Arabic classes are offered year-round from Level 1 to Conversational, both in a group setting as well as on a private basis.

Arabic Language Program Objective

The Boston Language Institute, New England's leading language school, offers Arabic language courses to individuals and companies. The quality of instruction provided in our Arabic language classes are on a par with the best native Arabic language school.

We consider it to be the major goal of our program to have you use Arabic in as large a variety of real-life situations as possible. To that end, our Arabic courses have been designed to build fluency in both the spoken and the written language. Communication in a warm and relaxed environment is an important feature of our programs, as is homework, which includes exercises for review and practice of the material taught in class. Moreover, by keeping the class size limited to twelve students, we ensure that each student will be able to actively participate.

Arabic Level 1
Introduces both spoken and written Modern Standard Arabic, the language of education, business and the media throughout the Arabic speaking world. Upon completion of this course, students can expect to be able to discuss their families and jobs. They should also be able to identify spoken words by part of speech and distinguish between nominal and verbal sentence structures. Students learn to read and write the complete Arabic alphabet. Proper pronunciation and the development of conversational proficiency are strongly emphasized as a foundation for further learning.
(Mastering Arabic, Chapters 1-10).

Arabic Level 2
Upon completion of this course, students can expect to be able to introduce themselves, as well as to engage in simple conversation on a range of everyday topics. Building upon the basic foundation provided in Level 1, topics introduced include the definite article, the nisba adjective, interrogatives, pronouns, the present tense, and plural forms. Proper pronunciation and listening skills continue to be emphasized.
(Mastering Arabic, Chapters 11-20)

Arabic Level 3
Building upon the proficiency of Level 2, students acquire additional vocabulary with which to discuss daily activities, and grow able to both speak and comprehend more complex sentences. Topics include adverbs, numbers, noun-adjective phrases, interrogatives, and conditional sentences. Conversational proficiency continues to be emphasized, but students at this level also begin to improve their reading skills.
(Al-Kitaab, Units 1-4)

Arabic Level 4
In this level, students learn to predict the meaning of unfamiliar words based on their context and continue to improve their speaking and listening skills. Building upon the skills already acquired, students are introduced to the past and future tenses, subject-verb agreement, object pronouns, quantifiers, prepositions with pronouns, the superlative, and negation words that shift verb tense. Information about Arabic culture is introduced to enhance student understanding and use of the language.
(Al-Kitaab, Units 5-8)

Arabic Level 5
Having completed Level 5, students can expect to be able to participate comfortably in brief conversations on a wide range of topics as well as to read and understand short paragraphs. Students at this level learn complex-structure adjectives, conditional sentences, definite and indefinite noun endings, and comparative constructions. Special topics are introduced to provide students with additional vocabulary.
(Al-Kitaab, Units 9-12)

Conversational Arabic
This program is designed for students who are already proficient in the skills taught in Levels 1-5 and who want to increase their conversational ability. Conducted entirely in Arabic, this course provides students with an opportunity to markedly improve their speaking and listening skills. Magazines, video and audio tapes, and other resources designed to provide practical opportunities for vocabulary development are selected to match student interests. Grammatical lessons are integrated in response to student needs and objectives.
(Al-Kitaab, Units 13-16)

Text and Supplementary Materials

Since communication in a foreign language requires an understanding of the cultural context, our aim is to teach you the living language through carefully selected textbooks, newspaper and magazine articles and other relevant materials, rather than have you repeat and memorize tourist phrases.

Over the past twenty years, we have reviewed many university-level Arabic textbooks and have selected Mastering Arabic (Hippocrene Press) and Al-Kitaab (Georgetown University Press) as the ones that best fulfill the objectives of our students in beginning and intermediate levels. Corresponding to the lessons in this book is a complete set of tapes with challenging exercises, which you may borrow for home listening from our Cassette Lending Library. Teachers provide suggestions for texts and supplementary materials at the higher levels. Books may be purchased at the Boston University Bookstore, 660 Beacon Street, Boston or from our on-line bookstore specializing in foreign language textbooks, study guides and audiocassettes.

Tuition and Course Organization

Tuition for the Arabic program at all levels is $599. There is a non-refundable $35 registration fee for first-time students only.

In addition to our core program, we offer a Daytime Intensive program which covers three to four semesters in eight weeks - offering the greater likelihood of actually speaking, as well as reading and writing, the language than a traditional university course. Tuition for the Daytime Intensive Program and the Group Immersion Program is $2,995.

Private Programs

Immersion Programs

The Boston Language Institute Guarantee

Because of the individualized nature of our programs and the high quality of our instruction, we guarantee your satisfaction. If you are not satisfied with the quality of instruction within the first two weeks of a main session, or the first week of an accelerated session, we will refund your tuition in full.
Refund requests must be made no later than the business day after the second meeting of a once-a-week or the fourth meeting of a twice-a-week class of a Main Session; and no later than the business day after the first meeting of a once-a-week or the second meeting of a twice-a-week class of an Accelerated Session.

Class Schedules

We encourage students to register at least a week before the session starts, especially since classes are limited to 12 students. A Program Coordinator will be happy to take registration information by phone (617-262-3500 x241), fax or e-mail.