New Transparent Arabic Blogger: Hanan Posted by Hanan Ben Nafa on Mar 22, 2017 in Uncategorized
Salaam Everyone! Since this is an Arabic language blog, I made sure I start my post with an Arabic word used for greetings, and that is: Salaam سلام which means ”Peace”.
About me
I’m a new blogger and my name is Hanan. I will be publishing weekly posts about the Arabic language, focusing on different aspects each time, both linguistic and cultural ones. I have been in the UK since 2009 when I was awarded a scholarship to pursue my studies abroad after finishing secondary school. I’m currently a 3rd year PhD candidate in Sociolinguistics at Manchester Metropolitan University. The title of my PhD project is: ‘Code-Switching & Social identity construction among Arabic-English bilinguals’. I am interested in looking at the social challenges that bilingual face, especially around issues of identity. I’m currently working in the areas of Bilingualism, Applied Linguistics and Language Variation & Identity. Alongside academia and apart from my main interest in Sociolinguistics, I’m also an Arabic-English translator and an interpreter. I’m also very passionate about languages and everyday language use by bilinguals.
About two years ago, I was worried that I could be losing my first language – Arabic – as I spend most of my time speaking, reading and writing in English. So, I decided to do something about it and the first thing was to listen to the BBC Arabic Radio everyday to make sure I get a daily exposure to Standard Arabic. Unsurprisingly, whenever I work on something that is related to Arabic, I feel I’m alive and that what I’m doing is meaningful to me. Studying for a diploma in public service
interpreting was the thing that I recently worked on and I have recently become interested in literary translation into Arabic. Then, I started to teach Arabic and finally the opportunity of writing weekly blogs to learners of Arabic came along. I’m quite excited about this as I really enjoy sharing my language and culture with others; I find it very rewarding. I hope you will benefit from these posts and find them useful in some way. If you have any questions, please get in touch or add a comment below. If you have any aspect of Arabic (both language and culture) that you would like to know more about, I’d very happy to help you learn more about it … just ask!
Finally, you can find out more about me and my work by visiting my personal webpage here.
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About the Author: Hanan Ben Nafa
Hi, this is Hanan :) I'm an Arabic linguist. I completed my PhD in Linguistics - 2018. My PhD thesis was entitled Code-switching as an evaluative strategy: identity construction among Arabic-English bilinguals. I'm also a qualified public service translator & interpreter.
Comments:
m:
Hello wa Saalam! I look forward to your posts. I am slowly learning MSA and I would ask if you have any suggestions for training one’s ear to distinguish Eyen (ɣ) from the other arabic sounds, I would love to read about it. thank you and happy blogging!
Hanan:
@m salam 🙂 Thanks for your warm welcome.
I think you meant /ʕ/ which is ع but /(ɣ/ is غ
If you mean /(ɣ/, it sounds exactly like French /r/. Is there a specific sound you tend to confuse it with or a sound that is very similar to it?
Aziza:
It is great pleasure to know more about you Hanan and to have on the Arabic Blog team! Aziza
Hanan:
@Aziza Thank you Aziza 🙂 Teslami
Marie:
Welcome aboard! I’d really be interested in the results of your PhD work. When I studied for a year in Germany, I spent a lot of time with Iraqis and I was taking Arabic courses. I’m least proficient in Arabic, but we’d constantly switch between Arabic, German, and English, even in the same sentence, and not even bat an eye. Sometimes, there’s just a better word for what you want to convey in another language. Sometimes, you can convey your personality better in another language. Then, sometimes, the person with whom you’re speaking has limited proficiency in one language and you have to switch so that they understand you. Sometimes, you just can’t think of the word. I think, the more I’ve studied other languages, the greater awareness and appreciation I have for what they do in my everyday life.
Hanan:
@Marie hey Maria. Thanks for your comment.
You can read more about my PhD project on my website. There are some articles and papers there 🙂
It’s indeed an interesting linguistic practice among bilinguals!
Cheers!
Ibrahim bah:
Hello i m very interested to this blog and would to stay and share more about it . i should introduce myself as Cameroonian who is also teacher of arabic in secondary school next tome !!!