School of Oriental and African Studies
London
Ask anything about Soas Arabic Course
If you guys have any question about the BA Arabic course at SOAS, feel free to ask.
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School of Oriental and African Studies
London
Original post by filtercigarettes
If you guys have any question about the BA Arabic course at SOAS, feel free to ask.
Hey, thanks a lot for the offer of help! I've heard that around 50% of Arabic students fail Arabic 1, I'll be doing Arabic and Politics combined, I presume that failing arabic does not mean that one is unable to continue with the course, or has to leave the instititution? Is it possible to make up credits or something of the sort unfortunately happened?
@Paul92 Hi, I'm also at SOAS for Arabic.
Basically, if you fail any of your 'core units' in politics or Arabic (Arabic 1 & in 2nd year Arabic 2 are core, the general politics courses will be too) then you have to retake that year (and pay again to do so). The other option is to change your degree plan if SOAS allows it, but this generally only works with courses that aren't extremely oversubscribed. For many joint honours students, Arabic is the problem so after a couple of attempts at the 1st or 2nd year the student decides to switch to Middle Eastern Studies (like Arabic without the language part!) or whatever they were doing (Politics, etc) with say, Persian, or African Studies, etc. Lots of combinations are available and you will be able to retake Arabic as many times as you are willing to pay fees for, most people who fail and address the original issue (often the work ethic) pass well on their second attempt.
It's really worth trying to make Arabic work out for you at SOAS because once you're over the first two years you will be better at grammar than most Western learners and many Arabs, and be basically literate at a level you can build on if you read enough/watch enough TV, etc in the next two years to get real fluency. Having said that, real fluency will probably come at some point after the degree (2-3 years down the line if you keep up the Arabic) but SOAS gets you over the difficulties inherent in learning the language in a much less confusing and painful manner than on a less good course elsewhere. There are no way around these difficulties so you might as well put yourself through a hard course to get over them quickly..
Basically, if you fail any of your 'core units' in politics or Arabic (Arabic 1 & in 2nd year Arabic 2 are core, the general politics courses will be too) then you have to retake that year (and pay again to do so). The other option is to change your degree plan if SOAS allows it, but this generally only works with courses that aren't extremely oversubscribed. For many joint honours students, Arabic is the problem so after a couple of attempts at the 1st or 2nd year the student decides to switch to Middle Eastern Studies (like Arabic without the language part!) or whatever they were doing (Politics, etc) with say, Persian, or African Studies, etc. Lots of combinations are available and you will be able to retake Arabic as many times as you are willing to pay fees for, most people who fail and address the original issue (often the work ethic) pass well on their second attempt.
It's really worth trying to make Arabic work out for you at SOAS because once you're over the first two years you will be better at grammar than most Western learners and many Arabs, and be basically literate at a level you can build on if you read enough/watch enough TV, etc in the next two years to get real fluency. Having said that, real fluency will probably come at some point after the degree (2-3 years down the line if you keep up the Arabic) but SOAS gets you over the difficulties inherent in learning the language in a much less confusing and painful manner than on a less good course elsewhere. There are no way around these difficulties so you might as well put yourself through a hard course to get over them quickly..
Oh and PS, it's not 50%, maybe 20% in my year. And 20% more for the 2nd year. And some people on the year abroad. And if you start Arabic 4 (not compulsory for joint honours) you probably know what its like by now so you will finish it. So over the entire degree it could be 50% but for different reasons.
The other thing is that many of the people who fail didn't realised how hard Arabic is for some people, so didn't work hard enough. Others just lack the ability, which isn't their fault. So if you work really hard you can halve the odds of failing, I think.
The other thing is that many of the people who fail didn't realised how hard Arabic is for some people, so didn't work hard enough. Others just lack the ability, which isn't their fault. So if you work really hard you can halve the odds of failing, I think.
Hii, I've applied for Law but I'd like to take some Arabic modules in my 2nd or 3rd year. I spoke to a lecturer at the open day who told me this was possible.
How hard is it to learn Arabic from scratch? I know how to read it, but don't understand anything
How hard is it to learn Arabic from scratch? I know how to read it, but don't understand anything
Hi,
Taking Arabic floating units is possible; on a single honours law BA you can do 1 course (25% of the year's work) per year after the first year. The Arabic BA and any joint honours degree (Law plus Arabic for example) will involve taking A LOT of Arabic, its 75% of the work load (3 units) in the first year, one in 2nd, a whole year abroad only for Arabic and 1 in 4th, plus other literature units. By contrast, taking it as floating units means you start off taking the huge course designed for first years (3 units) but broken up into three parts, one per year, so its the same amount of work but will fit with the rest of your degree. This is called Arabic 100, 200 and 300. If you somehow get past Arabic 300 level you can start on the 1 unit courses normally offered to Arabic BA students in the 2nd, 3rd (for those not abroad) and 4th years, they are called Arabic 2, 3 and 4. Most people with no previous knowledge of Arabic will only get to take 100 and 200 though, which is a very, very basic level to end up with, possibly not worth having.
I would ask yourself why you want the Arabic and whether you are willing to apply for the Law/Arabic joint honours, that way you would have a very good grounding in it. Or whether you want to take Arabic 100 + 200 courses plus spend all your summers studying Arabic abroad, that would mean you might get to the end of Arabic 2 by the end of your degree, that would be a good level if you were prepared to continue with Arabic after graduating.
Taking Arabic floating units is possible; on a single honours law BA you can do 1 course (25% of the year's work) per year after the first year. The Arabic BA and any joint honours degree (Law plus Arabic for example) will involve taking A LOT of Arabic, its 75% of the work load (3 units) in the first year, one in 2nd, a whole year abroad only for Arabic and 1 in 4th, plus other literature units. By contrast, taking it as floating units means you start off taking the huge course designed for first years (3 units) but broken up into three parts, one per year, so its the same amount of work but will fit with the rest of your degree. This is called Arabic 100, 200 and 300. If you somehow get past Arabic 300 level you can start on the 1 unit courses normally offered to Arabic BA students in the 2nd, 3rd (for those not abroad) and 4th years, they are called Arabic 2, 3 and 4. Most people with no previous knowledge of Arabic will only get to take 100 and 200 though, which is a very, very basic level to end up with, possibly not worth having.
I would ask yourself why you want the Arabic and whether you are willing to apply for the Law/Arabic joint honours, that way you would have a very good grounding in it. Or whether you want to take Arabic 100 + 200 courses plus spend all your summers studying Arabic abroad, that would mean you might get to the end of Arabic 2 by the end of your degree, that would be a good level if you were prepared to continue with Arabic after graduating.
Original post by rachelann
Hi,
Taking Arabic floating units is possible; on a single honours law BA you can do 1 course (25% of the year's work) per year after the first year. The Arabic BA and any joint honours degree (Law plus Arabic for example) will involve taking A LOT of Arabic, its 75% of the work load (3 units) in the first year, one in 2nd, a whole year abroad only for Arabic and 1 in 4th, plus other literature units. By contrast, taking it as floating units means you start off taking the huge course designed for first years (3 units) but broken up into three parts, one per year, so its the same amount of work but will fit with the rest of your degree. This is called Arabic 100, 200 and 300. If you somehow get past Arabic 300 level you can start on the 1 unit courses normally offered to Arabic BA students in the 2nd, 3rd (for those not abroad) and 4th years, they are called Arabic 2, 3 and 4. Most people with no previous knowledge of Arabic will only get to take 100 and 200 though, which is a very, very basic level to end up with, possibly not worth having.
I would ask yourself why you want the Arabic and whether you are willing to apply for the Law/Arabic joint honours, that way you would have a very good grounding in it. Or whether you want to take Arabic 100 + 200 courses plus spend all your summers studying Arabic abroad, that would mean you might get to the end of Arabic 2 by the end of your degree, that would be a good level if you were prepared to continue with Arabic after graduating.
Taking Arabic floating units is possible; on a single honours law BA you can do 1 course (25% of the year's work) per year after the first year. The Arabic BA and any joint honours degree (Law plus Arabic for example) will involve taking A LOT of Arabic, its 75% of the work load (3 units) in the first year, one in 2nd, a whole year abroad only for Arabic and 1 in 4th, plus other literature units. By contrast, taking it as floating units means you start off taking the huge course designed for first years (3 units) but broken up into three parts, one per year, so its the same amount of work but will fit with the rest of your degree. This is called Arabic 100, 200 and 300. If you somehow get past Arabic 300 level you can start on the 1 unit courses normally offered to Arabic BA students in the 2nd, 3rd (for those not abroad) and 4th years, they are called Arabic 2, 3 and 4. Most people with no previous knowledge of Arabic will only get to take 100 and 200 though, which is a very, very basic level to end up with, possibly not worth having.
I would ask yourself why you want the Arabic and whether you are willing to apply for the Law/Arabic joint honours, that way you would have a very good grounding in it. Or whether you want to take Arabic 100 + 200 courses plus spend all your summers studying Arabic abroad, that would mean you might get to the end of Arabic 2 by the end of your degree, that would be a good level if you were prepared to continue with Arabic after graduating.
Thanks a lot for the information Rachelann, I don't anticipate that work ethic will be a problem for me, however with no language learning beyond French GCSE I do imagine that I'll have a tough time! You mentioned that some students don't go abroad in 3rd year, what is usually the reason behind this? I'm slightly worried about finance myself.
Hi Paul,
Last year all the students in Syria and Egypt had to leave in the middle of the program so they were temporarily on Arabic 3 until they either returned (Egypt) or finished the year (Syria). This year there were concerns it might happen again to the students in Egypt, they opened up another option in Jordan and next year there will also be an option in Jerusalem, most probably. The Syria option has been taken off the program entirely.
During the Gulf War no students could go anyway in the Middle East so they just used Arabic 3.
In addition, occasionally some students have special circumstances but it has to be a pretty clear-cut case involving medical evidence, etc, - you can't just decide you want to stay in London.
Btw don't worry too much about the finances, unless there is something like another Gulf War (I suppose its possible if Iran gets attacked but I really hope not!) there will be options of some kind to go abroad, although the only properly cheap one is Egypt at the moment..
Rachel
Last year all the students in Syria and Egypt had to leave in the middle of the program so they were temporarily on Arabic 3 until they either returned (Egypt) or finished the year (Syria). This year there were concerns it might happen again to the students in Egypt, they opened up another option in Jordan and next year there will also be an option in Jerusalem, most probably. The Syria option has been taken off the program entirely.
During the Gulf War no students could go anyway in the Middle East so they just used Arabic 3.
In addition, occasionally some students have special circumstances but it has to be a pretty clear-cut case involving medical evidence, etc, - you can't just decide you want to stay in London.
Btw don't worry too much about the finances, unless there is something like another Gulf War (I suppose its possible if Iran gets attacked but I really hope not!) there will be options of some kind to go abroad, although the only properly cheap one is Egypt at the moment..
Rachel
Is it compulsory to spend the final year abroad on any BA Arabic (and combined) degree course?
Original post by naveedmsiddiqi
Is it compulsory to spend the final year abroad on any BA Arabic (and combined) degree course?
It's year 3 out of 4. And yes it's compulsory, on any BA Arabic or Arabic AND (whatever) joint honours, aside from the situation I described above. The only way to study Arabic during a BA degree at SOAS without going on the year abroad is to take floating units ('floaters') in a single or joint honours degree in other subjects - there are separate courses called Arabic 100, 200 and 300 which are each worth a third of the 1st year of the BA in Arabic, so you can opt for 2-3 floaters in Arabic over the course of your degree but you won't get beyond the level of a first year who did Arabic.
Incidentally, the amount of Arabic language units covered on the single honours BA and any joint honours combination is the same, although you have more options to opt out of Arabic courses in the 4th year if you do joint honours.
Hi, I would like to study Arabic and Islam at SOAS but I was wondering what the actual arabic course includes. Is it a lot of writing and grammar compared to speaking or vice versa? Are there any textbooks I can look at?
(Im planning on going to morocco soon for about a year, but I heard that moroccan arabic is VERY different from standard Arbaic)
(Im planning on going to morocco soon for about a year, but I heard that moroccan arabic is VERY different from standard Arbaic)
Original post by filtercigarettes
If you guys have any question about the BA Arabic course at SOAS, feel free to ask.
Hi, I would like to study Arabic and Islam at SOAS but I was wondering what the actual arabic course includes. Is it a lot of writing and grammar compared to speaking or vice versa? Are there any textbooks I can look at?
(Im planning on going to morocco soon for about a year, but I heard that moroccan arabic is VERY different from standard Arbaic)
Original post by MarianaK
Hi, I would like to study Arabic and Islam at SOAS but I was wondering what the actual arabic course includes. Is it a lot of writing and grammar compared to speaking or vice versa? Are there any textbooks I can look at?
(Im planning on going to morocco soon for about a year, but I heard that moroccan arabic is VERY different from standard Arbaic)
(Im planning on going to morocco soon for about a year, but I heard that moroccan arabic is VERY different from standard Arbaic)
Hiya MarianaK,
Speaking is not a major part of the Arabic course at SOAS relative to the grammar, writing and reading. To give you an idea of how important it is relative to the written element of the course, in our 2nd year, speaking and listening makes up roughly 20% of our overall grade, the other 80% being for written examinations. In your first year, Arabic makes up a possible 3 out of 4 units that you must take that year (most courses are 1 unit and most intense language courses are only 2 units). The Arabic we're learning for our written examinations is Modern Standard Arabic. Because of how mixed Darija, is it is not acceptable to be used by students in spoken examinations.
Even so, speaking and listening skills are very very important and we are given a lot of support from the teachers at SOAS to improve in these areas. It is on our year abroad however that we have the chance to really develop these skills in a native environment. So it's really good to pay attention to all of the speaking that's done in the first two years so you're better equipped when you go on the year abroad.
In regards to a textbook that you can have a look at, if you have access to SOAS you can pop in and pick up the SOAS Arabic books from the store in the Brunei Gallery directly opposite the Main SOAS Building at Russell Square.
I'm studying Arabic and Islamic Studies so if you have any specific questions regarding that course please feel free to contact me
Original post by filtercigarettes
If you guys have any question about the BA Arabic course at SOAS, feel free to ask.
Hi, I'm not sure if this thread is still active buuuuut...
I've just gotten an email from the department inviting me for an interview next Monday (30th) for BA Arabic/BA Middle Eastern Studies. I'm applying as an EU National(But not UK) and as a mature student with lower grades than asked but with 2 years working experience in the Middle-East and current studies in Arabic(With the IH Cairo in.. Yeah, Cairo where I am atm) and courses in Religion/Fundamentalism/Violence(uni courses on distance at a uni in Sweden) etc.
My questions are, do you know if they normally invite people for interviews? What to expect, should I prep in any specific way? And is it worth the money to go from Cairo to London for the interview or should I ask them for a telephone interview instead(I really don't want them to think that I'm not devoted or interested enough or that I am lazy)?
Gonna be obnoxious and bump this... This might seem like a silly question, but how important is it to have mathematical ability to learn Arabic as a native English speaker??? Self-studying Arabic reminds me of Maths but idk if that's because it's really hard to teach yourself and I find Maths similarly difficult. I would love to learn it but I'm worried that I'm just too stupid. 
Is there an Quranic/Classical Arabic component to the BA in Arabic?
good website for Arabic notes
http://arabicnotes.jigsy.com/
http://arabicnotes.jigsy.com/
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