English Tips for Arabic Speakers

Salaam alaikum. I hope you are well today. This is Benjamin from engVid, and this is

a lesson for you if you are... Or if you speak Arabic as your first language. I know it's

a very important world language, it's the predominant language of Islam, and a huge

area of the sort of Middle East, obviously that is the first language, as well as many

expatriate communities in other parts of the world. So, obviously the first difference

is that we read from left to right, so rather than going from here to there, we're going

to start up here. Actually, I'm going to start here with the alphabet. I understand that

in Arabic there is no equivalent of an uppercase letter. Can you remember when we use the uppercase,

a big letter? We use it, I'm going to write this on the board, for proper nouns, for people's

names, okay? For places in the world, for place names, okay? And we also use the uppercase

when we are starting a sentence. Okay. So, big A. What I'd like you to do, actually,

some of you will know this, okay? In which case, just watch for a second. If this...

If you are still learning the alphabet, I'd like you to get a piece of paper and I'd like

you to practice this as we go along. Big A, reach for the stars, come across. Little circle,

and he's got a bit of a foot. Big, bouncing B, enjoy those curves. Small B, misses out

the top part. Nice, curvy C, and a smaller version of. Straight line, curve, smaller

D. Big E, it's all those three crosses, and then a little cheeky E. F, same as an E, but

you're missing out that. Smaller, curvy F. Big G, smaller G. Straight line H, curvier,

small H. I, I with a dot, J, J with a dot, big K, small K. L, straight line. Straight

line M, curvy little M. Big, big N, big straight line N, small curvy N. Big O, small O. Big

P, small P on the line there. O with a little funny line is your Q, small little curvy Q.

Big R, funny little R. Big S, funny little S. Big straight line T, curvy little T. Big

U, small U. Straight line V, small V. Big W, small W. Big X, small X. Y, Y. Big Z, small

Z. Okay? It's important that we remember to use capital letters at the right time.

Moving on to word stress and elision. Elision is where you push sounds together because

we're not going to pronounce every single syllable. English is a little bit more unpredictable

than Arabic, and putting the emphasis on different words will change the meaning. For example,

"convict". Now, I could put the stress there, "convict". A "convict" is someone who is in

prison, they have done something wrong. Okay? Handcuffs. But if I convict someone, now it

is a verb, and I am saying you've done something wrong, you are going to jail. So by changing

the emphasis, we can change it from a noun to a verb.

How do we do this? How do we know when to put the emphasis? Well, the simple answer

is trial and error. Listen to as much spoken English as you can. Listen to the radio, watch

television so that you become accustomed to how people use English. Yes, there are rules

as well. Okay, I want to show you how we join sounds up. Okay? Because there is a tendency

for Arab... Arabic speakers to say, "What are you up to later?" Whereas, I'll show you

how I would say this, "What are you up to later? What are you up to later?" What am

I doing there, Benjamin? What are you up to later? Wha... Wha... And then the "t" goes

into the "r". What are... What are you up to... What are... What are you up to later?

What are you up to... Up, up. So I don't have "up", I kind of shorten the "p" sound there,

so it's "to later", "to later". What are you up to later? It all kind of meshes into one.

What are you up to later? I'm not sure if I'll be able to go to the restaurant or not.

How would I say this? I'm not sure if I'll be able to go to the restaurant or not. I'm

not sure if I'll be able, be able... So this joins together. I'm not sure... Not, not,

so not... I'm shortening the "t" sound there. Not sure if I'll be able to go to... So I'm

missing out that vowel sound. To go to the restaurant, the restaurant, the restaurant.

This is gliding into one. Or not. Okay? Elision, joining sounds together.

Consonant clusters. What this means is we have two consonants together. Now, this is

slightly unnatural for the following combinations of consonants, because you don't have the

equivalent in the Arabic language. And so, what I've noticed is that some speakers will

try to insert an extra vowel. For example, you might say "price" instead of "price".

"Planet", okay? It's just "planet". "Grimace", just "grimace". Okay? So, if you're seeing

two consonants together, it doesn't mean you need to add an extra sound. "Thru", "thru",

"thru". "Space", "space", "space". "Space". "Strange", "strange". Straight in there. Straight

through with the sound. "Splat", "splat", "splat". Okay. Doesn't matter what these mean,

I'm just demonstrating how you would pronounce them.

Next point, using "do" to ask questions. Yes, we can use "do" to ask questions. Let me show

you a couple of examples. So, there's a song by James Brown, one of the lines in his song

is "Do you like good music?" "Do you like good music?" I can't just say "Like good music?"

The "do" works with "like". "To like". "Do you like". "Do you want to go to the opera?"

I can't just say "You want to go to the opera?" "Do you want to go to the opera?" If I just

said "You want to go to the opera?" it would be very informal. "Do you often travel by

train?" I can't just say "Travel often by train?" "Do you often travel by train?" Got

a few more tips, I'm just going to get them up onto the board.

Modal verbs. What is a modal verb? A modal verb is a word such as "can", "should", "might",

"could", or "must", and it joins with another verb. Okay? For example, "I can speak good

English." Okay? I don't just put "I speak good English", I can. "I am able to speak

good English." Okay? There are more lessons on modal verbs on engVid, so you can... You're

very welcome to watch more after this video. I'm just giving a short demonstration now.

"You should come and visit England." So, "should" means it is a good idea. "I think you should"

means do this. Okay? "You might be able to see the Queen." "Might" means there is a possibility.

Okay? Go to Buckingham Palace, have a look around. Okay. "You could leave a donation."

This means it is an option. It's not compulsory, but you can if you want. Now, "must" means

have to do something. No choice, have to do it. What do you have to do? You have to press

subscribe and you have to do the quiz to test your knowledge on what I've been talking about.

I hope what I've said has made some sense for you, and that you can carry on making

progress with your English. I've particularly enjoyed speaking... Teaching students from

Arab countries such as Oman and Saudi Arabia. I find that they're very good students and

work hard. I wish you well with your studies. Until next time, goodbye.