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Today, Arabs learn their spoken language in a passive and spontaneous way from their
everyday experiences in daily life while they study exclusively written Arabic. In fact,
Arab students are scrupulously required to avoid use of dialect in schools and are taught
to stigmatize spoken “Ammia” whenever possible in order to maintain their national or
religious identity. Localist and sectarianist systems amplify the distinction of their
dialects-accents also for the sake of identity emphasis at the expense of the shared
language and culture with the rest of the Arab world. These problems of identity crisis,
Arabic for non-natives series-Hussein Maxos: Comparative Studies 1995-2002 IRAMES Group Damascus
identity conflicts and ideological games have served to weaken the language and have
created many misconceptions and difficulties for the average Arab.
The problem is even worse for non-native students of Arabic, because they do not have
the advantage of being exposed to years of spontaneous learning. When non-natives
come to the Arab world to study Arabic, they are usually encouraged to study only
written Arabic and speak only written Arabic. Paradoxically, Arabs themselves by and
large cannot speak written Arabic correctly. When Arabs attempt to speak written
Arabic with non-natives or, say in an interview on TV, they quickly get confused and
start to mix written forms with spoken language in an odd way. How can they expect a
foreigner to be better in this respect than the native speaker? The problem occurs
because Arab educators and authorities misunderstand the natural function of the
language including written language. The fact is that the average Arabs are pleasantly
surprised and relieved when they encounter a non-native student who is fluent in spoken
Arabic. Immediately, they relax and start to talk normally without any strange mixtures
or unnaturalness. Clearly, Arabs are most comfortable and at ease when speaking in
their native dialect.
6. In order to avoid localist traps that could give wrong information and
interpretation, try to befriend as many people as you can, from all ethnic groups
and make visits to other Arab areas.
7. If possible, pursue your studies outside of urban communities in Egypt, Jordan
and Lebanon (and North Africa) where fewer people speak good English.
8. Speaking with Arabs about Arabic will not help much, but speaking with them
in Arabic about anything else will.
9. These warning words “don’t” and “avoid” are used here to strengthen your
courage. Being with Arabs is so safe and you always will find it easy to make
friends in the Arab world. Ignore the western media, which is not usually a good
source of information about Arabs.
The division given above is generalized and not strict. Note the following
considerations:
• Private TV and radio stations tend to use spoken dialects.
Governmental stations tend to use written Arabic.
• Lebanese and Egyptian stations tend to use spoken dialect.
• Political and religious programs and stations (Islamic-Christian)
tend to use written Arabic.
• Programs with interactive language and live contact tend to use
spoken.
• The Spoken pronunciation of certain letters ﺝ، ﺽ، ﻅ، ﺫ، ﺙand numbers
are often reflected when reading or pronouncing the Written.