Arabic Courses

General Information – Arabic 

Arabic is spoken by over 300 million people throughout Asian and North Africa. It is also the official language of Islam, and so it is estimated to be used by one billion Muslims across the world.

As a native English speaker, one of the main hurdles I see is the way that the text is written from right to left and that the grammar is very different to English. There are also many sounds that I am not familiar with as they don’t exist in English, but someone who knows a language like Hebrew would have an easier transition. The best part of learning a new language though is having a go at these sounds and the realisation that you can make noises you didn’t know you could by moving your tongue around.

Arabic has 28 consonantal phonemes and the nouns are either masculine or feminine. When referring to a male, a masculine noun is used, and vice versa for a female. The feminine noun is usually formed by adding a special character – the ta marbuta – to the end of the masculine noun.

One Arabic word may have a number of plurals and adjectives come after the noun, so a “white house” in English becomes a “house white” in Arabic.
The most basic of sentence is called a nominal sentence, for example, in English it would be “the house is white”; but in Arabic there is no word for the “is” in this sentence.

Having a go at Arabic, even if it is just a simple greeting, will be appreciated by many people if you plan to travel to Asia or Africa, or even if you are just passing through your local community or a mosque.

Give the following a go:

Phrase: As salaamu alaikum – Syllable breakdown:as-sa-laa-mu a-lai-kum
Meaning: May peace be with you and a very common greeting.

Phrase: Wa alaikumu èl salaamu – Syllable breakdown: wa-a-lai-ku-mus-sa-laam
Meaning: And may peace be with you. It is the response to the above phrase.

By Vicki

Arabic Video

Mayssoun Loutfy

Mayssoun holds a Bachelor Degree in Law from Alexandria University.

Mayssoun has worked in different educational institutions such as SEMAS-Mental Arithmetic System Education and AMIDEAST in Egypt, Cardiff Metropolitan University in UK before teaching in Sydney Language Solutions.

She has more than 6 years experience of teaching students from different age group and level in Arabic .

She is a passionate teacher who is sensitive to students’ unique needs and often offers positive encouragement and reinforcement to keep students focused and motivated.

Salam Beydoun

Qualifications: 

Salam Beydoun, or Sam for short, well educated and well travelled, holds two university degrees, one in Advertising and Marketing Communications, and one in Hotel Management.

Experience:

Sam had worked in  Lebanon, and in the Arab Gulf states in  marketing and management, as well as an interpreter.
 
Sam has also studied translation and interpreting  short courses, he has been working as an interpreter in the Arabic community in Australia for over 7  years now, he is keen on teaching his naitive Arabic language to all who are looking to widen their horizons.
 
He is well aware of the Arabic culture, its history and language. Sam is very keen on teaching Arabic in a fun and beneficial way.

 “Teacher Kholoud is a fantastic Arabic Tutor” – (Nicole Lim, Arabic Beg 1, April 2016 session)

“Small class sizes, weekend courses” (Kumi Pradhan, Arabic Beg 1, April 2016 session)

“The Arabic Beginner 1 Course is an excellent introduction to Arabic.”  (Arabic Beginner 1 Intensive Course Student, October-November 2012 Session)

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