Advice from Students Before You Study Arabic Abroad
Free Conversation Cafe Time Changed in October
September 25, 2015How to pick an Arabic Language Program
October 14, 2015I studied abroad in Jordan the summer after my sophomore year at OU. It was great and I feel like I learned a ton but there were definitely parts that could have been improved.
We had a class on MSA and a class on spoken Arabic. The majority of the class time was spent on MSA, which didn’t help as much as spoken Arabic would have. All of the people we met spoke to us in the local dialect and I learned the most interacting with people in the day-to-day activities. If we had spent more time going over common vocabulary and phrases, it would have been easier to practice and learn on my own.
I did feel like I learned a lot just living in Jordan though. I feel like the only way to learn a language like Arabic is to live in an Arabic-speaking country and try to use what you’ve learned as much as possible. The program you guys are running looks great. It sounds like you are focusing more on conversation skills and less on grammar and MSA vocabulary.
-Clint, University of Oklahoma
