Ahlan wa sahlan – here we go!

The WorldTravelerSeveral times in the last years I have started learning Arabic… Why? Because I like the language and love the challenge. But then one stumbling block followed the next and took me off the course again. In relation to all the learning material I gathered, my ambition has finally caught up with me!

Yes! I will prove to the world that it is possible to master Arabic – with or without help from others. The point is: Native speakers offer to help improving my language skills. And they are also happy when the foreigner gets involved in the adventure (Arabic). But sometimes problems arise during the practical implementation.

Language course Arabic with pitfalls

That’s why I prefer a language course. In the first one „Arabic for beginners without previous knowledge“ the teacher was obviously even more ambitious than the participants themselves and scribbled tons of Arabic vocabulary (in Arabic letters) on the blackboard. That we were less people every week did not bother her at all…

A few participants who had grown up with Arabic (and still were in the beginners‘ course) knew how to read the words, the rest had bad luck. The remaining beginners and me were not deterred by this strange teaching method and stayed with the group until the end! But what I will never forget is the greeting „Ahlan wa sahlan“ (Welcome!“)

After I bought „Complete Arabic“ in Malaysia a few months later (left in the picture), a didactically very well prepared self-study book with CDs in English, I got more motivated again. I tried another course at the Community College. In this course I only spoke (in the meantime I had already learned the letters by myself). The teacher set a brisk pace and handed out lots of documents – a good basis to start all over again.

There’s no way for “no way“

But even during my stay in Salalah in the south of Oman I neither found a teacher nor did any Arabic speaking friend found him/herself in the position to practice with me a little. But at least I began to understand scraps of conversation.

After my return to Germany I was so frustrated by the adversities that I wanted to chuck everything. What was the point? Most Arabs speak German, English or French anyway. This depression continued – until a few days ago when I saw all the Arabic books I had bought in Germany, Australia, Borneo, Oman and Dubai. And suddenly I remembered again how much fun I had with discovering the language (and buying all the books).

And my decision was suddenly made: I’m taking a new approach and will devote myself more intensively to the language again – until I reach level B1 (intermediate) this year. And if you are also interested in Arabic, you can follow my experiences of language learning and my information on the Arab world live on my blog.