Arabic
With more than 250 million speakers, Arabic is one of the six biggest languages in the world. It is mainly spoken in the Middle East and North Africa and is also the holy language in Islam.
Arabic can be divided into roughly three different parts: Classical Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) and Colloquial Arabic. Classical Arabic is the language of the Quran, while MSA is the language used in media, literature and official statements throughout the Arab world. In addition, each Arab country has its own particular Arabic dialect - colloquial Arabic. Currently, Modern Standard Arabic is the Arabic that is taught and studied at most universities.
Why learn Arabic?
There are probably as many reasons for learning Arabic as there are students studying it. There are those who are interested in the cultures of the different Arab countries, those who want to learn Arabic for religious reasons, those who would like to converse with family in the Arab world and those who see the necessity of learning this language to keep up with ever-increasing economic growth in the Arabic-speaking world.
Whatever your particular reason, knowing Arabic will open doors to new experiences. You will be able to understand the news from another angle by watching Arabic news channels; you will be able to read literature and poetry that is rarely translated into English; you will be able to travel and move about easily in the Arab world; and you will gain an understanding of a culture very different from your own.
Course information
In our beginner-level courses, you will be introduced to the Arabic language. You will learn how to read, write and speak Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). When your vocabulary expands, you will read easy newspaper articles, short stories, poetry and other texts in Arabic.
Spoken and written Arabic are very different to each other. When you start to study Arabic, it's important you know what you hope to do with your knowledge so that you are not disappointed mid-way through the course.
Standard Arabic is the perfect choice if you want to read and understand the Quran, news and books in Arabic; if you want to write in Arabic; and if you want to speak formal Arabic. All Arabs understand spoken Standard Arabic, which can fairly easily be changed into a dialect. However, it's not the language people speak on a daily basis. If your aim is to speak Arabic with friends or to travel in the Arab world, it would be better to learn one of the dialects. Ideally you should learn both a dialect and standard Arabic at the same time.
Currently, Dalarna University offers four courses in Standard Arabic, two courses in the Syrian Dialect, one course about the Arabic Short Story, and one course about Modern Arabic Poetry in Translation, both of which are great courses for the learning about Arabic culture.
All courses are given as campus-based courses in Falun and as web-based distance learning courses (the latter allowing you to be anywhere in the world as long as you have a good internet connection).
