Resource Review: Sennheiser RS120 Wireless Headphones

I realized recently that I need to spend a lot more time listening to Arabic. When I began the language my motivation to listen wasn't all that high, because I could hardly understand anything. Now that I'm seven months into the course, my vocabulary is big enough to make listening really worthwhile. I've also found resources that I genuinely enjoy listening to, like BBC Arabic radio and Al-Jazeera Lil-Atfal. I would be happy to spend a couple hours an evening now just watching TV or listening to the radio. However, as a husband and a father of a six-month old, it's hard to sit still long enough in the evenings to study much of anything. My wife, who is striving to learn Arabic as a full-time mom, has it even harder.

So to make our study habits more efficient, I decided to buy these headphones for my wife for her birthday... and then dutifully tested them out. I love them so far. We plug the base into a computer, stereo or iPod, and then we are free to roam around the house... changing diapers, doing dishes, playing with our tifl, all while studying al-lugha al-arabiyya. Yes, we're dorks... but it works.

Only complaint is some minor static at times, but nothing showstopping. You can read the rest of the details in the Amazon reviews.

Sound & Script RapidRote Files (DLI Students)

When my class began at DLI, we found no sign that RapidRote files existed for the Sound & Script unit (the first unit of the curriculum). We put these RapidRote lists together and had a native speaker record them. Here are the files:

Sound & Script Files

My New Favorite Listening Resource: Al-Jazeera's Children's Channel Website

I'm consistently amazed at how much wealth DLI fails to share with its students. Six months into my Arabic course, I'm still discovering new resources that I should have learned about on Day 1. Today my MLI introduced our class to my new favorite resource: www.jcctv.net, the website of Al-Jazeera's children's channel.

I've watched quite a bit of Al-Jazeera Lal-Atfal in the past on 3arabtv. As a new student I liked watching cartoons that used basic, highly repetitive vocabulary, but the channel had disadvantages. The sound quality on 3arabtv isn't superb, and many cartoon characters speak in high squeaky voices.

But the Al-Jazeera Lal-Atfal website is superb. It contains dozens of high-quality videos with crisp, articulate Arabic speakers. Our class is in currently in a Sports, Hobbies & Entertainment unit, so today our MLI directed us to a section of the website where we could find dozens of episodes of an educational TV show about sports. Each episode featured one or two different sports. Our MLI said the website contains lots of other useful educational programming, such as Science & Technology. I'm looking forward to digging into the site more.

Paired Videos and Transcripts from CNN

I posted a few weeks ago that Al-Jazeera posts both videos and accompanying transcripts online. I learned today that CNN does the same thing with short news clips. If you visit arabic.cnn.com and go to the Videos link, you'll find numerous short clips with accompanying transcripts.

For those of you (like me) who aren't quite up to the level of full Al-Jazeera TV programs yet, these short clips are an excellent resource.

Resource: LingNet Materials

LingNet is a website produced and maintained by the Foreign Language Center at DLI. It's packed full of resources. I haven't played with it too much, but I like what I've seen.

Here are a few of the resources I've tried:

phone.lingnet.org has lengthy telephone conversations in dialect. This is one of the best resources I've found for working on my Levantine.

gloss.lingnet.org has a wide selection of passages to practice listening/reading comprehension.

arabicaccents.lingnet.org has 20+ passages. Each passage has ten different recordings in MSA, spoken by Arabs from different regions of the Arab world. This tool allows you to compare and recognize Arabic accents.

Resource Review: 3arabTV

Yesterday I checked my web stats and was surprised to see how many users stumbled across this site while Googling for help with the Arabic language or Arabic DLPT5. I know as well as anybody how much help Arabic students need, and how few quality resources are available, which is why I started this site. I wish I had more to offer, but I will keep providing what I can.

One extremely helpful Internet resource is 3arabTV, a website that gives users free streaming access to 60+ Arabic TV channels, as well as Arabic radio stations and movies. I use the site regularly to watch Al Jazeera and listen to BBC Arabic radio. Earlier in the course, when I didn't yet feel ready to tackle the news, I spent a lot of time watching the Al Jazeera Children's Network. I'll probably go crazy if I hear the Berenstein Bears' theme song one more time, but the show provided (and still provides) great listening practice for beginner or intermediate Arabic students. The vocab was very practical, covering topics like families, activities, animals, etc. Right now the Arabic BBC is my channel of choice, because it uses very straightforward vocabulary, uses very little idiomatic language, and has very articulate journalists. As my comprehension improves, I'm mixing in more authentic sources like Al Jazeera.

Whatever your preference, you'll find it on 3arabTV. It includes news channels from most countries in the Arab world, movie channels, music videos channels, and more. The quality is not always that great--the video is a little pixelated and some of the channels have a hollow, distant sound--but the Arabic is definitely clear enough to use for listening practice.

Because the video is streaming, there's no immediate way to record it. However, you can buy a variety of inexpensive programs that will allow you to record. I spent $50 to buy Replay AV, a simple program that allows you to record any streaming media. You can record manually, or you can program the software to record scheduled programs at fixed times. With 3arabtv and Replay, I've built up a good collection of clips for listening practice.