Al-Manhaj
Introduction
he teaching method Al-Manhaj has
promoted it, such as newspapers, the
Internet, advertisements, boards, signs and
all other means of information. As to spoken
Arabic, it cannot either be strictly limited to
such "monologues" as official speeches,
news bulletins, exposés or lectures.
Written Arabic is more and more commonly
used as a tool for communication and in the
world of work (during meetings, for debates,
speeches made on TV and on the radio,
thanks for instance to satellite channels).
Thus being able to use literal Arabic as a
spoken language as well as a written
language is essential to be able to communi-
cate, even if it must be completed with some
indispensable knowledge of dialectal Arabic.
8 Al-Manhaj - Literal Arabic for beginners
T
been especially designed for non
Arabic-speaking students. It com-
plies with the syllabus counselled by the
“French Education System” and means to be
a strict didactic tool for learners. It can be
used both by students who wish to have a
simple and easy access to the Arabic langua-
ge, as by those who intend to get a further
command of the language, in view of higher
studies or in order to use the language cur-
rently in their private or/and professional
life. Perfectly adapted for self-learning for all
those who cannot attend classes, this
method can however also be used in classes
provided the teacher makes the necessary
changes.
Teaching Arabic as a second language
implies using different teaching methods
from the ones used for those who are stu-
dying Arabic as a "national language" and
who already have a command of the dialec-
tal language but are taught the literal (or
written) Arabic at school in their countries.
We can of course not use the same methods
when teaching Arabic to English students
since they have no notion of Arabic whatsoe-
ver.
In Europe as a whole, but more especially in
France, the researches led on language tea-
ching methods have been quite invaluable to
the teaching of Arabic so that students of
Arabic may now benefit from the latest and
best means of learning the language.
The language studied in the teaching
method Al-Manhaj is modern written
Arabic. Hard as it may be to give an appro-
priate and accurate definition of what
modern written Arabic is it must be acknow-
ledged that it is no longer strictly confined to
books but has long been part and parcel of
our everyday background, especially
through administrative papers but also
thanks to the modern media which have
Al-Manhaj
Presentation
which, besides, follow a strict and methodi-
cal lexical and grammatical evolution. They
may however be studied separately or in a
different order if studied within a class
group with a teacher.
Learning how to write and how to pronoun-
ce Arabic for people who do not speak any
dialect is a point which is tackled in the first
two sequences, throughout the first five les-
sons.
Al-Manhaj - Literal Arabic for beginners
Teaching method Al-Manhaj
for beginners
his is the first level which will enable
T the learner to get some basic com-
mand of the language, so as ultima-
tely to be able to understand and make sim-
ple sentences both in the oral and written
language.
Didactic choices are made according to the
current uses of Arabic : for instance the
method will take into account the fact that
there are no short vowels in the written
Arabic, that whenever possible declensions
as well as the “ta' marbûta” will not be conside-
red, while noun clauses are quite commonly
used as well as every sentence structure
close to what is being used in the dialects…
The dialogues and texts which serve as star-
ting points to each lesson may not be quite
genuine yet but are a necessary step in the
learning process and should ultimately lead
the learner to a better understanding of
genuine documents with a richer content,
such as excerpts from novels, press articles,
radio or TV programmes…
This beginner handbook includes 5 sequen-
ces each focusing on a specific theme dealing
with different types of communication situa-
tions : greetings and polite replies or
requests, how to introduce someone or one-
self, how to get or ask for information, how
to find one's way around a town, time mar-
kers, the body and its sensations, how to
express one's feelings, family links… every-
thing always being related to the Arabic cul-
ture, in other words distinctive codes, tradi-
tions and customs…
Each sequence is divided into lessons all
dealing with the same theme. The first
sequence is divided into three lessons while
the other four are divided into two lessons.
The lessons of one same sequence complete
each other. So do the different sequences
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 Al-Manhaj

Third step : phonetic exercises
Icon :
You have to make out which
sounds are characteristic of
the Arabic language and do
not exist in English. That is
the reason why not all the
letters which you can find in the different
lessons will appear in the tables.

Fourth step : learning how to write
Arabic correctly
Icon :
The letters which you have
to learn appear in their diffe-
rent written forms, from the
first initial lines to the final
written form. They can all be
found at the end of each lesson in the order
of their appearance. You are meant to learn
how to move your hand to get as close as
possible to the Arabic way of writing and
learn new writing habits. Do write as much
and as long as need be, following the exam-
ples marked with arrows, so as to get a
fluent, adequate and readable handwriting.

Fifth step : writing exercises
From the tables of programmed letters on,
you will be given a series of writing exerci-
ses. The series starts with a list of words all
made up of letters which you have already
studied. You will first need to listen careful-
ly to the way each word is read, so as to
memorise them as well as possible, then you
can start doing the exercises.
Lesson 2
Follow the same steps.
Lesson 3
Follow the same steps as for
lessons 1 & 2. The third lesson
explains the first basic gram-
matical structures.
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Instructions for use
Sequence I
Lesson 1
For every part of the lesson which leads to
an oral work you will find the related recor-
dings which will be signalled thanks to the
following two icons :
Track xx
and numbered track by
track, the first track being
used for the theme music.

First step :
understanding / memorising
Listen to the text or dialogue as often as
necessary. Check by comparing with the full
translation enclosed at the end of the lesson.
We have deliberately chosen not to put the
translation right next to the dialogue, so as
to prompt the learner to listen carefully to
the dialogue and try to understand the voca-
bulary by himself. Once understood the dia-
logue will only need memorising fully by
repeating every line outloud, so as to impro-
ve the pronunciation, the rhythm and the
intonation…
It may then be useful to go back to the writ-
ten text to try and identify the “global” pat-
tern of every line. Every word from the dia-
logue can be found in the vocabulary toge-
ther with its translation.

Second step : writing
Icon :
The letters which must
be learnt will be shown
in their different posi-
tions, with examples and
the necessary explana-
tions.
Al-Manhaj - Literal Arabic for beginners
Al-Manhaj
Instructions for use
The way the lesson is structured will enable
you to understand as you go along thanks to
the given vocabulary. How to use the voca-
bulary is explained in sequences 1 & 2.
Texts for reading practice
From sequence 2 on you will find a series of
texts destined to improve your reading
skills. These texts are as close as possible to
genuine written documents and meant to
check how well you have improved all along.
They should be read and listened to on the
audio CD. Try to understand the texts as
much as you can thanks to the vocabulary.
Only use the full translation (at the end of
the lesson) once you have made the effort to
understand by yourself and only as a means
to doublecheck your understanding of the
texts.
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Al-Manhaj - Literal Arabic for beginners
It must be said that this part of the lesson
cannot in any way be considered as a tho-
rough grammatical analysis : it is just meant
to help understand the few main basic gram-
matical structures which you will find in
each lesson so as for you to be able to master
them correctly when doing the related exer-
cises. For each grammar point you will find
three figures : the first number corresponds
to the sequence, the second one to the les-
son, the third one to the grammar point in
hand.
Example: 2.1.1 = sequence 2, lesson 1, 1st
grammar point.
Sequence II
Lessons 1 & 2.
Follow the same steps as for sequence I.
Sequences III, IV, and V
You will also follow the same steps but from
sequence 3 on, you won’t need to memorise
the texts and dialogues entirely. Besides it is
strongly advised that you should look at the
full translation only as a last resort.
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