Modern Arabic (intermediate level) [ LARAB1301 ]

The LARAB1102 course : Modern Arabic (elementary level II), or a different programme recognized as an equivalent. In this course, students repeat, extend and apply the structures learned at the elementary level, so as to qualify for the intermediate level of Arabic at the ILV, on the condition of additionally attending a course in colloquial Arabic (LARAB1302 or LARAB1303). Its learning outcomes help prepare the student for the courses LARAB2500 and  LGLOR2661-LGLOR2662, and are most useful for attending any course on themes related to the Arab and Muslim world.
 

This is an intermediate course in Standard Arabic in its modern variety, which is the language of the media and all official communication all over the Arab world today.
It aims at reading, understanding, grammatical analysis and translation of Standard Arabic texts on a variety of various topics (cultural, literary, political, religious, pertaining to daily life).
The course includes pronunciation and conversation drills, exercises in reading and writing, and grammatical correction. 
The course covers the following aspects of learning the Arabic language:

• sustained training in the Classical prononciation;
• active and passive exercises in unvocalized Arabic script;
• acquisition of  an enlarged vocabulary that is characteristic of modern daily life in its multiple aspects.

By the end of the course, the student should have acquired:

• strong familiarity with the main features of Arabic grammar
• an enlarged vocabulary in Standard Arabic, with a focus on modern daily life
• the skill to find relatively complex Arabic words in an Arabic-French (or Arabic-English) dictionary
• the cognitive stragegies needed to understand relatively complex written texts and oral expressions in Modern Standard Arabic
• The skill to construct complex current expressions in Arabic and to make proper use of a French-Arabic dictionary.

1. Indicative ontinuous assessment based on systematic questioning in class.
2. Combined individual exam (oral and written), after the end of the course.

This course includes classroom instruction sustained by the iCampus virtual teaching environment. It requires active involvement, with written excercises to be prepared for each class, as well as both written and oral excercises to be carried out in class.

This is an intermediate course of Standard Arabic in its modern variety, which is the language of the media and all official communication all over the Arab world today.
It emphasizes acquisition of immediately applicable an enlarged vocabulary in Standard Arabic, as well as the main mechanisms of the language, through the study of morphology and syntax.
This entire process should result in a proficiency level that compares to levels A2 (for the active aspects) and B1 (for passive aspects) of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

Note: the Arabic language has a range of characteristics that make its acquisition notoriously hard for French-speaking beginners. It has a set of consonants unknown to us, a distinct right-to-left script, and a complex grammar with declinations, with stronger gender marking than in French, and with a system of number distinction that goes beyond our mere distinction between singular and plural. Additionally, Arabic vocabulary shares few elements with French or other languages usually known to students. Thus, it is difficult, at least with respect to the first year, to apply the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages to the Arabic language acquisition.

Printed texts, photocopies, documents presented in digital format, sound recordings. Registration on the i-Campus platform is compulsory.
Textbook:

• Maurice Borrmans, Grammaire arabe, Rome : Institut Pontifical d'Etudes Arabes et d'Islamologie, 1997.

While French is the language of instruction, Arabic will be used to a certain extent, particularly for conversation drills.