Arabic, of course has long been established in Africa, notably as the mother tongue and heritage language of many people in the northern part of the continent, and as the language of Islam, which a great many Africans follow. I was not, however, thinking in terms of its African usage - or Africa at all, really - when I first got the idea of learning Arabic. In any event, this interest ultimately led to a lifelong, although intermittent, engagement with the language and the script. That said, since it has been mostly through self-study, it has not led to any fluency. Along the way, however, my familiarity with the language and the script became important to my experience in Africa.
An early introduction to Arabic
During
my second year in high school (1971-72), after a period of studying the
major religions, I became interested in the
Baha'i faith, and from that, in the Arabic language. About half the
Baha'i Writings were originally in that language (and the other half in Persian). It is not necessary to read Arabic (or Persian) to become a Baha'i.
Since there was an
Egyptian family in my then new neighborhood, I asked them about possibly getting
tutored in Arabic (they were not Baha'i). The father of the family, Mr.
Awad, graciously agreed, and suggested that his son Ahmed, who happened
to be at the same high school, but a year ahead, could teach me the basics.
This
arrangement worked for only a while, due, as I recall, to the demands
of school work on both Ahmed and myself. However, this provided me with
basic knowledge of the alphabet and numbers, which I memorized, as well
as a few fundamentals of the language, which I was later able to build on. So I
am indebted to Ahmed and the Awad family for that foundation.
At college
While
an undergraduate at Johns Hopkins University, I enrolled in an introduction to
Arabic class, but was somewhat nonplussed by the professor's approach to
teaching first in a Latin transcription. I ended up dropping the class partially for that reason.
Of more lasting significance during this period, was my first purchase of a couple of books on Arabic - which had nothing to do with the abovementioned class. These turned out to be the beginnings of an assortment of Arabic learning materials that I collected over the years and still have today.
Rekindled interest during travel
A few years later, after college and Peace Corps service in Togo, when traveling through Sudan and Egypt to Israel, came the first opportunities to use my very limited Arabic skills in the
field - basically a few greetings and being able to read the script. This experience, above and beyond my having traveled with French, showed me how even a modicum of language skills in a new place could enhance one's understanding and integration.
On return to the US, I spent some time studying David Cowan's An Introduction to Modern Literary Arabic (one of those books I had purchased a few years earlier), and practicing writing phrases in Arabic. That at least put me on a slightly higher plateau - but still far from even elementary command of the language - on the eve of returning to West Africa to serve in Mali.
A little Arabic as an asset in learning languages of Mali and Guinea
One of my goals in returning to Peace Corps, was to learn an African language. As I approached that goal in Mali, I had in my relevant language repertoire a little basic Arabic, from which some expressions and words were borrowed. That turned out to be a 2-way street, in that I found myself picking up some Arabic terms from their borrowed forms in Fulfulde and Bambara.
On one occasion in Fatoma, Mali, I found myself discussing the price of dates in Arabic numbers with a seller from the north.
Later in Guinea, I was able to use my familiarity with the Arabic script to learn the Ajami transcription of Pular, although I wouldn't claim to have gained expertise at it. I'll discuss this further in the post in this series on my experience there.
Later years
In the following years I was able to access material on Arabic loanwords in Fulfulde for my work on the lexicon, and use my limited skills in working trips to Morocco and Egypt, and while in Djibouti. When in Niger, I learned that Arabic multiples of ten were used in Hausa numbers.
Bisharat, the language, technology, and development initiative, involved some prominent use of the Arabic alphabet, and the localization work I engaged in addressed Arabic and Ajami, although not very substantially.
At
one point I briefly joined an informal class on spoken Arabic held in a
Washington, DC bookshop, and again encountered the instructional
approach based on Latin transliteration of the language.
Current efforts & observations
Three years ago I took a different tack, deciding to try the Duolingo platform to have an interactive experience in manageable time segments. This decision was based on realization that (1) I had small gaps in my schedule which could be used in this way, and (2) I was not likely to find time to sit down to study Arabic with the basic learning materials previously collected. As it happened, I was able to supplement that work with reference to some of those materials.
Ultimately I completed the available sequence on Duolingo for Arabic (25, which is still in the CEFR A1 range). There were several observations from this experience:
- The alphabet introductions were a helpful quick review (I appreciate their decision to start the course this way, even if it would be harder at first for learners with no previous exposure to the writing system)
- In terms of vocabulary, it allowed bringing various words and terms I was already familiar with individually into their natural context. Obviously I was learning new words as well, but it was always interesting to see a term I knew and remember the context of learning it - mostly in connection with other African languages
- Early in the process I sometimes noticed what felt like subliminal memory kicking in, where I would recognize a word I didn't recall learning (this is something I have observed in another learning context, and a subject I should return to later)
- It was a helpful interactive way for getting into the basic grammar
- The use of other materials in tandem with this course has been helpful
Thoughts & suggestions
Obviously, if I had completed a formal Arabic course early on, even just at the elementary level, I would have been on a different trajectory with this language. As things worked out, however, the skills I did acquire in the language tuned out to be useful in various ways while in Africa and in academic work generally, so I am very glad I had them when I did. In a way, it also provided one additional common thread through my academic and professional life.
Among the lessons from this experience: Even just being able to read (or sound out) the script expands one's range of literacy in a range of situations, even as far away as China. Knowledge of common Arabic loan words can open up doors (albeit small ones) to vocabularies of a number of other languages. And where Ajami transcriptions are or have been used, knowledge of the Arabic alphabet is an obvious advantage.
I'm given to thinking that an "Arabic for African studies" survey course, perhaps analogous to Latin for medical professionals, might be useful for a range of academics and professionals who seek linguistic and cultural understanding of at least some regions of the continent. Beyond North Africa, where actual proficiency in Arabic is necessary, these regions might include the Sahel and East Africa, for example.
