I am currently editing My Daily Life in the City, the first book in the series, I read in Arabic, a series of short stories designed for intermediate Arabic learners. One decision I’ve had to contemplate was whether to include transcriptions in Latin and, if so, where and how frequently to incorporate them.
If you’ve ever learned Arabic or a language with a different script than your native language, you’re likely familiar with the challenge of decoding its script and becoming adept at reading it effortlessly. These unique alphabetic systems can often discourage learners from grasping reading skills right from the start. And so, some learners count mainly on audio methods to circumvent the hurdle of learning a difficult script such as Arabic, at least, for a while until they’ve established a strong grasp of the language’s phonetics. For a while, they don’t bother to read or write, focusing solely on absorbing the language. That is fine, except that if they want to take their learning to the next level, they will eventually have to learn how to read in that script.
And, so, as I began planning my book, I thought that its reader should have built a groundwork before using it. Thus, he or she would be capable of independently reading the stories and learning the vocabulary in their original Arabic script. Initially, I considered not burdening myself or the book with the issue of the pronunciation of the Arabic letters. However, an essential aspect for me was to make the book as holistic as possible, and as self-contained as a language book could be. I wanted it to be enjoyable for both casual readers and avid learners alike. And the best way was to include a phonetic transcription of the stories and vocabulary. This way, the reader could simply rely on the transcription to confirm or learn the correct pronunciation. At the outset of the book, I provided an alphabet table with individual phonetic transcriptions. This arrangement enables the reader to easily make sense of the sounds by reading their respective transcriptions.
Some may ask but what is a phonetic transcription?
It is a system of symbols designed to represent the sounds of the different languages of the world. I employed a standardized international system to transcribe the main Arabic texts in the book. You can find more information about it in this Wikipedia article on The International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA).
I also added the short vowels, known as الحركات in Arabic, to the texts. Normally, these are not included in printed texts except, maybe, in poetry books, children’s books or to differentiate between two words with the same spelling. These حركات or short vowels show on consonants that are not followed by long vowels. They are as important as any other type of vowels since they make it possible to pronounce the consonants, as you’re aware. However, those on the final letter can be optional, particularly in modern Arabic. So, a sentence such as
رأيتُ وردةً جميلةً
can be read by pronouncing the short vowels on the very last letter of each word this way:
rʾaītu ūardaẗan ǧamīlaẗan
Optionally, these final short vowels can be muted. In that case, you would say:
rʾaīt ūarda ǧamīla
Therefore, in the book, My Daily life in The City, you will find many of the phonetic transcriptions of these short vowels on the final consonants, known as declensions in the analysis of Arabic sentences or الإعراب. Declensions are important for accurate reading and writing in Arabic, although their strict application may also be relaxed in everyday speech and communication. This variation occurs because the Arabic language, including MSA, comprises two distinct forms: one for written expression and another for spoken communication.
At the end of the day, every Arabic learner aspires to read without relying on phonetic transcription. The quicker he/she masters reading the Arabic script, the smoother their learning journey becomes. By incorporating phonetic transcriptions in my book, I’m making sure that it caters to the needs of all learners, no matter where they are in mastering Arabic letters.
I would like to hear your thoughts about this. Have you ever utilized phonetic transcriptions in your language-learning journey? Do you think they’re important for learning difficult languages such as Arabic?
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