Cultural side, lecturer Nevine Mikhail brews some Arabic coffee.

Lecturer Emil Gad checks Lt Joel Turner’s writing style. Arabic script has three different variations of each consanent and additions are made for each vowel sound.

LCpl Stuart McCrea corrects Maj Simon Kirby’s conversation script.

Photos by Pte Simone Heyer-Irwin and Cpl Wade Laube, 1JPAU(P)

Hearing the music of Arabic

SEPTEMBER 11 and possible action in the Gulf have made evident the very real requirement to have ADF members proficient in Middle-Eastern languages.

Fortunately, the ADF School of Languages has offered two of the more widely-spoken languages of Persian and Arabic since February this year.

The most recent 2/02 Arabic Military Basic Course, running from May 27 to August 17, brought airmen, soldiers and officers from around Australia and seven different corps, together for a common goal of Arabic-language training.

We would learn their script to effectively read and write; a little of their culture to limit our offensiveness to their people and learn basic conversation to make ourselves understood.

Of the 11 members, nobody had any real knowledge of Arabic. By the first day’s end, we had been familiarised with the sound of the alphabet, and could introduce ourselves in the target language.

Despite lecturer Nevine Mikhail’s promise that Arabic was a musical language, our first thoughts were that the language was guttural and aggressive-sounding.

LCpl Stuart McCrea, 6RAR, said that at this stage, he had thought twice about studying Arabic.

“The initial shock and complex content of the language had a lot of people looking sideways – and myself looking for the exit,” he said.

“But after a short time, and excellent teachers, even a grunt was speaking the language of the Middle East.”

Language courses are designed for people with no prior knowledge, starting from the ground – or in this case, script-recognition, up.

LAC Paul Shepherd, 2AFDS, was concerned that his lack of Arabic knowledge would place him behind the other class members, despite having achieved category four in the Language Aptitude Test.

“I’ve never spoken a word of it – the course has catered for people who haven’t learned it, now we know enough to get by.”

While learning Arabic, people can experience a degree of culture shock. Everything is completely different from English, from the script, to the way writing is put on a page, to sentence structure, to intonation and cultural idiosyncrasies.

Cpl Jamie Dowling, 1RAR, said this could be a little overwhelming initially.

“The first time you see Arabic script you think to yourself how am I going to be able to read this? But if you want to learn, the instructors will go out of their way to help you,” he said.

Class hours are from 8am to 4pm, with breaks during the day. Lessons are broken up into different competencies – reading, writing, speaking and listening.

Each competency is given a rating, that by the end of the course each student is assessed and classed proficient or not.

By week nine, just as Nevine claimed, we began to hear the music of Arabic. At that moment your brain seems to then process the sounds and intonation differently, making words more easily recognised – that’s when you’re ready to do the year-long course.

ADF School of Languages offers a three-month course to learn to read, write and gain an understanding of Arabic culture. Army reporter Simone Heyer-Irwin completed the course last month.

From the lecturer

Lecturer in Charge Yasser Abdel Ghafar, said that ADF Langs has given him the freedom to teach in the best way he knows how.

"I believe I have a message: to spread the language as far as I can, and teach people about the Arabs and the Middle East.

"Don't be scared, come learn Arabic, you'll be taken by the culture, and language and what they offer."

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