The purpose of this class is not to teach the Soldier how to speak Arabic, beyond a few simple phrases and exchanges. Within the DoD, the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA has the primary responsibility to train Soldiers in language. Instead, the purpose of this class is to demystify Arabic, to demonstrate that the many unfamiliar sounds of the Arabic language are intelligible, meaningful and within the grasp of the Soldier, whether he masters the language or not.
Because the Arabic alphabet is used by many languages (with modifications), even those that are not part of the Afro-Asian family of languages, familiarization with Arabic can serve as an entry point to Farsi (Iran), Pashto and Dari (Afghanistan) and Urdu (Pakistan), among others. Some of the simple expressions contained in this lesson (e.g., greetings) can be used with little or no modification in any of those languages.
