Where do you live?
Dubai.

What is your job?
Senior electromechanical engineer.

How many languages do you speak?
Four.

Why do you learn Arabic language?
To understand Quran and Qutba.

Do you find it hard to learn Arabic?
Little bit.

How hard did you have to work to get this?
I tried to be regular in classes and concentrate on Arabic videos.

Tell us about your experience at ArabiCollege.
ArabiCollege has helped me to learn Arabic from basic and grammar .Now able to read very fluently and can speak Arabic in a moderate level.

How do you see eLearning compared to the traditional learning?
In metro city like Dubai attending on site training is practically impossible .Convenient 24×7 timings has helped to me attend the daily class.…and I have progressed to somewhat good level.

What advice would you give to the learners of Arabic language?
The native Arabic teachers in ArabiCollege is an asset .All teachers in one way or other are outstanding and can understand the students to train in their capacity. I give 100/100 for their efforts.

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• It influenced a lot of languages: Persian (from the Indo-European language family) and Turkish (from the Altaic language family) are filled with Arabic words. Spanish andPortuguese have a surprising amount of words from Arabic origins (approximately 4000 words). And even the name of the language “Swahili” which is spoken in east Africa is an Arabic word. English also has its fair share of Arabic derived words for example: tomato, lemon, apricot, alcohol, coffee, admiral, cotton, syrup, ghoul, alcove, sofa and most words starting with “al.”

• It hasn’t changed: If you bring a native speaker a poem from the 8th century and tell him it’s new, he will probably believe you unless he is familiar with poem of course. Thereason is: Arabic now is the same as the Arabic from hundreds of years ago a native will be able to read text that’s thousands of years old.

• Spoken in over 20 countries: If you learn Italian you can speak it almost in Italy only, if you learn Japanese you can speak it almost in Japan only, and it’s the same for alllanguages with a few exceptions. Arabic falls under the exceptions category if you learn Arabic you can speak it in over 20 countries and be able to communicate with over 300 million people.

• Its script is widely used: The Arabic script is used by 1/7th of the world population.
  Therefore learning it will make learning languages like Urdu, Turkish and others a lot easier.

• Poetry and literature: If you are a fan of literature and poetry you will absolutely love Arabic literature and poetry. Arabic poems will be from the best poems you will ever read.

• Arabs are friendly people: Arabs are from the friendliest people in the world and they will always be happy to help you in whatever way they can.

And the best thing about learning Arabic is that you will feel the deep ancient history and culture it holds; you will be able to distinguish the truth from lies.

Written by: Osama Waheib

Are you planning on taking an online course or are you already in enrolled in an online course but want to get the most out of it, fear not for you have found the right place. Here are 5 tips for making the most of your online course:

1. Give it the same importance as a traditional course: Online courses aren’t an easier way to learn they have the same difficulty and expectations as a normal course. You need to dedicate a significant amount of your time to it.
2. Make sure to have the sufficient technological requirements: You will need to be able to use a computer to get the full experience of an online course. And you also have to make sure you have a reliable internet connection, it should be fast enough not to cause you annoyance during the course. You should also save and backup your work regularly using cloud storage services like Microsoft OneDrive and Google Drive.
3. Have dedicated study place: You will want to have a quiet place to study, wherever that place is going to be make sure it’s distraction free and consider turning of your phone and social media if it proves to be distracting. You will want a place where you can focus on studying, so you should ask your friends, family and colleagues to respect your study space.
4. Identify your learning objective: You can easily lose track of online course, therefore to stay on track you should identify what you hope to accomplish by taking the course. By doing so you will be able to stay focused more on your goal.
5. Make a study plan: You should plan your time ahead so that you can make the most out of it. Never wait until the due date to make an assignment. Arrange what you will do according to priority, create to-do lists and set time limits.

If you follow these 5 tips, you will surely be able to get the most out of your online course.

Written by: Osama Waheib

Online learning and virtual classrooms are quickly becoming a replacement for traditional classrooms, because they are cheaper and more flexible. Many students reported that they can concentrate in a virtual classroom more than they do when they are in an actual classroom.

To put it simply the benefits and advantages of a virtual classroom outweigh the benefits of traditional classrooms by leaps and bounds they are simply on a whole another level than traditional classroom they just are… Ok I am done that enough praise for virtual classrooms; let’s get into why they are better than traditional classrooms in more details, shall we?

1. Simplicity and flexibility: Location and time are the two most limiting factors when wanting to learn something. Virtual classrooms almost completely eliminate those two limitations, in an online course or a virtual classroom you can work at your own pace, and so you can adjust it to your own schedule.
2. More productive: With the integration of technology into the learning process; clever design, user experience and multimedia virtual classrooms can prove to be more efficient and deliver better results.
3. Much lower costs: Online courses are a more affordable option than traditional courses; they provide you with the most up to date content with way cheaper costs. The total costs for a traditional course are usually higher than base cost, due to costs of commuting; some traditional programs even require you to buy expensive textbooks. These additional costs aren’t present in online courses where the only commuting you will do is walking a couple of steps to get to your laptop, that’s if it’s even far from you and if your course requires a textbook you can  find it online easily in the form an e-book.
4. More convenient, comfortable and friendly environment: As previously mentioned online courses allow students to plan their study time around their day and that’s only the tip of the iceberg; students don’t have to attend physical sessions and the material is electronically sent to them, then they can read the material and do the assignments. All of this gives the student time for his work and/or precious time with his family instead of the stress that comes with having to go to a physical session; fighting traffic and finding parking places in order to do so.
5. More interaction: Although there is controversy on whether virtual classrooms offer more interaction than traditional classrooms, one thing is certain: shy students can interact and participate more in virtual classrooms, some even report they can focus more because virtual class rooms are more distraction free.

In conclusion, I recommend virtual classrooms due to the freedom, flexibility and ease of use. They are just much simpler and free you from a lot of the stress and fatigue that comes with real classrooms.

Written by: Osama Waheib

Where do you live?
I live in Skudai, Johor Bahru, Malaysia

What is your job?
I am an executive at Malaysian Technology Development Corporation Sdn Bhd (MTDC)

How many languages do you speak?
I speak two languages, Bahasa Malaysia and English

Why do you learn Arabic language?

• Arabic is an official language of 28 states, the third most after English and French. It’s an advantage for international business and communication.
• Arabic language is a language of the Jannah and Al-Quran. I hope one day I can have more understanding each time I read the Verse of the Quran.
• Arabic is a language of knowledge especially if we would like to understand the religion of Islam. I was motivated by the hadith, “Whomsoever that Allah wishes for him goodness, He will make him a faqih (learned) in matters of the religion (Deen);”.

Do you find it hard to learn Arabic?
Yes, the language is challenging especially in understanding its grammar.

How hard did you have to work to get this?
I practice on my own after each session of the class, and I try to relate everything I learnt when I reciting the Quran.

Tell us about your experience at ArabiCollege
It’s interesting and fun, all the teachers are very committed and supportive in every session in order to make me understand. Besides the formal lesson given, they also willingly share about their culture and some other interesting topics during the session and I am very pleased with this.

How do you see eLearning compared to the traditional learning?
The advantage of this concept is we have a one to one session with the native Arabic speaker. All the lessons can be done almost anytime and everywhere which I feel it is very convenience since I am quite busy of my office chores.

What advice would you give to the learners of Arabic language?
The learner must have high determination and interest to learn the language itself. You have to build up self-interest and try to practice the language with your peers by any chance you have. Learning the language also keep our mind sharp because we have to memorize new vocabulary and understand the language.

Criteria for nomination: a teacher, an administrator, or a students care agent may nominate a student for Student of the Month based upon any or all of the following criteria:

• Attendance
• Outstanding grades in tests and home work.
• The four language skills improvement.
• Cooperation.
• learning curiosity

Award: Certificate of achievement.

*Only ArabiCollege active students can be nominated.

Google added over 30 historical sites in Jordan to its virtual Street View service, including the entire city of Petra.

The project was announced by Her Majesty Queen Rania Al Abdullah of Jordan on the official Google Maps blog, and she also narrated the promotional video for the project launch which you can watch below.

Besides the Rose-Red City, virtual tourists can visit attractions like Mount Nebo, The Madaba Mosaic Map, crusader castles like Al Karak and Ajlun Castle built by Saladin or the Umayyad desert castles of Qasr Amra and Qasr Al Kharana. You can find a complete list of all historical sites that are available on Street View on a dedicated portal.

Other historical sites in the Arab world that can be experienced online include the Pyramids of Giza, the Liwa Desert, and the Burj Khalifa.

The country is divided on the matter. The ministry stated that

“There are above all historical and cultural reasons why Arabic must be learned, which have religious significance in Muslim countries. In addition to religious reasons, economic, tourism, political and commercial reasons make it imperative to learn Arabic.”

Opponents of the introduction of Arabic to the school curriculum note that the government aims to undo the alphabet revolution which introduced the latin alphabet in 1928. Veli Demir, chairman of the education union, told Al-Monitor that they will go to court to sue against violation of the constitution and revolutionary legislation.

Source: Al-Monitor

With more and more developing countries having high speed access to the internet and joining the mobile revolution, Arabic in particular has benefited from the trend and seen a sharp increase in use on the net.

In fact, the number of Arabic speaking users on the web has grown by 2500% over the past decade, making it the fastest growing language on the Internet. The number of Arab-Americans has grown 51% since the 2000s, reports Pew research citing numbers from the census bureau. However, the Arab American Research Foundation estimates the number to be even higher stating some 3.7 million people living in the country.

Being a website dedicated to language learning on the Internet and looking at the numbers we were curious to learn more. Thus we sat down with Mohamed Bamatraf whose company ArabiCollege teaches students from around the world about the Arabic language and culture online.

Arabic is dying out, that’s the story we’ve been told for decades now. Not so, according to ArabiCollege, the leading online school based in Dubai, UAE, that teaches Arabic language & Culture courses through interactive, one to one, live classes with native Arabic teachers around 24/7.

ArabiCollege has been working with companies, hotels, schools, and banks in the UAE for years and sees increased global demand for its courses with expats from around the world working in the UAE, other Gulf countries, looking to better understand the language and culture of the region.

Since opening a new office in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in March 2015, ArabiCollege has been teaching more than 2000 learners from renowned institutions including Malaysia Technology Development corporation, University of Malaya, Brunei Syariah High Court as well as other schools, universities and hotels in Malaysia and Brunei.

“Arabic has become a real talking point not only in the Gulf countries where there are millions of expats wanting to make their lives easier by learning the language and understanding the culture of their new home country.

But also people living in Asia and even Western nations are increasingly interested to learn the language for several reasons such as the number of emerging high growth markets that speak Arabic, cultural, educational and diplomatic factors. It eases the work and communication between these Asian and Western nations and their Arabic speaking partners”,

said Mohamed Bamatraf, who founded ArabiCollege in the UAE in 2007.

“We understand that language is not a ‘one size fits all’, which is why we have a portfolio of teachers offering different learning styles. Our learners have the freedom and choice to select the teacher that best meets their needs,”

added Mohamed.

“Our classes are available round-the clock, so even if you want to master the basics of Arabic at 3am on a Saturday, you can log on and find a teacher to help you.

In our survey the majority of learners stated that they chose ArabiCollege because we are available 24/7, we offer one to one interactive lessons, and we are affordable.”

ArabiCollege has more than 10,000 learners across the Gulf Countries, from India, and different Western countries including the US and the UK.

Besides signing up for lessons in listening, speaking, reading and writing, learners are given every opportunity to master Arabic outside the virtual classroom, in writing contests, blogs and forum discussions.

ArabiCollege is looking to have more than 20,000 learners by the end of 2016 due to the fast growth the company is seeing. Right now ArabiCollege focuses on B2B but also welcome the individuals from around the globe. Learners can easily sign up for a free trial, select the course that they wish to study and start booking live classes, available 24/7. Learners then meet highly qualified native teachers in a one-on-one live classroom environment, and start their Arabic language learning experience.

Learners are free to choose the time, and also the teacher they like the most. Besides the live classroom, the premium account gives the learner access to “The Café”, where learners practice conversational skills with teachers and other peers talking in free conversations with no need of prior booking.

“You’ve got nothing to lose, but with all our courses leading to a certificate that’s accredited by one of ArabiCollege’s academic partners, there’s everything to gain.”

added Mohamed.

We hear a lot about cultural appropriation and how it relates to personal style and fashion, but hardly ever do we think of how people sometimes appropriate languages. I define cultural appropriation as using aspects of a culture for personal, economic or political gains while disrespecting and dismissing the origins of said culture and its people.

This also applies to languages, especially the languages of disadvantaged groups. For example, Arabic and Arabic speakers never really attracted much interest from college students until the war against terrorism and the West’s increased engagement in the Middle East and North Africa, meaning people aren’t actually interested in the Middle Eastern and African cultures, but are interested in the jobs and opportunities generated by the government’s involvement in those regions.

Involvement in the Middle East and Africa often includes installing and supporting puppet dictatorships, depleting the region of its resources, conducting military strikes that have claimed the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent people and creating a racist and orientalist image of the people of that part of the world. But learning Arabic can also help the CIA and National Security Agency spy on Arab and Muslim-American citizens, infringing upon their rights and reinforcing racial stereotypes.

The media also engages in perpetuating racial stereotypes when it comes to appropriating Arabic. I remember watching a scene from “Iron Man” that was supposed to take place in Afghanistan, yet the characters, who were terrorists, spoke Egyptian Arabic. I guess the director didn’t pay any attention to the fact that Afghans aren’t Arabic speakers, and they especially wouldn’t be speaking it in an African dialect. Yet, Arabic was the language used by the terrorists in the movie because, to the world, Arabic is used only in terms of terrorism and doesn’t exist outside the context of war.

Language learning can be a very beautiful thing that can take us beyond our own horizons, teaching us about the cultures of fellow human beings. However, this need-based approach to learning Arabic, or any other language for that matter, is disrespectful to its native speakers. It shows that rather than being interested in a certain language, you’re just learning it to exploit its people and the geographical region where it’s spoken. Interest in Arabic and Arabic-speaking people has generally not benefited Arabs, neither has it increased people’s understanding of the Arab culture. Rather, it’s been used in the context of war and racial stereotyping.

So if you decide to learn a language, ask yourself the reasons behind your interest. Ask yourself how you view the native speakers of that language and if you’ll be using your knowledge to exploit them, spy on them or gain better control of their politics.

Will learning a certain language be a tool you use against its native speakers? If the answer is yes, then please rethink your reasons. I respect and appreciate my heritage and my culture enough to be sickened by the exploitation of my background.

Nahla Aboutabl

Nahla Aboutabl is a senior political science and international affairs double major. Contact Nahla at [email protected]