European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - February 03, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                War talk learning arabic continued from cover arabic is spoken by about 185 million people and is familiar to millions More As a religious Lam Guage for non Arab muslims worldwide. Al. Though most arabs speak some sort of dialect these students Are learning the Standard language used for writing. ,. A learning arabic is not easy. On a level of Dill Cully its classified witly chinese mandarin or japanese. A a it Soncoff the most difficult in relation ,�?� says map Don Taylor the school s director of operations. A a a a there Are 2mc-.r-r.s in the arabic alphabet Many with  Alent sound in.  can take three dil Lerent forms depending on its position in a word. The language is written right to left the opposite of English and other european languages. All this plus a totally different logic and Struc Turc make the language challenging to Icahn. A when an instructor writes a new word on the Board it does no to help Quot As it might in other Ian go arcs that use a familiar alphabet one student says. A a a. A a. A. A a there a no comparison a he adds. A you can to think in English a this different logic a a different Way of thinking when using the language a makes it challenging for the instructors too As they try to teach this a a alien language a especially since some of them arc not fluent in English. Parts of the course Are taught in German though the goal is to speak in arabic As much As possible. There Are aspects of the language however. That Are easy to learn. The rules of grammar for an instructor writing right to left demonstrates arabic script to the  i example a seem to be consistent a says one student although the rules can also be Complex. A a lot of arabic is not pronounced even _ though its written a says another. Some word endings for example while written Are dropped in Ordinary speech. This helps the spoken Lan. Guage to flow More smoothly. Another complication is that Many of the vowels arc not written. Those must be Learned by speaking the language and words arc pronounced differently depending on the dialect being used. Taylor says students arc taught the iraqi dialect earning arabic is not easy. On a level of difficulty it s classified with chinese mandarin or japanese. And a Standard arabic that is understood throughout the Arab world but because the instructors speak different dialects the students get a broader exposure. This can cause disagreement among instructors on How something should be pronounced the students say. Although this May add to the confusion students Sec it As an advantage. A later when we hear a dialect it wont take us completely off guard a says one student. The schools commander it. Col. Jon Baker says these 24 students Are among 180 now taking arabic courses uttered by the department of defense at three schools. But that a where the similarity ends. _ _. I this course teaches in 24 weeks what is taught in 64 weeks at the defense language Institute at Monterey Calif. That Cun be accomplished both the instructors and students  not Only Are Munich s students proven linguists hut also the instruction is much More intense a up to 10 hours a Day. Plus the teacher student ratio is very Good some phases of the course have Only three students per. Instructor.-. \ r Baker says that the Munich school is not in Competition with nor is it a supplement to the Monterey school because his school does no to take students from a ground  do May have a washout rate of up to 25 percent simply because Lor various reasons sonic students can t learn 9 second language lie says. Munich a students arc different. Because they re already skilled in languages Many of the basics such As grammar and the concept of feminine or masculine endings do not have to be taught. A a a -. A  the course get them proficient in arabic in six Short months some students were sceptical a but alter the first couple of weeks i am very Contd Cut that this program w ill work a says one. The stated goal of the course Jtaylor Suid is to get the students to proficiency level 2. That Means they will have a a limited working proficiency in arabic giving them enough skills to understand conversations in routine social settings. Listening and Reading Are the top priorities for the course and i uric assignments speaking is Lesli import Tail. A a. But Taylor is confident that some of. The students will reach a higher level of proficiency enabling them to begin to think in arabic. While linguists from All three serv ices usually attend language courses in Munich this particular class has Only army and Navy people. A the air Force is a Little Busy right now a says one student. A besides they Don t need to talk to anyone right now.�?�. But As the Gulf War continues there arc 24 peo pie w How la probably get the change to do some listening a and maybe some talking a in their new language. A a a amps stay Taylor sunday february 3. 1991