On some links between Arabic and English

Today, 18 December, is marked as the World Arabic Language Day. It was first designated by UNESCO (the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation) in 2010. The date is chosen because it was when in 1973 the UN (United Nations) recognised Arabic as one of the official languages of the organisation.

You might find it unusual to read about Arabic language on a blog about learning English, but there are links that I’d like to highlight which I believe can benefit at least some learners. Before that, I’d like to say that, personally, my love of Arabic was nurtured by, in addition to some of my Arabic teachers at school, a few of my teachers of English at school and university. As a high school student, we had to translate to and from Arabic as part of our English exams. I needn’t say that, as a learner of English in Egypt myself, teaching English has often been done in Arabic.

At this point, I should say that doing English grammar in Arabic has helped me a lot, and this is one link that can help learners of English, especially those who are at the beginning; comparative grammar is not a waste of time. There are some grammar points that are quite identical in the two languages. Off the top of my head I can think of the second conditional. Consider how you would express the following idea in Arabic:

If I had enough money, I’d change my car.

In reality, I don’t have enough money and so I won’t be able to change my car. Have you noticed that the interpretation of the sentence is in the present and future although the original sentence uses past tense verbs? This is because it’s more of an expression of a wish. In Arabic we may say,

لو كان معى ما يكفي من المال لكنت بدلت سيارتي.

Did you notice how past tense verbs are used here? Exactly like the English sentence!

In my experience as a teacher of English, I have found that teaching this particular grammar point by comparing Arabic and English is easy and straightforward.

However, please be reminded that I’m not recommending translation as a foolproof way of understanding English grammar. What I’m suggesting is think of equivalents rather than translations; ask yourself, “How do we say this in Arabic?” Think of the way of expressing a particular idea rather than of how particular words translate.

A similar principle can be applied to learning vocabulary. My recommendation has often been to focus on collocations; whole phrases or stretches of two or more words that often go together in a context. For instance, instead of learning individual words like ‘cup’ and ‘tea’ separately, learn the phrase ‘cup of tea’. This way you can avoid awkward expressions like ‘*I enjoyed with this book a lot’ [I enjoyed this book a lot]. Again, ask yourself, “How is this said in English?” As the previous example suggests, a preposition may be used in Arabic but not in English or the other way round.

On balance, it shouldn’t be understood that I’m recommending teaching English through Arabic or that translation should be avoided altogether in a learning English context. Rather, I’m suggesting that Arabic (or whatever first language) can be used when it’s useful and beneficial for the learner, and when this is done, it should be on the level of whole thoughts and expressions and not through literal translation, which can result in unnatural or even bizarre language.

Happy Arabic Language Day. Enjoy your learning English experience!

Essam Abulkhaire

Freelance Teacher of English.