Job Discussion Forums

[rustyrockets]

Form my previous experiences in the gulf, I've noticed that there are a lot of expats (in TEFL and other industries) that don't care at all about learning any Arabic and even despise the language altogether, I even came across a couple of cases of people that have been in the region for 10+ years and barely know how to greet someone in the local language.

So as a language teacher. How important is it for you to gain some command of the language?

How do you think it can improve your work as a teacher?

Do you have an actual interest in the Arabic language as a subject?

Have you taken any steps towards learning it? (courses, textbooks, conversation clubs, etc.)

I'm curious to know how you feel...

[Gulezar]

[bigdurian]

I'm probably going to get slated here but I'm not really that bothered about learning Arabic. I've been here a few years and know very little, although I do try to pick up the odd word here and there and write them down.

My personal reasons for not learning Arabic are this:

1) I get by just fine without it. The Saudi I deal with socially all speak excellent English. In shops etc, there is always a filipino or Indian to speak English with.
2) I'm not going to retire here.
3) I'm already married, so have no sleeping dictionary incentives.
4) everyone I work with speaks English to a very high level, the time and effort it would take to get to their level in Arabic is not worth it for me.
5) I have no religious reasons to learn Arabic.

Now I'm sure that there are many who would say that I'm missing out on things culturally blah blah blah, but I don't really care. We have a good life here, I enjoy spending time with the Saudi guys I work with socially.



I'd also mention that our household is bilingual, and I learnt my wife's language very well. One thing I did find out after learning this language, was that people speak the same old cr## all over the world. I also speak two other languages to a reasonable level.

As far as the classroom goes, I've been in the situation before of using the native language in the classroom. If you're explaining a difficult grammar point in the native language you really need to be proficient in that language. I doubt many teachers are that proficient in Arabic, and there is always likely a Saudi who can do that anyway.

What I do find is that the native language can be helpful to make a joke or two to grow the classroom feeling. A few words here and there can make a difference.

Bottom line for me, I'd like to learn more just for the sake of learning, but I'm not prepared to invest the time and effort, to get to what I consider a reasonable level.

We have a good life without it.

[desert_traveller]

So as a language teacher. How important is it for you to gain some command of the language?

Having gained some understanding of how it works has helped me understand some of the common stumbling blocks of my students. However, in the sea of Arab, mostly Egyptian English teachers, no Western English teachers will ever be competitive in this particular regard. The problem with Arab English teachers, however, is that they don't really speak English, so this is where Western teachers can have a competitive advantage.

How do you think it can improve your work as a teacher?

This question largely overlaps with the one above. I think if you want teachers who can relate to their students' problems, you won't find better ones than the Arab English teachers. I see no reason for a Western teacher to invest in this field. Increase your already existing competitive advantage instead of wasting your time on learning something others will always be much better at than you.

Do you have an actual interest in the Arabic language as a subject?

When I arrived to the KSA, as an enthusiastic semi-backpacker TEFL knight bent on changing the world and teach the crap out of anyone remotely similar to a student, I certainly did have a healthy amount of interest in learning Arabic. This has pretty much all evaporated by now. Reasons are similar to another user's comments above, but to put it in my own words:

(1) shocking lack of quality Arabic learning materials or just a good dictionary
(2) Arab's obsession to get into useless and tedious discussions on minute grammar details of Arabic and boast how it is the most difficult language in the world (which, it is implied, consequently makes them the most intelligent people in the world)
(3) Arab's wariness to acknowledge the existence of colloquial dialects and insistence that it is the language of the Koran that is the true Arabic and should be learnt, a language that is of no use to me and which practically no Arabs below the age of 50 can understand (and which is thought of by most shabab as a boring school subject - similar to Latin in the West)
(4) A shocking finding that many Arabs do not appreciate a non-Arab trying to learn Arabic (while many do) - it seems to me somehow they feel this is an attempt on your behalf to intrude into their beloved culture
(5) Little practical incentive - you can easily get by (or get laid) with English and/or a set of a hundred well-chosen Arabic words or so
(6) Little personal incentive - I am quite happy to stick to the people I can relate to and have little interest in trying to become 'friends' with Arabs. Most "friendship" attempts will disintegrate as soon as you express a desire to talk in Arabic - if the free English lesson aspect is removed, the 'friendship' suddenly becomes void
etc etc etc

Have you taken any steps towards learning it? (courses, textbooks, conversation clubs, etc.)

I certainly did, see point (1) above, though.

The one thing I find EXTREMELY useful and that I am glad I put in the effort to learn is literacy in Arabic - this will make your life UNBELIEVABLY easier - I would encourage all expats to learn to read and write in Arabic because contrary to popular belief it is VERY EASY and can be mastered in a relatively short time !!! Come on, guys, start NOW !!!

بيت
three letters: ب ي ت (from right to left: b - y - t)
pronounced as beyt
meaning house

you see how easy it is? now get some Arabic text and circle all those b's, y's and t's - COME ON, just do it !!!

btw these people write from right to left - nobody seems to have told them WE in the WEST go in the opposite direction and they should do that too since WE in the WEST got it right - we know better !!! that's why we are here, to EDUCATE them - to tell them how to do things - and if a learner of English speaks English as a two-year old, that makes him a two-year old !!!

[plumpy nut]

It takes a long time to learn a new language. Why on earth would anyone want to spend time learning Arabic? Arabs relate to Westerners simply by sizing them up for immediate benefits. There is no 'what goes around comes around' in the Arab world. They take what they can from you at any point in time, otherwise they only spend time with their other nationals. I would spend your time learning Chinese.

[Desert Dueller]

Well put, plumpy nut. The people, their culture, their language, their architecture, plus everything else in this place, are all a total waste of time. The less I have to do with them, the less I have to communicate with them. I have no interest in them or their language whatsoever.

[Dr X]

Arabic is one of the most difficult languages to learn for English speakers.
If you want to learn classical Arabic (not the colloquial), you need to spend at least 2200 class hours to reach an acceptable standard level of speaking and reading. The lack of vowels in the Arabic language, makes it very difficult for a native English speaker to read an Arabic tex.

[RustyShackleford]

I had a brief, very brief, interest in learning Arabic before I went to Saudi since I figured I had bothered with Japanese and Vietnamese, I may as well give it a fair shake.

Then, despite some interesting similarities with Spanish, I largely gave up when I realized how bilingual the country was and how little I personally cared about the people I was ostensibly teaching. I understand plumpy's frustrations - niceties don't get one very far in Saudi. Kindness tended to be seen as weakness to be subverted instead of repaid.

If I had remained in the Arab world past a year, I told myself I would at least become mildly conversant in it, but things changed and found myself no longer needing to stay.

A bit of a pity, as it is an objectively interesting language even once you remove the religious nonsense from it.

[rustyrockets]

[dragonpiwo]

LOL Desert Dueller-I'm here for the money too!

[nomad soul]

[hash]

.

Is it worthwhile to study Arabic? In a word “no”. Here’s why: (very short version).

1- It is a language of the past, not of the present and definitely not of the future. Even today, the Western universities that provide a serious approach to the study of Arabic (and the Middle East as a whole) present the subject in its historical context and not as a vibrant and influential contemporary world culture/area. Not in the sense that China or Latin America are shining examples.

In recent years, in order to mollify “hurt feelings”, some attempts have been made to incorporate the modern ME into programs of study – but this has been done most reluctantly. Kind of like “gender” and other what I call “downtrodden studies" have been forced down the throats of a horrified academia across the fruited plain.

At one time, for example, the study of a “dialect” was considered preposterous in ME academia. You didn't study Arabic in order to actually communicate with an Arab! What an absurd notion!! Nothing could be further from the vision of the great “Orientalists” (whose works still form the foundation of ME studies). Not unless you were a “dialectologist” and studied all the dialects of Arabic, past and present.

Note: it’s interesting – and telling – that NOT A SINGLE ARAB UNIVERSITY from Marrakech to Muscat offers the study of an Arabic dialect as part of its curriculum. Not even of the one spoken on the streets a few yards from where its classes are held. Academic Arabic simply refuses to admit that the dialects exist. Period. No questions allowed. BiLa Kaifa !

All dialect books that do exist are for the use of foreigners – so they can say “Good morning” in Gulf Arabic and so on. NOT A SINGLE DIALECT BOOK EXISTS TEACHING A DIALECT that was meant for the native Arabic speaker who might want to learn a dialect different from his own.

(Any colloquials that are taught in Arab universities are purely there for foreigners...not the native population).

2- Arabic is not a flourishing, expanding language. The opposite is the case. It is actually dying. It has become non-productive and has long since lost whatever creative juices it once had. This can be seen most forcefully in the Gulf area where Arabic has become a secondary, even tertiary language. In the Gulf, the important languages are currently English, Urdu, Bangla, Malayalam, Tagalog…..and then Arabic, in that order.

I’m beginning to froth so I better stop here. But no, learn another language – unless you’re interested in languages intuitively and simply want to have an understanding of how the Semitic languages work. Or unless you're a Medievalist and want to learn one of the once important languages of a thousand years ago.

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