Recognizing Dialects: Arabic

Recognizing Dialects: Arabic is a rich multimedia resource designed to help foreign language professionals and students, who have earned a minimum of Level 2 proficiency in Modern Standard Arabic, build their awareness of similarities and differences in Arabic dialects — an important step in learning to recognize them in everyday use. It is also intended to help cultivate an appreciation of the richness of Arabic language and culture. After a brief introductory module, the product provides an overview “tour” of nine regional Arabic dialects spoken throughout the Arab World. They include:

• The Levant (Palestine, Jordan, Syria, Lebanon)
• North Africa (the Maghreb)
  West (Morocco, Western Algeria, Northern Mali, Mauritania)
  East (Eastern Algeria, Tunisia, Western Libya)
• Northern Nile Valley (Cairo, the Delta)
• Iraq (Baghdad, Mosul, Basra)
• Northern and Eastern Arabia (Gulf): Najd/Central Saudi Arabia, Eastern Province of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Oman
• Western Arabia (Yemen/Hijaz, Saudi Arabia)
• Southern Nile Valley/Northern Sudan (Khartoum)
• Western Sudanic (Western Sudan, Northeastern Nigeria, Niger, Chad, Darfur)
• Eastern Libya/Western Egypt

The learner can then take a closer look at specific Arabic dialects such as Palestinian (Jerusalem) and Kuwaiti in lessons that are more comprehensive in scope. These lessons include expert commentary, discussion of key dialect features in comparison with their counterparts in other Arabic variants, and practice exercises that focus on feature identification. Instructional feedback reinforces and models steps in a suggested process for recognizing dialects.

Additional product features include a “putting it all together” practice module, linguistic and grammar terms, socio-cultural background notes, mini-videos on aspects of Arab culture, and dialect recognition and comparison tools.