Punctuation in Arabic speakers?

[Raymott]

Originally Posted by atchan

*
My own writing English wasn’t as good as it is before that. What do you think?

We like and study English language but why English speakers don’t study Arabic language? Are they hate Arabs and Arabic language? Really I wonder.

I think your writing has improved since you started coming here, but I don't remember that it was that bad before.
Many English speakers study Arabic, but they probably wouldn't come to this site. So you wouldn't know about it. There are several good websites that teach Arabic to English-speaking people.

[m7d !! shraty]

We like and study English language but why English speakers don’t study Arabic language? Are they hate Arabs and Arabic language? Really I wonder.

I asked myself this question hundred time
Mybe I found the answer. I think because English language is the uinversal language so why they learn Arabic language??? they don't need it ,except in one case if they lived in Arabic country, here I think it's useful. Arabic language is not necessary for foreign people. In contrast Arab people,English language is very, very and very necessary. We use it in the schools and university, work, scientific research and Tec ...... etc.

So Why They Learn Arabic Language AND They Will Not USE IT, because they will use their native language.

[Atchan]

Originally Posted by m7d !! shraty

I asked myself this question hundred time
Mybe I found the answer. I think because English language is the uinversal language so why they learn Arabic language??? they don't need it ,except in one case if they lived in Arabic country, here I think it's useful. Arabic language is not necessary for foreign people. In contrast Arab people,English language is very, very and very necessary. We use it in the schools and university, work, scientific research and Tec ...... etc.

So Why They Learn Arabic Language AND They Will Not USE IT, because they will use their native language.

Really you are funny. Without English language we wouldn't live?!!
Arabs study English only for their future jobs otherwise they wouldn’t.

[BobK]

Originally Posted by atchan

...
Do the punctuations are necessary?

I know. What I mean: 'Who cares?' What? Others think?

b

[Tdol]

I have banned him for 2 months- it's a straight red for that sort of calculated ignorant rubbish.

[Raymott]

Originally Posted by BobK

I know. What I mean: 'Who cares?' What? Others think?

b

What? On earth, do you mean?

[smaila]

Originally Posted by Raymott

Hello Arabic speakers.

This is a question I've been wondering about for a while.
Do English teachers in the Arab world teach English punctuation? Do they know it themselves? Are students expected to put the correct spacing around punctuation when they write an essay, or is it generally acceptable just to get the words right?

I'm genuinely interested in knowing whether English punctuation is actually taught.

Yes of course they do teach us English punctuation , but about the second question "do they know it themselves?" if I want to be honest i'm telling you that all of the teachers know the basics but they don't know the details.
- I have been in school since eight years and i've been lucky only once to have a good English teacher who can tell me and the other students every single thing about the punctuation.
- Yeah it's important to use punctuation in anything we write at English class but the students who do are very little ,so it's gonna be wierd to find some of them on websites.
That's how we are in Jordan but I don't know how the other countries are.
-Thanks for asking such thing and i'm sorry for any grammatical or spelling mistakes " I'm not that good".

[Raymott]

Originally Posted by smaila

Yes of course they do teach us English punctuation , but about the second question "do they know it themselves?" if I want to be honest i'm telling you that all of the teachers know the basics but they don't know the details.
- I have been in school since eight years and i've been lucky only once to have a good English teacher who can tell me and the other students every single thing about the punctuation.
- Yeah it's important to use punctuation in anything we write at English class but the students who do are very little ,so it's gonna be wierd to find some of them on websites.
That's how we are in Jordan but I don't know how the other countries are.
-Thanks for asking such thing and i'm sorry for any grammatical or spelling mistakes " I'm not that good".

Thank you for your honest reply. As a reward, I will give you an important tip. (Actually, I'm not even addressing the details of punctuation - only its form.)

The only correct way to use a period or comma is this:
"word, word". That is, the punctuation mark comes directly after the end of a word, then comes a space, then another word.
This has no effect on meaning; it just makes a text easier to read. As I mentioned before, it's invariable. Open any English book by any English publisher, and you will find it thus. This is not an optional issue of style.

This might appear to be an unnecessary cultural imposition, but it's like putting your pants on before you go outside - it's just something we do in Western society. We put a space after a punctuation mark, not before it.

I'm beginning to think there is an element of cultural antagonism, even from teachers, who might know correct punctuation, but do not use it since it appears to be caving in to arbitrary Western standards of form for no apparent benefit of increased clarity. If this is true, I'm sure the point is lost on most native speakers, who simply see incorrect punctuation.

In any case, it's not true that the form of punctuation has no effect on meaning. And any cultural message you might want to send would be better received if it is written in good English. So a deliberate policy of not using Western punctuation properly is largely self-defeating.

As far as learning English for personal advancement, as someone mentioned, you will not get a job requiring English if you cannot use the correct form of punctuation.

You have generally done quite well.

[IHIVG]

Am I the only one who's missing something here?

I've just looked through these pages and I'm left wondering what Atchan was banned for...

[rx-f]

Originally Posted by Raymott

Interesting. Thank you very much for replying, muslim girl.
See, the problem I have is that you don't use it. Let's take your message. Your English is good enough to reply to me with an understandable post, yet the only punctuation you use (.. and ,,,) don't exist. There are no periods, commas or capital letters. Are you taught to use punctuation only in exams?
Can you see my problem in understanding this mystery?

I've been meaning to write in response to this for a few days. The reason is that the other day I received an email written in English from a Japanese friend. It was full of triple commas, just like the post from Muslim Girl that you commented on. Maybe my Japanese friend has done that in the past but I just didn't notice.

Anyway, it got me wondering if the triple comma was some kind of cell phone/text messaging phenomena, or if it's perhaps some sort of convention in messages on social networking websites.

I can tell you for sure that none of her English teachers would ever have taught such punctuation to her.