Tag: review

When I first discovered the SOAS Language Centre, I used to get lost around Russell Square…

Back in the days, I tried learning Urdu and Arabic at the Language Centre. I did not want to waste any time and thought university to be best environment.

However, this language centre had nothing to do with the degree programmes at the School of Oriental and African Studies. Rather, this was part-time study in the evenings, taught by non-faculty staff.

For Urdu, I never really progressed with the grammar, perhaps because I started in too high a level. However, they were the ones who chose the level for me.

As for Arabic, initially it seemed rather fun and engaging, but I was eventually put off. My first teacher (native speaker from Egypt doing a PHD) would somewhat teach us colloquial even though it was a Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) course.

My final teacher (a Palestinian from Syria studying a masters) was not much better, she often criticised MSA constructs because nobody uses them in speech.

It was like they needed to be often reminded that we (the students) had paid to be taught MSA.

One thousand pounds later, most of us felt that we had not learned anything useful. Frustrated, I somewhat turned my back on learning foreign languages.

Perhaps I should have taken this as a bad omen for studying in the Middle East.