Syrian Colloquial Arabic Course
NOW FREE
OF CHARGE ONLINE
About The Authors
Syrian Colloquial Arabic was a collaborative effort
between Australians Mary-Jane Liddicoat and Richard Lenanne and
Syrian Dr Iman Abdul Rahim. All three donated many hours of their
own time over 18 months to develop the course.
Mary-Jane Liddicoat
is currently Counsellor (Education) at the Australian Embassy
in Seoul, South Korea. Prior to this she worked for the
Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in Canberra,
Australia, and as First Secretary (Political) at the Australian
Embassy in Seoul. She majored in Japanese literature and graduated
from Sydney University in 1989. She also spent one year at the Nagoya
University Linguistics Centre, which inspired the SCA teaching methodology.
Mary-Jane worked as a translator and interpreter in Tokyo until
joining DFAT in 1994. She first studied Arabic at the British Council
in Cairo in 1995 and wrote Syrian Colloquial Arabic during an 18
month stay in Damascus in 1997-98. Mary-Jane also runs this
site and a new family in her spare time (check out her
anti-ad site, her arts
site or photo
albums here).
Richard Lennane also
worked for the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade
from 1992-2001. He graduated from the Australian National University
in 1992, studying computer science, chemistry, Arabic and Japanese.
Richard was posted as Third Secretary to the Australian Embassy
in Damascus 1997-98, where he helped refine and edit the Syrian
Colloquial Arabic material. Richard now works for the United
Nations and resides in Geneva, Switzerland.
Iman Abdul Rahim is
a professional interpreter/translator living and
working in Damascus. She completed her PhD in the UK on marketing
Syrian tourism and worked as the Director of International
Relations in the Syrian Ministry of Tourism. Iman has also
pursued a variety of other activities, including the teaching of
Arabic as a foreign language. She was the teacher for the first
Arabic Course at the British Council in Damascus, and worked closely
with Mary-Jane in developing and refining both syllabus and teaching
techniques.
The book is dedicated to our first Egyptian Colloquial Teacher at
the British Council in Cairo, Rifa’At.
Acknowledgments
This site would not have been possible without the generous support
and expertise of Mike Allbutt,
Peter
Shurley, and
Joshua Landis and his many helpful colleagues at the University
of Oaklahoma.
This original material would not have been possible without the
support and encouragement of many friends. In particular we would
like to thank the following people for their invaluable help: our
advisors Reham Al-Aryan, Hassana Mardam Bey,
Quotaiba Mardam Bey; the British
Council Damascus for being persuaded to set up an Arabic
course; and our first students Daniel, Eri, Heleene, Jutta, Katsuhito,
Kaoru, Maria, Miyako, Tanya and Vicki.
We would also like to thank all our teachers in the Arabic Department
of the British Council in Cairo for making
Arabic such fun.
And thanks to Rana Al-Atrash, Assem Al-Bunney
and Abu Mohammad whose voices are featured
in the recorded conversations.
|
