• Our Program on the Net.
• What students and researchers Say??
• Syrian Arabic:
• To the university departments

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Our Program on the Net: web sites and weblogs speaking about Syria and our program

Syrian Arabic:                                                                                                                                             top 

Syrian Arabic is the most useful and accessible of all the Arabic dialects:
Used in all types of oral communication by Syrians at all levels.
Almost identical to dialects in Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan.
Widely understood all over the Arab world.
Reasonably close to formal Arabic due to historical and geographical reasons. 

 

Important notes:                                                                                                                                         top 

1. Studying only classical-written Arabic proved not to help students benefit from the Arabic speaking environment. 
2. Coordination and complementarity between spoken and written Arabic programs proved to affect very positively the progress speed that students can make. 
3. Spoken Arabic programs used to ignore Arabic alphabet and use Latin alphabet instead, this is unprofessional and proved to cause permanent mispronunciation no matter how basic the study is. Latin alphabet simply misses one third of the Arabic alphabet! 
4. Private teachers are available through institutes and embassies. In order to get a good one, it is better if you compare and discuss the program.

To the university departments of Arabic language and Middle Eastern studies:

During the last thirteen years our program has best been known for a fast language learning progress and an extensive cultural immersion. This is due to our modern, liberal and flexible strategy, offering all the service and care that non-native students may need.

The amazing diversity of Arabic language and culture is recognized by most scholars. Therefore, most students assume that learning Arabic takes many long years of painful study. Our students have however been able to achieve three main goals that we have set up:
1- Speaking fluently with Arabs (spoken Arabic)
2- Reading and understanding the press (modern written Arabic or MSA, Modern Standard Arabic)
3- Passing their exam back home (usually classical, medieval or literary Arabic).
All this is usually achieved in no more than five to six months.

Another reason for our students’ fast progress is that our program focuses on whatever the student's home program is unable or does not give enough focus to. For example, our program pays more attention to vocabulary, speaking, fluency, practical understanding of the language, subjects (conversation and texts) from contemporary culture and the use of the daily life as part of the study. This makes our program ideal for specializing students from abroad. Our program is not intended to be independent and replace the students’ home curriculum. On the contrary, it is designed to complete, reinforce and be an integrated part of home university program. Furthermore, our new strategy of integrating Spoken, Written and Classical Arabic, in which each one serves the other in a harmonious development and natural functioning, has saved great amount of time and efforts.

We have received many students, groups and individuals, including students of language and researchers from Arabic and Middle East departments from fourteen different countries (mainly from US, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Britain and Austria). The students have come from all levels of understanding of the Arabic language and stayed from one month up to two years.

For several years we ran regular Arabic courses independently or in many foreign organizations, companies and embassies. All institutes offer timely regular courses conducted in big mixed classes consisting of students and learners from a variety of countries, ages, interests, schedules, demands and levels of dedication. These courses are inflexible and run on the basis "take it or leave it". The proportion of Students coming from the West to study Arabic in these classes varied from twenty to fifty percent. The rest have been diplomats, employees from UN or oil companies and other foreign residents as well as many students from Islamic countries studying for free in exchange programs.

The experience of the IRAMES group is that western students are more demanding and seek liberal understanding of the Arabic language and its culture, but are more dedicated and not merely casual learners. Therefore, in the atmosphere of the regular coursers with big mixed classes, many of the dedicated students experienced that their expectations and ambitions were not matched.

Recently, our regular courses program was revaluated. We have now focused only on the students specializing in Arabic and Middle East studies. This means fewer students, but more attention and care is given to each student inside and outside the class. We now offer courses on request for groups and individuals based on private lessons. This insures that the classes are tailor-made according to the student’s own schedule, demand, dedication and interest. This strategy has proven to give the best results and satisfaction.

Furthermore, this -on request only program- has given us cost efficiency reflected directly on the courses fee, twenty to forty percent lower than similar programs, since full-time professionals and big building are not needed permanently.
If our program is of interest to you and you believe that your students may benefit from it, we would like to:
1. Receive students for special or complete intensive courses as supplement and
integral support to your program.
2. Providing students with all help and accommodation needed.
3. Curriculum development including new books and courses.
4. Cooperation and exchange of information and resources.
5. Link exchange between your department web site (or where you suggest) and ours.