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Complex Phonological, Inflectional and Syntactic Systems

Arabic has some phonemes that speakers of European languages do not have in their repertoires. This includes pharyngeals, uvulars, and velarized consonants, as well as difference in vowel length ("short" vowels and "long" vowels"). Arabic also has complex morphological systems and is highly inflected compared to English. For example, there are three different cases (nominative, genitive and accusative) and there are eight different noun declensions.

Diglossia

Diglossia refers to the fact that Arabs read and write one form of language (the so-called "high" form), but for everyday spoken communication with each other they speak language variants that are substantially different. Moreover, the spoken vernacular (or dialect) varies from region to region in the Arab world, and although some geographically close vernaculars are mutually intelligible, those separated by vast distances (such as, for example, Moroccan and Kuwaiti) are normally not. These spoken forms have evolved over more than a millennium to accommodate the needs of everyday existence, and are vital, sophisticated, complex, living languages; however, they are not considered appropriate for written communication and therefore are not written down. This means that the spoken variants are free to evolve and adapt in their vocabulary, grammar and style, whereas the grammatical rules for the written language remain essentially as they were in the seventh and eighth centuries, A.D. It also means that the gap between the written and spoken forms is considerable and increases as time goes on.

Modern Standard Arabic (MSA)

Most American schools and universities choose to focus on literacy in Arabic as the basic skill when teaching Arabic as a foreign language. The modern written language is called Modern Standard Arabic or MSA (in Arabic, fusHaa). It is the language of all contemporary Arabic written publications as well as the language of the Arabic broadcast media. It contrasts somewhat with classical Arabic, the Arabic of the Qur'an and classical Arabic literature, but the gap is reflected more in topic, vocabulary, and style than it is in grammatical structure.

Dialects/Spoken Arabic

Spoken or colloquial Arabic is not generally written down; none of the dialects are "taught" in the Arab world because they are acquired as mother tongues; therefore the idea of teaching the spoken vernacular in a formal classroom setting is unfamiliar to most native speakers of Arabic. Nonetheless, speaking skills are important and necessary for students whose goals include travel to live, study or work in an Arab country. Here at Midwest Language Schools we offer conversation in dialects such as Moroccan, Egyptian, Levantine, Peninsular, Gulf and Iraqi.