How to Learn the Arabic Language in NYC
Arabic is the official language in 29 countries across the world and has the fifth largest native-speaking population in the world. While most of those native speakers live outside the United States, our Arabic-speaking population is rapidly growing. Moreover, even the United States is increasingly becoming multi-lingual. News events and travel around the world provide more reasons than ever before for learning Arabic so that you do not have to rely upon someone else to translate anything for you. One of the easiest places in the United States to learn and use Arabic is New York City.
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Determine what kind of Arabic you need to learn, how you want to learn it and how much time you can devote to learning it right now. Do you work for a multinational company or are you a student or an academic who wants to work on a project with Arabic-speaking colleagues? Businesses like Language Trainers offer courses tailored to those needs. After one 30-hour course, you will learn enough to be conversant enough in basic telephone and email Arabic so that you can start your project. If you already know basic Arabic and know how to read and pronounce the alphabet, try an intermediate course offered by the Network of Arab-American Professionals.
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Find opportunities every day to practice the Arabic you have already learned. In New York City, there are many Arabic-language newspapers available at news stands. Buy one and practice reading. Circle new words to look up. Practice reading the "UN News Centre" newspaper online. You can read it in both Arabic and English to practice.
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Watch "The Arabic Channel" (TAC), which is available to the greater New York City area on Time Warner Cable or via satellite. TAC carries a variety of programming from 22 Middle Eastern countries that ranges from news, entertainment, music, films, drama, sports and children's shows. But TAC is the only private, independent Arabic TV station in the world. The 14-year-old TAC is the first Arabic-language network to broadcast 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in the United States. Watching Arabic-language television will help you work on your pronunciation. Plus, you will hear how native speakers put sentences together. Watch a variety of programming so that you can hear different kinds of speech, from more formal newscasts to colloquial entertainment programs.
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Continue taking Arabic-language classes in your spare time. The broader your vocabulary, the more you will feel comfortable using and practicing the language. The Network of Arab-American Professionals (NAAP) offers two intermediate courses that come with a textbook and DVD. The courses themselves will be good opportunities to use and grow with the Arabic you know. Taking them with the NAAP will introduce you to other ways to network professionally or socially with Arab-Americans and other Arabic-speaking people. The NAAP hosts many cultural and social events, including an annual conference. The NAAP also organizes ways to serve the local community through volunteering.
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Speak Arabic every day. Languages are easy to forget if you do not use them every day. Do not just watch Arabic-language television shows or movies. Express yourself. Using the language requires a different thought process than listening to and understanding it. Make a friend you can speak Arabic with and make a point to have Arabic-only conversations with that friend, however short, every day to keep practicing.
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Tips & Warnings
Find an Arabic language font for your computer so that you can practice typing it as well as writing and speaking it.
Do not let the different alphabet intimidate you.
