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18-Jul-2010, 05:58
|  | VIP Member | | Join Date: Jun 2008 Country: Australia
Posts: 9,893
Current Location: Brisbane Native Language: English Member Type: Academic | | Punctuation in Arabic speakers? 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. | 
18-Jul-2010, 22:53
| | Newbie | | Join Date: Jul 2010 Country: ksa - riyadh
Posts: 3
Current Location: riyadh Native Language: arabic Member Type: Student or Learner | | Re: Punctuation in Arabic speakers? hii
nice to asked this question ..
and i ahve the answer because am arab girl specificly from saudi arabi ..
and the answer is yes .. we are learning the english puctiuation in our schools or universities ,,,
and we are must include then in our essay or paragraphes ..
and the other reason is m the punctiuation is a part of learning english so we must know something enough about it | 
18-Jul-2010, 22:55
| | Newbie | | Join Date: Jul 2010 Country: ksa - riyadh
Posts: 3
Current Location: riyadh Native Language: arabic Member Type: Student or Learner | | Re: Punctuation in Arabic speakers? hii
nice to asked this question ..
and i have the answer because am arab girl specificly from saudi arabi ..
and the answer is yes .. we are learning the english puctiuation in our schools or universities ,,,
and we are must include then in our essay or paragraphes ..
and the other reason is m the punctiuation is a part of learning english so we must know something enough about it | 
19-Jul-2010, 01:04
|  | VIP Member | | Join Date: Jun 2008 Country: Australia
Posts: 9,893
Current Location: Brisbane Native Language: English Member Type: Academic | | Re: Punctuation in Arabic speakers? Quote:
Originally Posted by muslim girl hii
nice to asked this question ..
and i have the answer because am arab girl specificly from saudi arabi ..
and the answer is yes .. we are learning the english puctiuation in our schools or universities ,,,
and we are must include then in our essay or paragraphes ..
and the other reason is m the punctiuation is a part of learning english so we must know something enough about it | 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? | 
19-Jul-2010, 02:04
|  | Senior Member | | Join Date: Apr 2010 Country: Somalia
Posts: 1,271
Current Location: Saudi Arabia Native Language: Arabic, Somali Member Type: Student or Learner | | Re: Punctuation in Arabic speakers? Quote:
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? Yes they do, but Arab students don’t get attention to English punctuations because they think that it doesn’t necessary. The basic thing for Arab students is to get more English verbs. The reason that most Arab students don’t excel in English language is that they study half and ignore the other half. That is a disaster.
Do they know it themselves? Yes they know it. The problem isn’t from teachers its from students.
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? About me, I didn’t study English punctuations yet. I will study it in the next days. Do you know that Arabs say “we must know something enough about English language but we will not be forced to study entirely”.
I'm genuinely interested in knowing whether English punctuation is actually taught. | * | 
19-Jul-2010, 02:09
|  | Senior Member | | Join Date: Apr 2010 Country: Somalia
Posts: 1,271
Current Location: Saudi Arabia Native Language: Arabic, Somali Member Type: Student or Learner | | Re: Punctuation in Arabic speakers? Quote:
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? | We use English punctuations only in Facebook specially these (,,, and ....) and that is funny  . But I want to ask you the same question.
Do the punctuations are necessary? | 
19-Jul-2010, 02:18
|  | VIP Member | | Join Date: Jun 2008 Country: Australia
Posts: 9,893
Current Location: Brisbane Native Language: English Member Type: Academic | | Re: Punctuation in Arabic speakers? Quote:
Originally Posted by atchan We use English punctuations only in Facebook specially these (,,, and ....) and that is funny  . But I want to ask you the same question. Do Are the punctuations are necessary? | Yes, it is necessary, unless you want to irritate and annoy many of your correspondents. Sometimes, it's vital to understanding a text; other times, it's simply polite, and it makes you appear educated. I can see that you use basic punctuation properly. It's not hard, is it?
If I was learning Arabic, could I get away with using initial letter forms in the middle of words, or leaving out dots over or under letters? What would you think of my writing if I did this? | 
19-Jul-2010, 10:23
| | Junior Member | | Join Date: Jun 2010 Country: UK
Posts: 43
Current Location: USA Native Language: English Member Type: English Teacher | | Re: Punctuation in Arabic speakers? From Swan and Smith's Learner English:
"Arabic punctuation is now similar to western style punctuation... The use of full stops and commas is much freer than in English, and it is common to begin each new sentence with the equivalent of And or So. Connected writing in English therefore tends to contain long, loose sentences, linked by commas and ands."
I suspect there's an element of L1 interference in what you're seeing. | | The Following User Says Thank You to rx-f For This Useful Post: | | 
19-Jul-2010, 10:26
| | Senior Member | | Join Date: Jun 2010 Country: England
Posts: 855
Current Location: Lancashire Native Language: English Member Type: English Teacher | | Re: Punctuation in Arabic speakers? Quote:
Originally Posted by muslim girl hii
nice to asked this question ..
and i have the answer because am arab girl specificly from saudi arabi ..
and the answer is yes .. we are learning the english puctiuation in our schools or universities ,,,
and we are must include then in our essay or paragraphes ..
and the other reason is m the punctiuation is a part of learning english so we must know something enough about it | Are you also taught about the use of capital letters, Muslim Girl?
Rover | 
21-Jul-2010, 00:27
|  | Senior Member | | Join Date: Apr 2010 Country: Somalia
Posts: 1,271
Current Location: Saudi Arabia Native Language: Arabic, Somali Member Type: Student or Learner | | Re: Punctuation in Arabic speakers? Quote:
Originally Posted by Raymott Yes, it is necessary, unless you want to irritate and annoy many of your correspondents. Sometimes, it's vital to understanding a text; other times, it's simply polite, and it makes you appear educated. I can see that you use basic punctuation properly. It's not hard, is it? Absolutely NO, but what this punctuation “;” denotes? I didn’t get it in my English grammar.
If I was learning Arabic, could I get away with using initial letter forms in the middle of words, or leaving out dots over or under letters? What would you think of my writing if I did this? Really it will be awkward. But I want to tell you that Arabic is easier than English. Using dots in Arabic isn’t necessary you can use and instead of dot. That is what I did when I was translating an Arabic lesson to English language then English speakers said “a classic example of what is called a "run-on sentence." It keeps on going and going without a proper ending. In general in English, each sentence should convey one idea, one thought”. Look this link http://www.usingenglish.com/forum/as...ul-2-look.html
The style of writing English is differs than Arabic so that is what I sign up to this website or forum to improve my English skills and to get English-speaker friends.
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. | *
Last edited by atchan; 21-Jul-2010 at 01:12.
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