Working with our international students can be difficult when our consultants are not sure what differences exist between the client's first language and English. Recognizing error patterns helps, and knowing how to help the client relate English rules back to their original grammars helps even more.
With that in mind, I have worked out one solution for our Arabic language clients. As many consultants may have noticed, our Arabic clients, like our Chinese clients and those with some other first languages, often have difficulty knowing where to use articles (a, an, the) in their English writing. They believe that their language does not use articles, but that is not precisely true. In Arabic, most nouns begin with “al,” as in “al asad,” which means “the lion.” Arabic students think of the “al” as part of the noun, so they do not think of it as an article. Consultants may have noticed that many Arabic surnames also begin with “Al,” and that their names are often written as single words; this is because they think of the first two letters as part of the word.
I have talked with several Arabic students about this. In each case, when I told them that English nouns are usually preceded by articles, they were confused. When I told them that English nouns are usually preceded by articles, in the same way that most Arabic nouns begin with “al,” however, each one expressed dawning understanding.
If an Arabic client seems to be struggling with when and where to use articles in English, it might be helpful for the consultant to draw the client’s attention to this parallel between Arabic and English. Dealing with the difference between a/an and the is another matter, but getting the client in the habit of using articles is a good start.
This is just based on personal observation and experience, but I hope it is helpful.
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