Arabic-L:PEDA:Learning MSA

[Dilworth B. Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Tue 20 Jun 2000
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
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1) Subject: Learning MSA

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1)
Date: 20 Jun 2000
From: Haseeb Shehadeh <Haseeb.Shehadeh at helsinki.fi>
Subject: Learning MSA

Recently various views were expressed concerning Edumagic programme and
learning MSA. It seems to me that too much emphasis are laid on methodology
rather than content. Both aspects are important in the process of learning
MSA. Yet not less significant is motivation and ability of teachers in Western
universities to teach a sort of MSA. MSA is and will continue to be the basic
tool of communication and understanding among educated Arabs and Arabic
speakers all over the world. It is the language of culture, science and
religion in our era.  It is an open secret that there are different
manifestations of Arabic. Students have to be aware of the possibilities
offered by their universities and to decide what kind of Arabic they would
like to learn and what are the goals. The phenomenon of having professors of
Arabic and Islamic Studies in Western universities who have no active
knowledge in Arabic as a whole is still common. The natural question raises
how a student can learn MSA when his professor does not or to be more accurate
can not talk in MSA nor in any modern Arabic dialect. Needless to say that
reading, writing, hearing and speaking necessary in the process of acquiring a
language.
Haseeb Shehadeh

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End of Arabic-L: 20 Jun 2000