My Arabic Journey

By Ami Steinberger
Founder and CEO of Ulpan La-Inyan

I like to consider myself a language person. I know at least a few words in many languages, including Hungarian, Polish, Tagalog (Filipino), Amharic (Ethiopian), Mandarin, German and others. I am conversational (to some degree or another) in French, Spanish, Italian and Arabic.

But when it comes to mother-tongue level, I’ve only got English and Hebrew. Which is embarrassing for a language person like me.

So at the beginning of 2021, I made it my business to reach mother-tongue level at a third language, within a year. I chose the Levantine dialect of Arabic, given that I live in the Middle East in general and in Jerusalem in particular, and that I would have less text to rely on and learn more by way of speaking – as per the Ulpan La-Inyan philosophy. I hired my friend Shlomi Pinchuk, a gifted Arabic teacher you wouldn’t believe grew up Beit Shemesh, to guide me on this journey.

Life happened, and I didn’t reach my goal of mother-tongue level. But I did advance significantly – and more importantly for you, I learned a thing or two about language learning that have already begun to enhance the Ulpan La-Inyan curriculum.

Here are my three main takeaways:

Lesson 1 – Grammar Matters

As an eternal fan of the primary method we employ at Ulpan La-Inyan, which draws the learner into a natural-feeling dialogue between Hebrew speakers, I’ve shied away from teaching grammar per se. After all, why draw boring charts on the board when students could learn intuitively?

But when I set out to fully acquire Arabic, already with some basics under my belt from this method, I found myself still making mistakes. I didn’t need much grammar instruction and drilling, but some was necessary for me to really advance, so Shlomi helped me formalize it.

As a result of my experience with Arabic, as well as feedback from students at Ulpan La-Inyan, we’ve taken our Level 1 and Level 2 courses, and broadened them: Now there’s Level 1A and Level 1B, and soon there will also be Level 2A and Level 2B. 

Why would we do this? To provide a more comprehensive foundation for accurate speech, which would serve students as they advance to the higher-level courses. In Levels 1A & 1B, and 2A & 2B, we include more exercises, as well as introduce a component called עושים סדר[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Arabic-journey-#.m4a” /] – Making Order. Here we present a grammatical structure – say, noun-verb agreement – after students have had some experience using that structure intuitively in our regular lessons. Following the formal presentation, we have students practice the structure in conversation, honing their accuracy.

Lesson 2 – How to Improve Listening Comprehension

My spoken Arabic was improving, but my understanding was lagging behind. So Shlomi introduced me to a language-acquisition goldmine – media transcription. He would give me an authentic Arabic video to watch and transcribe. I would slow down the video’s speed and listen over and over until I could write down exactly what I heard – and what I couldn’t, we would discuss in the next lesson.

Thanks to media transcription, my comprehension improved dramatically, so that I could much better understand what people were saying around me – say, at the medical clinic in East Jerusalem. 

The Ulpan La-Inyan Student Center of Levels 4 and 7 now have media-transcription components, and we will be introducing them in Levels 3, 5 and 6 over the next few months.

Lesson 3 – Immersion Raises the Bar

Last month, I spent four days in Egypt. This did wonders for my confidence and precision in Arabic, since if I wanted to speak with my host at the cafe or the lifeguard at the pool – people who speak only Arabic – I had no choice but to find ways to communicate. And since they wanted to understand what I was saying, they tried to correct me when I made mistakes, forcing me to fine-tune what I was saying. I came home to Israel speaking Arabic better and more confidently.

Put yourself in a situation where you must speak Hebrew, and you’ll surprise yourself with what you can do. And that’s exactly the opportunity we’re offering you now: שיחה לעניין[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Arabic-journey-#.m4a” /] – Conversation – to the Point. This is a twice-a-week meeting with a group of Hebrew learners at your level (intermediate and up), facilitated by an Ulpan La-Inyan instructor who will make sure that the entire meeting takes place in Hebrew – and won’t let you off the hook from participating (we have run שיחה לעניין before as a conversation group, but never insisting on full immersion). No translation, no crutches. Pure Hebrew for an hour and a quarter straight.

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I hope my Arabic journey will have benefited not just me, but you as well – and perhaps inspired you to take your Hebrew to the next level.

בהצלחה[audioclip url=”https://archive.ulpan.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Arabic-journey-#.m4a” /] – good luck! (with success)