Job Discussion Forums

[mariowski]

I was wondering if there are any institutions similar to British Council or Cervantes Institue organizing Arabic courses for foreigners living in Saudi. To be more specific, I will be living in Jubail and I would love to learn the possibility for finding an Arabic Course. I don't want to be like one of those idiotic expats who has been living here for a while and can't still count up to 10 in Turkish and cannot even say yes or no (no kidding)!
I already started learning the language and I definitely made a big progress by learning how to read and write and make simple sentences� and I am very proud of myself. I found this internet online course free and very well designed. It has been great help. For the ones interested : www.madinaharabic.com
The online course is good but I will definitely need a real classroom teaching.
Thanks..

[Cleopatra]

There are organisations, such as WAMY (World Association of Muslim Youth) which run Arabic courses - usually free of charge. However, they are mostly aimed at Muslims wanting to learn the language for religious purposes and you might expect a bit of a religious agenda along with your instruction in irregular verbs!

KSU in Riyadh does Arabic courses which are said to be quite good, though obviosuly that won't be much use to you in Jubail. My advice would be to try to get a private Arabic teacher, perhaps one with whom you can exchange lessons in English. In which case, of course, the usual caveat applies: Make sure you don't end up giving two English lessons and getting no Arabic lessons!