Arabic scripts in Khan el-Khalili

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Zuqaq al Tawoos

This past Saturday, I was down in Khan el-Khalili (the medieval bazaar) in Islamic Cairo for a few hours. I wasn’t specifically there to look at Arabic scripts. My daughter was doing a photo shoot for some high school graduates, and I was the equipment carrier. Over my 32 years in Egypt, I have no idea how many times I have walked through those alleys, but it never gets old for me!

One thing that caught my eye this time was the wide range of interesting Arabic scripts used in signs in the area. So I decided to grab some quick photos as I went. Take a look at these pics and see if you can read the Arabic in them (some of them have English also on the sign, but just read the Arabic!).

I’m not a great photographer by any standards, and my phone is an iPhone Xr, so lots of mediocre in the photos as photos! But hopefully the Arabic fonts are as interesting to you as they were to me.

If you are interested in Arabic calligraphy and fonts, you might find my PDF “Timeless Beauty” interesting. You can access it on the Arabic Calligraphy page of this site.

Arabic scripts sample - Mohsen

Mohsen’s jewelry | مصوغات محسن مجوهرات

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A brief history of the Arabic language

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Seventh-century Quran manuscript
Seventh-century Quran manuscript held by the University of Birmingham. Folio 2 recto (left) and folio 1 verso (right). Folio 2 (left) from the end of Chapter 19 to the beginning of Chapter 20. Folio 1 (right) from chapter 18 verse 23 to verse 31 Original public domain image from Wikimedia Commons

As a prominent and vital part of our global linguistic landscape, the Arabic language plays a significant role in global communication, culture, and politics. With a rich history and evolution, the Arabic language has been shaped by its use in religious, cultural, and political contexts.

The Origin of the Arabic Language

Arabic has its roots in the Semitic languages spoken by people in the Arabian Peninsula around the 1st century CE (Versteegh, 2014). Other Semitic languages, including Aramaic, Akkadian, and Canaanite, influenced the earliest forms of Arabic. Inscriptions dating back to the 4th century CE contain some of the oldest written records of the Arabic language.

These early forms can be grouped into Old Arabic and Old North Arabian. People spoke Old Arabic in the central and southern parts of the Arabian Peninsula, while Old North Arabian was spoken in the northern part (Al-Jallad, 2018). Over time, trade and cultural exchanges led to the evolution of these early forms, and other languages such as Persian and Greek influenced their development.

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15 Essential Skills book – free Wednesday to Saturday

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15 Essential Skills of an Arabic Learner book cover

Hi everyone,

Just a quick note to let you know that from Wednesday September 7 to Saturday September 10, 2022, you can get a copy of my book Fifteen Essential Skills of an Arabic Learner for free.

Happy start of your academic year!

What makes some people who try to learn Arabic succeed, while others fail? What will help you become fluent, where others have not been able to? This short book is based on the ideas shared by six internationally recognized leaders in the field of Arabic language learning as they were asked these questions. Their ideas are organized into four different categories: mindset, habits, systems, and interactions. As you launch your journey of learning Arabic, or continue to press forward in it, these skills will prove invaluable to you as you work towards fluency in the Arabic language. It is not a technical book about the Arabic language (which most aspiring Arabic learners usually start with). It is a book about how you can learn Arabic successfully. If you incorporate these 15 skills into your Arabic-learning approach, you will become fluent much more quickly.

15 Essential Skills of an Arabic Learner – Workshop

I will be giving a workshop based on my book 15 Essential Skills of an Arabic Learner at Restore Language Center in Heliopolis, Cairo on September 6, 2022.

In it, we will cover the 5 mindsets, 4 habits, 3 systems, and 2 types of interaction that can help you reach fluency in Arabic.

15 Essential Skills of an Arabic Learner

Space is limited so call to reserve.

Restore Language and Cultural Center 7 Kafr el Zayat St, Korba, Heliopolis, Cairo

0128 167 3145

https://restoreegypt.com/

Back after a long hiatus

Just a quick note to apologize for having been away from posting any content on this site for a long time! Covid was not kind to my schedule at the university, in addition to some other crazy life things that have been happening.

I am working on rebooting my Arabic grammar video series, and hope to be posting a new video before too long. It all takes place in the early morning before my day gets going.

So in the meantime, have yourself a good cup of coffee, practice your Arabic in real life, and have a great day.

Photo by Marina Leonova: https://www.pexels.com/photo/posters-in-a-wooden-frame-9419189/

15 Essential Skills of an Arabic Learner book released (finally)

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15 Essential Skills of an Arabic Learner book cover

I am pleased to announce that my book 15 Essential Skills of an Arabic Leaner has now been published on Amazon!

For the coming 5 days (Jan. 27-31), the book will be available for free.

(The button takes you to Amazon.com. You can also access it on Amazon in the UK, Canada, Australia, Germany, France, Italy, Spain, India, Netherlands, Japan, Brazil , and Mexico.)

What makes some people who try to learn Arabic succeed, while others fail? What will help you become fluent, where others have not been able to? This short book is based on the ideas shared by six internationally recognized leaders in the field of Arabic language learning as they were asked these questions. Their ideas are organized into four different categories: mindset, habits, systems, and interactions. As you launch your journey of learning Arabic, or continue to press forward in it, these skills will prove invaluable to you as you work towards fluency in the Arabic language.

It is not a technical book about the Arabic language (which most aspiring Arabic learners usually start with). It is a book about how you can learn Arabic successfully. If you incorporate these 15 skills into your Arabic-learning approach, you will become fluent much more quickly.

Me giving a brief introduction to the book ’15 Essential Skills of an Arabic Learner’

This book has been a long time in coming. I did the interviews for it in 2016. I guess life has been busy! I hope that this is helpful for some of you Arabic Learners out there.

Please feel free to grab the book while it is free, from January 27-31. It’s only 110 pages, so it doesn’t take long to read. If you had a chance to read it and leave a review, I would love that!

Arabic Question words in MSA (Interrogative Particles)

How do Arabic question words (also known as Interrogative Particles) work in Modern Standard Arabic? Who? What? When? Where? Why? How? How many? Which?

Here’s a short video that will walk you through the way that each of these words is used. These words are powerful because they allow your Arabic to become more interactive, as you recognize and form questions.

Interrogative Particles (Arabic question words) is the second in a series of short videos explaining key grammatical concepts in Modern Standard Arabic. The textbook I am using is Azza Hassanein’s Modern Standard Arabic Grammar: A Concise Guide. I find this book incredibly useful for me as an Arabic learner, which is why I am using it as the basis for this series.

If you are interested in Modern Standard Arabic, you might also find my MSA Absolute Beginner’s Course helpful. Feel free to take a look at some of the preview videos on it.

Set fluency as your aim

Many Arabic learners undermine the steady progress they could be making by not having clear goals about what they want to learn in Arabic. Here’s a short video I’ve put together that talks about this.

Often, people start studying Arabic without actually believing that they can (eventually) become fluent!

Whatever your reasons for wanting to learn Arabic, setting fluency as your ultimate goal helps you to make clear and steady progress. 

This video is based on chapter 1 of my book “15 Essential Skills of an Arabic Learner”. The manuscript of the book is currently being considered for publication by an unnamed university press (not too hard to figure out if you know where I teach!).

The 15 skills came out of a series of interviews that I did in 2015 with 6 internationally recognized Arabic language educators. And this first skill, having an end goal as you set out to learn, is something that all of my students at the university would tell that I force them to do. 🙂

The Arabic Definite Article ال and Solar Letters

How does the Definite Article (“the” in English) work in Arabic? Here is a short video that will show you the 3 key rules for pronunciation of ال, plus an explanation of the sun and moon letters. 

This 4 minute video will teach you a simple but important Arabic language concept (or review it for you if you already know it)

This is the first in a series of short videos explaining key grammatical concepts in Modern Standard Arabic. I will be releasing them on a monthly basis. This semester I am making time to work on this, and I hope to slowly build up a library of short, simple, effective teaching tools for Arabic. The Arabic definite article is the first stop on that journey.

Continue reading “The Arabic Definite Article ال and Solar Letters”

Arabic conversation: overcoming barriers to interact meaningfully

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Arabic conversation: overcoming barriers to interact meaningfully

15 Essential Skills of an Arabic Learner, including self-directed learningHave real Arabic conversation, whether spoken or written, with Arabic speakers. True conversations, where there is a give and take of information and interaction, will bring into play all of your receptive and productive skills in Arabic – the skills that are required to understand (receive) and produce language in a way that allows actual communication. The satisfaction of having understood someone and having been understood, even on a small level, will motivate you like very few other things. And the frustration of communication breakdown, where you are not able to communicate as you would like, will also sharpen your focus on areas in which you can improve.

“…Talk with Arabic speakers. It must be verbal communication to keep the Arabic at the desired level of proficiency. “ (Abbas Al- Tonsi)

This article is based on the 15 Essential Skills of an Arabic Learner.

Arabic conversation: overcoming barriers to interact meaningfully

Arabic conversation and interaction

All of the Arabic skills that you learn are for the purpose of interacting in Arabic. Listening, speaking, reading, and writing can be dealt with as isolated skills, but ultimately their purpose is to be used together to interact in real conversations with Arabic speakers.

Arabic conversation can take place through writing, but I have found spoken conversations to be the most valuable on an everyday basis. Writing as a medium for immediate conversation has increased due to the use of social media in the Arab world, but verbal conversations are, for most of us, the most satisfying and useful for learning (there are some people who are exceptions to this, and I value and honor their focus on written communication).

Part of our problem as Arabic learners is that getting into conversations can be difficult, even when there is opportunity to do so. Yesterday (August 28) marked 25 years to the day when I first arrived in Egypt. Looking back, great conversations have been one of the things that have made it fun to be here over that length of time. But as I look back, I also realize that I have gone through certain seasons in which engaging in Arabic conversation has been more difficult.

In this post I am going to highlight five things that can block us from participating in Arabic conversation, and offer five ways that I have found helpful to increase meaningful, conversational interaction. Continue reading “Arabic conversation: overcoming barriers to interact meaningfully”