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.
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.
- Teacher: Manar Darwish
- Teacher: Amira Ghazy
This is a reading course in classical Arabic texts. Because there is a vast array of literature to choose from ranging from the religious to the secular from the 8th century on, and it is all extraordinarily interesting, we will choose selections from books with the interest of the enrolled students in in mind. We will also use supplemental sources for comparison as time allows.
The first book we will start with is written by ‘Abd al-Laṭīf al-Baghdādī (1162-1231). It consists of two parts, the first a kind of anthropology of Egypt, including many archaeological references and descriptions (59 pages) and the second a very short annalistic chronicle of the years 1200-1202 in Egypt. This whole book was written in 1204. The author, who was an Iraqi physician from al-Mawṣil (Mosul) was an employee of the ‘Abbāsid caliphal government in Iraq, sojourned in Egypt for a number of years.
A second book that is worth exploring together, and is an earlier work, consists of two short travel reports by Abū Zayd al-Sīrāfī (fl. c. 915-6) and Aḥmad Ibn Faḍlān. The work by al-Sīrāfī itself consists of two parts, the first by an earlier anonymous author writing in 851-2 (22 pages) and the second by al-Sīrāfī, probably written around or after 915 (34 pages). The topic is travel by sea to India, Southeast Asia, and China, giving an account of ninth and tenth century conditions as well as the extent of Middle Eastern knowledge or those areas and their peoples at the time of writing. The second work (35 pages) by Aḥmad Ibn Faḍlān (fl. 921-2) consists of a description of an embassy of 921-2 from the ‘Abbāsid caliph in Baghdad to the Volga Bulgars, whose capital was located in what is now Tatarstan, Russia, about 60 miles south of Kazan. All that is known of this author’s life is what can be deduced from his writing. Ibn Faḍlān’s book is considered one of the most important early sources for the early history of Russia, as well as for diplomacy in the ‘Abbāsid caliphate.
In addition, we will be using An Introduction to Modern Arabic by Farhat J. Ziadeh and R Bayly Winder as it introduces grammar in an easy to follow manner for students of all backgrounds. Students at the Advanced/ Superior Level will find it a refreshing review and will provide an insight into the structure of the language from a different perspective.
The first book we will start with is written by ‘Abd al-Laṭīf al-Baghdādī (1162-1231). It consists of two parts, the first a kind of anthropology of Egypt, including many archaeological references and descriptions (59 pages) and the second a very short annalistic chronicle of the years 1200-1202 in Egypt. This whole book was written in 1204. The author, who was an Iraqi physician from al-Mawṣil (Mosul) was an employee of the ‘Abbāsid caliphal government in Iraq, sojourned in Egypt for a number of years.
A second book that is worth exploring together, and is an earlier work, consists of two short travel reports by Abū Zayd al-Sīrāfī (fl. c. 915-6) and Aḥmad Ibn Faḍlān. The work by al-Sīrāfī itself consists of two parts, the first by an earlier anonymous author writing in 851-2 (22 pages) and the second by al-Sīrāfī, probably written around or after 915 (34 pages). The topic is travel by sea to India, Southeast Asia, and China, giving an account of ninth and tenth century conditions as well as the extent of Middle Eastern knowledge or those areas and their peoples at the time of writing. The second work (35 pages) by Aḥmad Ibn Faḍlān (fl. 921-2) consists of a description of an embassy of 921-2 from the ‘Abbāsid caliph in Baghdad to the Volga Bulgars, whose capital was located in what is now Tatarstan, Russia, about 60 miles south of Kazan. All that is known of this author’s life is what can be deduced from his writing. Ibn Faḍlān’s book is considered one of the most important early sources for the early history of Russia, as well as for diplomacy in the ‘Abbāsid caliphate.
In addition, we will be using An Introduction to Modern Arabic by Farhat J. Ziadeh and R Bayly Winder as it introduces grammar in an easy to follow manner for students of all backgrounds. Students at the Advanced/ Superior Level will find it a refreshing review and will provide an insight into the structure of the language from a different perspective.
- Teacher: Manar Darwish