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SDSU Arabic Courses
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| The SDSU Arabic program celebrates a growing interest among students who want to be in tune with the modern world and its' multicultural diversity. The following course is currently being taught (Fall 2006) and may be used to satisfy part of the language requirement for the SDSU Bachelor of Arts degree.
Elementary Arabic I-a (ML 101-01) 4 cr.
Introduces the fundamentals of the language, essential conversational structures, grammar, practical vocabulary, and useful phrases which will facilitate understanding, reading and writing simple, classical Arabic.
*Not being taught this semester but have been offered in the past:
*Elementary Arabic I-b (ML 134-02) 3 cr.
Furthers the development of comprehension and communicative skills in the language. Readings of moderate difficulty and reviewing of grammar are used to increase the vocabulary. Writing practices are continued. The goal is attainment of beginning proficiency in the language. Prerequisite: Arabic I-a.
*Elementary Arabic II (ML 292-01) 3 cr.
Continues developing the comprehension and communicative skills in the language at a higher level. Readings of a more complex nature while reviewing the grammar are an integral part of the class. Increased practices in writing are a major component. The emphasis is on developing and trying out writing skills in the target language. Prerequisites: Arabic I-a and I-b.
*Arabic Culture (ML: 134-1) 3 cr.
This course is designed for students who have had no knowledge of the culture beforehand. The class delves into the geography, history, economy, literature, music, arts religion and foods of the Arab world through lectures and open discussions. The student is required to prepare for the class. The aim is to provide the students with a basic and thorough knowledge of the Islamo-Arab culture, and thus enable them to understand the character and idiosyncrasy of that important portion of the world. Several media such as maps, tapes, videos, posters, magazines, films, etc., are used to reach this objective.
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| A Note on the Arabic Language
| Arabic Language
Prepared by Brahim Garaoui, Instructor.
February, the 25th, 2003
Introduction:
Arabic ranks sixth in the world’s league table of languages, with over 186 million native speakers. As the language of the Qur’n, the holy book of Islam, it is also widely used among the Muslim world. It belongs to the Semitic group of languages which also includes Hebrew and Amharic the main language of Ethiopia.
Arabic is easy:
Arabic words are constructed from the three-letter “root” which convey a basic idea. For example, k-t-b gives the idea of “writing”. Addition of other consonants before, between and after the root consonants produces many associated words: kataba = he wrote, kitaab = a book, maktab + an office, kaatib + an author.
VOCABULARY learning may cause problems at first. In most European languages, there are many words which resemble those in English. In Arabic there are not that many, actually there are very few, but it becomes easier once you have memorized some of the roots.
There are twenty eight CONSONANTS and three VOWELS -a,u,i, which can be short or long. Some of the sounds are unique to Arabic and difficult for foreigners to pronounce correctly, though you should be able to make yourself understood.
The normal WORD ORDER in a SENTENCE is: VERB/SUBJECT/OBJECT. The function of nouns in a sentence can also be distinguished by case-endings (marks above the last letter of a word) but these are usually found only in the Qur’n (Koran) or school textbooks.
FEMININE nouns add the suffix: aat to form the plural but MASCULINE nouns generally have a “broken” plural which involves changing vowels in the middle of the word: kitaab kutub (book books).
Arabic has very few irregular VERBS and does not use the “is, are” at all in the present tense: “the king good” means “the king is good”. Subtle alterations in the basic meaning of a verb are made by adding to the root. These changes follow regular rules, giving ten possible” verb forms” though in practice three or four exist for most verbs. Thus the root d-r-s produces:
" Darasa = he studied (student) ( form 1)
" Darrasa = he taught ( form 2)
" Tadaarasa = he studied an issue and took a decision (form 3)
" Jalasa = he sat
" Jaalasa = he sat with somebody and discussed something.
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