Arabic-L:PEDA:School in Kuwait replies

[Dilworth B. Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Fri 04 Jan 2002
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1) Subject: School in Kuwait reply
2) Subject: School in Kuwait reply

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2)
Date:  04 Jan 2002
From: Davidson MacLaren <davidson_maclaren at hotmail.com>
Subject: School in Kuwait reply

A lot of information about studying Arabic in Kuwait-

The Kuwait University Language
Centre(http://www.kuniv.edu.kw/langcentre/), located at the Shuweikh
Campus of Kuwait University, used to offer intensive Modern Standard
Arabic classes.  I imagine it still does.  Classes met for four hours
daily, five days weekly.  If I recall correctly, there were four
levels of instruction - elementary, lower intermediate, upper
intermediate, and advanced - and each level was designed to be
completed in a semester's study.  These courses were part of the
Arabic as a Foreign Language Program and required for all Kuwait
University students who were non-native speakers of Arabic.  However,
when I attended the Centre in 1996-1997 few of my classmates were
degree seeking students at the University; the majority were European
and Asian students who were recepients of an Arabic language
scholarship that provided for tuition, room, board, and living
expenses for one or two years; some were expatriates living in Kuwait
who had ample leisure time and savings to attend the lessons.  For
information on the scholarship I recommend you contact the Kuwaiti
Embassy in Italy.  During the 1996-1997 academic year an Italian
student enrolled at Kuwait University on just such a scholarship, but
left only weeks after his arrival, distressed, I think, by culture
shock.  This would suggest, though, that the Embassy in Italy is
familiar with the scholarship and can assist you.

If you already have plans to live or work in Kuwait and cannot commit
yourself to an intensive language learning program, Kuwait University
also used to offer a variety of evening-scheduled, non-intensive
Arabic courses for non-native speakers through the Office of
Continuing and Adult Education.  In 1996-1997, the Office was located
at the University's Khaldiya Campus, but may have moved if the
University's grand construction plans have been completed.

Perhaps I should mention one last thing: an admonition.  Based on my
experience studying Arabic in Kuwait - and the experiences of others
I know whom studied there - Kuwait was a poor environment in which to
learn the language well.  Kuwait University is an English speaking
environment: many but not all classes are taught in English.
Moreover, living at the University one discovered that the
dormitories were lived in not by Kuwaitis, but by University students
from a variety of African and Asian countries, almost all of whom did
not speak Arabic as their first or even second language, making
English the lingua franca of the dormitory.  Those Arabs that did
live in the dormitories, mostly Omanis and Bahrainis, spoke English
so fluently that they preferred to converse intelligently with
foreigners in English rather than listen to someone struggling to
express themselves, simply, in Arabic.  Outside of the University,
one also found that interaction with Kuwaitis and other Arabs was
limited.  Most of the people one would meet in the street, people
working at stores and restaurants for example, are Indian, Pakistani,
Bangladeshi, European, or Filipino, not Arab.  In Kuwait, one is not
immersed in the same rich Arabic speaking environment found in Yemen
or Morocco.

All the best,
Davidson MacLaren

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2)
Date:  04 Jan 2002
From: Mutarjm at aol.com
Subject: School in Kuwait reply

Greetings.

Recommendations can vary according to the time and energy you can
invest in an in-country program and what are your interests and
intended uses of newly-acquired skills in Arabic and a regional
dialect.

o   Kuwait University has some sort of program, but that may be along
the order of social/courtesy/familiarization for expatriates who are
resident in the country.

o   A commercial/private school (might be based in UK) reportedly
offers customized instruction in Arabic at a location in Kuwait,
maybe in Safat, Al-Jahra, or near Kuwait City.


May one suggest that, due to the congestion in Kuwait occasioned by
the incoming U.S. military presence and expanding build-up as those
units arrive there, you might better consider another suitable source
of Arabic instruction down in the "lower Gulf region, such as in UAE,
where several post-secondary and commercial institutions offer
various courses in Arabic for foreign students.

Hope this helps.

Regards from Los Angeles,

Stephen H. Franke

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of Arabic-L:  04 Jan 2002
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