My speaking ability, according to the ACTFL OPI, reached Advanced High. I know that people speak English in Jordan, but not all. I went to the University of Jordan daily to find speaking partners to practice with for 3 hours a day, except on Friday. I also read newspapers for about four to five hours a day. This is what helped me achieve the level Arabic I am at. I hope this helps some people. If you are willing to put in the time, the effort will pay off.

As for Damascus, it is a great place to learn Arabic as well. However, I was unable to get a visa to study there, as the government kicked me and some CASA students out. Last I heard some of the CASA students were invited back, but the Middle East is in shambles right now.