Why study Arabic?
Arabic is one of the world's most widely-spoken languages, as well as one of the official languages of the United Nations.
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It is the primary language for most of the Middle East, all of North Africa and the Comoros Islands off Madagascar and is spoken as a native language by more than 300 million people in 22 countries in a geographical area extending over 13 million Km2.
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Since Arabic is the language of the Qu’ran, it is understood by Muslims throughout the world.
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As a vehicle of the great Arabic-Islamic civilization Arabic embodies a rich cultural heritage.
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Knowledge of Arabic is in great demand and gives graduates access to excellent job opportunities. In fact, due to the increasingly growing diplomatic, economic and trade relations between the UK and the Arabic world, there is currently a high demand for and low supply of Arabic-speakers in Britain.
Students are introduced to Standard Arabic, also known as, fus-haa, which is understood by all speakers of the language regardless of region.
Prior knowledge of Arabic is not required for our programmes. In addition to teaching the script to ensure competence in reading and writing, our programmes provide a firm grounding in all aspects of the language as well as ensure a high level of cultural competence. All our programmes are taught by highly qualified, experienced and dedicated staff, most of whom are native speakers.
Ways to Study Arabic at the University of Birmingham
Module Outside the Main Discipline (MOMD):
Arabic is available as a language MOMD that can be taken by students from most Schools across the University. The module is worth 20 credits out of the 120 credits which students are required to study per annum. Availability of the MOMD scheme varies. Please check with your department/School before enrolling, as some degree programmes do not have provision for language MOMDs.
Open Access
Arabic courses are available in our Open Access programme, which is available to all. Students meet for 2 hours per week over 20 weeks in the University autumn and spring terms. A course fee is payable on enrolment. Please see our Open Access webpage for further details.
For further information, please contact
Languages for All
Email: lfa@contacts.bham.ac.uk
Telephone: +44 (0)121 414 6179