Typical Arabic Speaker Problems

1 · Pronunciation

p and b: park, not bark

Arabic has the sound /b/ but no /p/ of its own (a few speakers use p in borrowed words such as pizza, but not reliably). So the two English sounds often both come out as b, and pay sounds like bay, park like bark. Listeners then hear a different word.

• We had a bicnic by the lake. (you mean picnic)We had a picnic /ˈpɪknɪk/ by the lake.
• Please bay the bill at the desk. (you mean pay)Please pay /peɪ/ the bill at the desk.
• I left my car in the barking space. (you mean parking)I left my car in the parking /ˈpɑːkɪŋ/ space.
• He plays the biano very well. (you mean piano)He plays the piano /piˈænəʊ/ very well.

How to make it

1. Press your lips together, then open them with a small pop.
2. For p, push a puff of air out and keep your throat quiet. Hold a thin strip of tissue in front of your mouth: it should flutter on p and hardly move on b.
3. For b, put two fingers on your throat and feel it buzz as your lips open.
4. At the end of a word, make the vowel short before p (cap) and longer before b (cab).

Say it after me

park, bark, pear, bear, cap, cab, pie, buy

2 · Pronunciation

f and v: video, not fideo

Arabic has /f/ but no /v/ of its own (it appears in some borrowed words, and some speakers pronounce it well). Most learners therefore say f for both: fideo for video, fisit for visit. A few speakers go the other way and use b for v, closing both lips.

• We watched a fideo about the festival.We watched a video /ˈvɪdiəʊ/ about the festival.
• I will fisit my cousins on Friday.I will visit /ˈvɪzɪt/ my cousins on Friday.
• I have to leaf early tomorrow. (you mean leave)I have to leave /liːv/ early tomorrow.
• Our fan is parked outside the house. (you mean van)Our van /væn/ is parked outside: top teeth on the bottom lip, voice on.

How to make it

1. Rest your top teeth lightly on your bottom lip. Your lips stay open at the sides.
2. For f, blow air through the gap. Your throat stays quiet.
3. For v, do the same and switch your voice on. Feel the buzz in your throat and the tickle on your lip.
4. Check in a mirror: for v you should see your top teeth on your lip, not your two lips closed.

Say it after me

fan, van, leaf, leave, safe, save, ferry, very

3 · Pronunciation

bit, bet, bat: three short vowels

Arabic has only three short vowels, and they carry little meaning: the consonants and the long vowels do most of the work. English has many short vowels, and the difference between them is what separates words. So /ɪ/ and /e/ are often mixed (bit for bet), and /e/ and /æ/ too (men for man). Dialects vary, but this is a very common pattern.

• I need a new pin to write my notes. (you mean pen)I need a new pen /pen/ to write my notes.
• Put the bad next to the window. (you mean bed)Put the bed /bed/ next to the window.
• I will land you my dictionary. (you mean lend)I will lend /lend/ you my dictionary.
• She put the juice in a ten. (you mean tin)She put the juice in a tin /tɪn/.

How to make it

1. For /ɪ/, keep your jaw almost closed and your lips relaxed. Make it quick.
2. For /e/, open your jaw about half way. It is still short.
3. For /æ/, drop your jaw wide, as if you are about to yawn, with your tongue low and forward.
4. Say bit, bet, bat slowly in a mirror: your mouth should open a little more each time.

Say it after me

bit, bet, bat, pin, pen, pan, lid, led, lad

4 · Pronunciation

cot, caught, cut: three o-sounds

Most varieties of Arabic have no vowel like the short /ɒ/ of hot or the relaxed /ʌ/ of cup, and English spelling does not help: the letter o is /ɒ/ in hot, /ʌ/ in come and /əʊ/ in go. So /ɒ/ and /ɔː/ are often confused (cot for caught), and the short /ʌ/ is often replaced by one of them.

• I cot a bad cold last week. (you mean caught)I caught /kɔːt/ a bad cold last week.
• He wrote a shot story about his village. (you mean short)He wrote a short /ʃɔːt/ story about his village.
• Please luck the door when you leave. (you mean lock)Please lock /lɒk/ the door when you leave.
• I had a cop of tea after lunch. (you mean cup)I had a cup /kʌp/ of tea after lunch.

How to make it

1. For /ɒ/, open your mouth fairly wide with your lips slightly round. Keep it short.
2. For /ɔː/, make your lips into a clear circle and hold the sound for a count of two.
3. For /ʌ/, let your lips relax completely, with the tongue in the middle: a short, lazy "uh".
4. Say cot, caught, cut. The middle one is the long one.

Say it after me

cot, caught, cut, shot, short, pot, port, luck, lock

5 · Pronunciation

met or mate, slop or slope: gliding vowels

The English vowels /eɪ/ (raid, wait) and /əʊ/ (hope, road) move from one sound to another. Many Arabic speakers make them short and steady, close to /e/ and /ɒ/, so wait sounds like wet and slope like slop. The glide is what listeners use to tell these words apart.

• We had a long wet in the queue. (you mean wait)We had a long wait /weɪt/ in the queue.
• We walked up a steep slop. (you mean slope)We walked up a steep slope /sləʊp/.
• I have a bad pen in my back. (you mean pain)I have a bad pain /peɪn/ in my back.
• Drive carefully on the rod. (you mean road)Drive carefully on the road /rəʊd/.

How to make it

1. For /eɪ/, start with your jaw half open, then slide your tongue up and forward as your mouth closes a little.
2. For /əʊ/, start with your lips relaxed, then round them as the sound slides to "oo".
3. Make the vowel long and keep it moving: wai-ait, slo-oape.
4. Compare with the short pure vowels: wet (short), wait (long, moving); slop (short), slope (long, moving).

Say it after me

met, mate, wet, wait, slop, slope, pen, pain, road

6 · Pronunciation

Extra vowels: iskool, pelease, friendiz

Arabic words rarely start with two consonants together, and it has far fewer long groups of consonants at the end of a word than English. To make a group easier, many speakers slip a short vowel in: iskool for school, pelease for please, friendiz for friends. Dialects differ in where the vowel appears, but the result is the same: extra syllables.

• I study at a big iskool. (three syllables)I study at a big school /skuːl/. (one syllable)
• Pelease sit down. (three syllables)Please /pliːz/ sit down. (one syllable)
• I met my friendiz at lunch. (extra syllable)I met my friends /frendz/ at lunch. (one syllable)
• The childiren play outside. (three syllables)The children /ˈtʃɪldrən/ play outside. (two syllables)

How to make it

1. Start with the first consonant held for a moment, then move straight to the next one: ssss-treet, not is-treet.
2. Practise slowly in pieces: s, t, r, eet, then speed up until there is no gap.
3. At the end of a word, keep your tongue moving from one consonant to the next: n, k, s, t. Do not open a vowel between them.
4. Tap your finger once per syllable. Street, price, next and asked get one tap each.

Say it after me

street, spring, school, plan, price, next, asked, months, children

7 · Pronunciation

-ed and -s endings: walked, cleaned, wanted

Arabic spelling is largely phonetic, so many speakers feel they should say every written letter. So walked becomes walk-id and stopped becomes stop-id, with an extra syllable. In the other direction, English needs a whole extra syllable after s, z, sh and ch (boxes, watches), which is easy to miss.

• We walk-id home after school. (two syllables)We walked /wɔːkt/ home after school. (one syllable)
• She clean-id her room. (two syllables)She cleaned /kliːnd/ her room. (one syllable)
• He want her to come. (no ending)He wanted /ˈwɒntɪd/ her to come. (two syllables)
• There were three box in the car. (no extra syllable)There were three boxes /ˈbɒksɪz/ in the car. (add /ɪz/)

How to make it

1. Put two fingers on your throat. For /d/ and /z/ you feel a buzz; for /t/ and /s/ you feel nothing.
2. For -ed, copy the sound before it: no buzz before it gives a quick /t/, a buzz before it gives a quick /d/.
3. Add the extra syllable /ɪd/ only after t or d: want-ed, need-ed.
4. For plurals and verbs ending in s, z, sh, ch or j, add a whole syllable: box-es, watch-es, wish-es.

Say it after me

walked, cleaned, wanted, books, dogs, boxes, watches, bus, buzz

8 · Pronunciation

Word stress: eDUcation, not educaTION

In Arabic, stress follows fixed patterns and never changes the meaning of a word, so the idea of learning a stress place for every word is new. English stress is unpredictable and it can change the meaning: a REcord (noun) but to reCORD (verb). Without the right stress, a word can be hard to recognise even when every sound is correct.

• e-du-ca-TION (stress at the end)e-du-CA-tion: stress the syllable before -tion
• to REcord a lesson (noun stress on the verb)to reCORD /rɪˈkɔːd/ a lesson
• a black BOARD for the classroom (two strong words)a BLACKboard for the classroom
• re-spon-si-bi-LI-tyrespon-si-BIL-i-ty: stress the syllable before -ity

How to make it

1. Clap once on the strong syllable and say the other syllables small and quick.
2. Make the strong syllable longer, louder and a little higher: pho-TOG-ra-pher.
3. Learn the ending rules: stress the syllable before -tion, -ic and -ity.
4. For nouns and verbs with two syllables, test it: the noun hits the first part (a REcord), the verb hits the second (to reCORD).

Say it after me

education, photographer, record, increase, blackboard, government, engineering, responsibility

9 · Pronunciation

g, k and j: goat, not coat

The Arabic letter jeem is said as /g/ in Egyptian, as /dʒ/ in most other regions, and as /ʒ/ in much of the Levant and North Africa. Modern Standard Arabic has no /g/ of its own, although some dialects use it (for the letter qaf in the Gulf and Egypt, for example). So English g may come out as j (or the other way round), or as k, and pairs such as goat/coat and bag/back cause trouble. What you do depends on your home dialect, so listen for your own pattern.

• We saw a coat on the farm. (you mean goat)We saw a goat /ɡəʊt/ on the farm: start with the voiced /g/.
• I dropped my bag and the back broke. (you mean bag)I dropped my bag /bæɡ/: the end stays voiced.
• He has a good gob in an office. (you mean job)He has a good job /dʒɒb/ in an office.
• Ten jests stayed at the hotel. (you mean guests)Ten guests /ɡests/ stayed at the hotel: /g/, not /dʒ/.

How to make it

1. Lift the back of your tongue to touch the roof near your throat.
2. For k, let the air out with a puff and keep your throat quiet. For g, feel your throat buzz as the tongue drops.
3. For j (jam), put the front of your tongue on the ridge behind your top teeth, then release it slowly: d-zh.
4. At the end of a word (dog, bag, big), keep the buzz to the end; do not turn it into a k.

Say it after me

goat, coat, bag, back, glass, class, job, gem, guest

10 · Pronunciation

Rhythm and weak forms: beats, not every syllable

Arabic usually keeps unstressed syllables fairly clear, and many Arabic speakers read English aloud with an even, heavy beat on most syllables and without contractions. English squeezes the small words between the strong beats into weak syllables (to /tə/, and /ən/) and joins others into contractions (I'm, don't, they're). If every word is full and strong, the key words are hard to hear.

• I WANT TOO LEAVE EARLY. (every word loud)I WANT /tə/ LEAVE EARLY. (to is weak)
• a CUP OFF TEA (full of)a CUP /əv/ TEA
• I am from Oman. (I and am both stressed)I'm /aɪm/ from Oman. (one quick beat)
• I can swim. (loud, full can)I /kən/ swim. / I can't /kɑːnt/ swim.

How to make it

1. Tap the table once for each important word as you speak.
2. On each tap, make the stressed syllable longer, louder and a little higher.
3. Say the small words between the taps very fast, very quietly, with a relaxed "uh" vowel.
4. Do not skip the small words: squeeze them. Keep the taps steady even when there are many small words between them.

Say it after me

can, can't, to, of, and, for, banana, together

11 · Pronunciation

Linking: turn_off, did_you, an_hour

Arabic often puts a small throat catch (a glottal stop) in front of a word that begins with a vowel, so words stay separate: an / apple. English joins words into one stream. Some speakers also resist the changes English makes when words meet, such as did you becoming /dɪdʒə/, because it feels as if sounds are being lost. In English this joining is normal and listeners expect it.

• turn / off the light (a stop between the words)tur-noff the light /tɜːn ɒf/ joined
• did / you see it? (careful, separate)did-ja see it? /dɪdʒə siː ɪt/
• an / apple (throat catch before apple)a-napple /ən ˈæpl/
• nekst / week (all letters said)nex-week /neks wiːk/

How to make it

1. Slide the last consonant of a word straight onto the vowel of the next word: no pause, no throat catch.
2. Between two vowels, let the lips or tongue glide: a quick y after ee, a quick w after oo or oh.
3. For did you or what you, let the tongue move from d or t straight into the y sound: the result is "j" or "ch".
4. Say a whole phrase as one long word and tap only on the strong beat.

Say it after me

turn off, an hour, pick it up, did you, would you, next week, last night, car is

12 · Grammar

Never drop be: he is happy, they are going

In Arabic the present tense has no word for am / is / are: you simply put the subject next to the adjective, noun or phrase. The same happens before an -ing verb. So English sentences come out without a verb: He very happy, They going home.

• My brother very tired today.My brother is very tired today.
• The students in my class very friendly.The students in my class are very friendly.
• They going to the airport now.They are going to the airport now.
• It important for young people.It is important for young people.

13 · Grammar

a or an before a singular noun, never before plurals

Arabic has no word for a / an. The noun stands alone: She is nurse. Many learners then learn English a and start using it everywhere the Arabic definite article is not used, even with plurals and uncountable nouns: a books, an advice.

• My father is engineer in a factory.My father is an engineer in a factory.
• I live in big city near the coast.I live in a big city near the coast.
• We bought a flour for the party.We bought some flour for the party.
• These are a useful books for students.These are useful books for students.

14 · Grammar

the: not for general ideas, days, meals or most places

Arabic uses its definite article (al-) in many places where English uses none: with general nouns (the education), days of the week, meals, and the names of many cities and countries. Translating this over gives the education, on the Sunday, the breakfast, in the Iraq.

• The education is very important for a country.Education is very important for a country.
• I will see you on the Sunday.I will see you on Sunday.
• We had the breakfast at seven.We had breakfast at seven.
• My uncle lives in the Iraq.My uncle lives in Iraq.

15 · Grammar

Plural -s: many books, fifteen students

Arabic often forms plurals by changing the inside of the word, and after numbers above ten it uses the singular noun. English adds -s, which looks so simple that it is easy to forget, especially after many, several and big numbers: many book, twenty cousin.

• She bought many book for her course.She bought many books for her course.
• There are fifteen student in my class.There are fifteen students in my class.
• I have twenty cousin and eleven aunt.I have twenty cousins and eleven aunts.
• Three child were playing in the street.Three children were playing in the street.

16 · Grammar

He goes every day, he is going now

Arabic has one present form that covers both habits (he goes every day) and things happening now (he is going now). English has two, and each needs its own form. Without a verb be, learners also produce mixtures such as He is go or He go now.

• My father is going to work by bus every day.My father goes to work by bus every day.
• Look! The children play in the garden.Look! The children are playing in the garden.
• She is go to school now.She is going to school now.
• I am knowing him very well.I know him very well.

17 · Grammar

Questions and negatives: do, does, did

Arabic has no word like do. A question is often the statement with a rising tune (You like coffee?), and a negative is made by putting a small word before the verb (He not play). So English questions and negatives come out without a helping verb: When you went to London?, He not play football.

• Why you came late today?Why did you come late today?
• Where you spent your holiday?Where did you spend your holiday?
• He not play football on Fridays.He doesn't play football on Fridays.
• Which subject you study?Which subject do you study?

18 · Grammar

I have lived here for years; I saw him yesterday

Arabic has one past form for finished events and one present form that can also cover a time that began in the past and continues now. So learners say I live here for ten years, and may also mix past and perfect: I have seen him yesterday.

• I live in this city since 2015.I have lived in this city since 2015.
• I study English for two years now.I have studied English for two years now.
• I have seen him yesterday.I saw him yesterday.
• We have visited Oman last summer.We visited Oman last summer.

19 · Grammar

can, must, should: plain verb after, no -s, no that

Arabic has no modal verbs. It says I can that I go or it is necessary that I go, using ordinary verbs and a second verb after that. So learners add endings to English modals (he cans), add do (does he can?), or add to and that (must to go, I can that I help).

• He cans drive a lorry.He can drive a lorry.
• I must to finish this today.I must finish this today.
• Does your sister can swim?Can your sister swim?
• I can that I help you with the form.I can help you with the form.

20 · Grammar

want him to go, enjoy doing: no that-clause

Arabic has no English-style infinitive or -ing form. A second verb is a full verb, often after that: I want that he goes, I enjoy I walk. English copies the pattern wrongly: She wants that I help her.

• I want that my brother helps me.I want my brother to help me.
• She enjoys she walks by the sea.She enjoys walking by the sea.
• I decided that I go home early.I decided to go home early.
• They avoid that they travel in July.They avoid travelling in July.

21 · Grammar

The laptop which I bought, not which I bought it

In an Arabic relative clause with a definite noun you put a pronoun inside the clause to show what it refers to: the laptop which I bought it. The Arabic relative word also does not separate people from things in the English way. So English relative clauses come out with an extra pronoun and with the wrong who / which.

• This is the laptop which I bought it last month.This is the laptop which I bought last month.
• The museum that we visited it was free.The museum that we visited was free.
• The woman which lives next door is a doctor.The woman who lives next door is a doctor.
• The film that I watched it last night was long.The film that I watched last night was long.

22 · Grammar

my sister's phone, not the phone my sister

In Arabic the owned thing comes first and the owner follows, with no linking word: phone my sister, house my uncle. English reverses this, and often learners also keep the the in front of the owned thing.

• Where is the phone my sister?Where is my sister's phone?
• I met brother my friend yesterday.I met my friend's brother yesterday.
• The car my father is very old.My father's car is very old.
• The success the company depends on the workers.The success of the company depends on the workers.

23 · Grammar

There is a problem; it rains

Arabic does not say there is in the English way. The idea is expressed with a short word meaning in, or by saying a thing exists or is found somewhere. So learners start with is or it is: Is a big problem, It is a bridge over the river. And there sounds like a place word, not a starting word.

• Is a big problem with traffic in my city.There is a big problem with traffic in my city.
• It is a bridge over the river.There is a bridge over the river.
• Is very hot in July.It is very hot in July.
• In my town it are two hospitals.In my town there are two hospitals.

24 · Grammar

Prepositions: interested in, married to, wait for

Each Arabic preposition has its own set of uses and they rarely match English word for word. Learners translate: interested on, married with, wait you. English also has many two-word verbs (look at, look for, search for, listen to) and Arabic does not, so the small word is often left out or changed.

• I am interested on environmental science.I am interested in environmental science.
• She is married with a pilot.She is married to a pilot.
• I am waiting you outside the library.I am waiting for you outside the library.
• Please listen the instructions carefully.Please listen to the instructions carefully.