Читать книгу BilArid. 12 ways to learn Arabic - Tatiana Prolesko - Страница 3

– Where did you buy such a fancy backpack?

– In Dubai.

– Ohh… I guess I will never be able to go there.

– Why?

– I do not speak foreign languages and I am not sure I can learn them. I was only once in Turkey in a hotel where many people spoke Russian.

– Do not be upset; a foreign language is possible to learn. I am sure 100%. And Dubai is great: it is worth visiting!

– Thanks! Please come again!

– Sure!

This conversation happened once in a coffee shop when ordering an iced latte. At first glance, it is not notable. But I wondered again why people predispose themselves to failure? Who convinced this pretty and smart lady that it was hard to learn a foreign language? Maybe she, like many people, was not lucky enough to have a good teacher at school? Or did the family lack psychological support for any new beginnings? How many people do not know what they miss out on, putting language learning on the list of pipe dreams? How may I transfer them at least a part of the experience about how simple and pleasant it is?

Thus, a usual conversation and lovely bag from Dubai, featuring beautiful cactus, served as one of the ideas for this book.

Secondly, if someone had told me eight years ago (when I first visited the United Arab Emirates) that I would willingly start learning Arabic and even less write this book – I would never have believed it! Where are Arabists, Orientalists, professors, diplomatic translators, and the author of these lines! I may be a polyglot for European languages and an ordinary entrepreneur. I felt unworthy of even approaching such luminaries in my mind and beginning to write something about Arabic. Surprisingly, in the process of learning it has been possible to attract the attention of friends to this language and to the culture of the Middle East. I became interested in Arabic calligraphy and, as a result, in the drawing.

I had to face the fact that there are much fewer manuals of Arabic in comparison to European languages, so I had to build my own learning system, like a mosaic, adding it to my teaching method of a foreign language.

Third, there is an incredible amount of information devoted to language learning in our time. It seems that there is nothing to add: to choose courses, a teacher, manuals, decorate the process with words «motivation,» «self-development,» and «terms,» download a couple of applications in a smartphone, make a solemn promise to friends in social networks and that is enough.

In such a case, why do many very talented and serious people, who want to learn the language that opens up new horizons in careers, businesses, and sometimes in personal lives, do not get to master it and put it on their list of achievements and their résumé? Why it happens that even with an excellent teacher, the student can set specific goals but fails to achieve results?

The fact is – that people are integrated into the learning process differently. They translate feelings into thoughts and texts having unique ways of perceiving the information and the nature of learning.

In this book, the reader will get acquainted with twelve ways to learn Arabic and learn how to move the learning process from a deadlock – not only to start but to continue until the end. Everyone is going to recognize himself/herself in a particular chapter (or in several ones) and will get a ready decision about what to do about it; will figure out how it is easier to achieve results in Arabic without unnecessary suffering.

The book consists of two parts. The first one is dedicated to the specificities of the language; the second describes the types of students.

The book intends to prove that the Arabic language is available to everyone, not only to «celestial beings.»

The next photo depicts the moment when, on way from a business meeting in Palm Jumeirah, the author came up with the idea of sharing the experience of learning this language with other people starting their way into Arabic. Alternatively, even with those who have not yet done so. Perhaps the book will serve as an inspiration to make the first step!

On the car’s side mirror, it is written that English-speaking readers will understand effortlessly: «Objects in mirror are closer than they appear.» That is what one can say about Arabic: it is much closer to us and a lot easier than it seems to be.