Foreign Language Study

How do teachers who have chosen to settle down in one country manage the difficulties of living and teaching English in that country? How do they develop and sustain their careers, and what factors shape their identity? This book answers these questions by investigating the personal and professional identity development of ten Western women who teach English in various educational contexts in Japan, all of whom have Japanese spouses. The book covers issues of interracial relationships, expatriation, equality and employment practices as well as the broader topics of gender and identity. The book also provides a useful overview of English language teaching and learning in Japan.

This book investigates the cultural and intercultural aspects of English as a Lingua Franca (ELF). Authors discuss how ‘culture’ and the ‘intercultural’ can be understood, theorised and operationalised in ELF, and how the concepts can be integrated into formats of ELF-oriented learning and teaching. The various cultural connotations are also discussed (ideological, political, religious and historical) and whether it is possible to use and/or teach a lingua franca as if it were culturally neutral. The chapters consider the communication and pedagogical implications of the cultural and intercultural dimensions of ELF and offer suggestions for new directions in ELF research, pedagogy and curriculum development.

This book explores ways to prepare teachers to teach English as an International Language (EIL) and provides theoretically-grounded models for EIL-informed teacher education. The volume includes two chapters that present a theoretical approach and principles in EIL teacher education, followed by a collection of descriptions of field-tested teacher education programs, courses, units in a course, and activities from diverse geographical and institutional contexts, which together demonstrate a variety of possible approaches to preparing teachers to teach EIL. The book helps create a space for the exploration of EIL teacher education that cuts across English as a Lingua Franca, World Englishes and other relevant scholarly communities.

This book provides a comprehensive overview of approaches to academic literacy instruction and their underpinning theories, as well as a synthesis of the debate on academic literacy over the past 20 years. The author argues that the main existing instructional models are inadequate to cater for diverse student populations, and proposes an inclusive practice approach which encourages institutional initiatives that make academic literacy instruction an integrated and accredited part of the curriculum. The book aims to raise awareness of existing innovative literacy pedagogies and argues for the transformation of academic literacy instruction in all universities with diverse student populations.

This book examines how critical literacy pedagogy has been implemented in a classroom through a year-long collaboration between the author (a researcher) and an EAP teacher. It details the teacher's introduction to functional grammar and accompanying critical literacy approaches to EAP, and her growing critical language and discourse awareness of power and meaning making in the classroom. The book traces her evolving classroom practices and addresses how powerful discourses in social circulation found their way into the classroom via the curriculum materials the students encountered. The main themes of the book are threefold: narrowing the divide between critically-oriented researchers and practitioners; how critical literacy is actually implemented in a teacher's classroom; and how people (students and the teacher) engage in and with the representations and discourses of the everyday world that include neoliberal globalization, racial and cultural identities, and consumerism. It will be of interest to both researchers and practitioners for the ethnographic and pedagogical issues it raises as well as its accessible theoretical frameworks illustrated by relevant classroom interactional data, mediated, multimodal and critical discourse analysis.

This book brings the voices of teachers into the fierce debates about language ideologies and cultural pedagogies in English language teaching. Through interviews and classroom observations in Chile and California, this study compares the controversies around English as a global language with the similar cultural tensions in programs for immigrants. The author explores the development of teacher identity in these two very different contexts, and through the narratives of both experienced and novice teachers demonstrates how teacher identity affects the cultural pedagogies enacted in their classrooms.

In the complex, multilingual societies of the 21st century, codeswitching is an everyday occurrence, and yet the use of students’ first language in the English language classroom has been consistently discouraged by teachers and educational policy-makers. This volume begins by examining current theoretical work on codeswitching and then proceeds to examine the convergence and divergence between university language teachers’ beliefs about codeswitching and their classroom practice. Each chapter investigates the extent of, and motivations for, codeswitching in one or two particular contexts, and the interactive and pedagogical functions for which alternative languages are used. Many teachers, and policy-makers, in schools as well as universities, may rethink existing ’English-only’ policies in the light of the findings reported in this book.

In many locations around the globe, scholars are coming under increasing pressure to publish in English in addition to other languages. However research has shown that proficiency in English is not always the key to success in English-medium publishing. This guide aims to help scholars explore the larger social practices, politics, networks and resources involved in academic publishing and to encourage scholars to consider how they wish to take part in these practices–as well as to engage in current debates about them. Based on 10 years of research in academic writing and publishing practices, this guide will be invaluable both to individuals looking for information and support in publishing, and to those working to support others' publishing activities.

New Perspectives in English and American Studies. Volume One: Literature contains a selection of papers delivered at 14th International Conference on English and American Literature and Language, an international event organized every three years by the Institute of English Studies at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland. The editors divided the content into five broad sections reflecting the scope of academic reflection, the breadth of cultural material and the depth of its analysis.



The articles in the volume revolve around the topics of literary and cultural studies and their diversity mirrors the broad spectrum of the thematic panels of the conference.
These included, among others, Medievalism in Literature, James Joyce Studies, The Contemporary Historical Novel and Multimodality. Aside from these thematic sessions, a number of general sessions dedicated to a wide spectrum of topics pertinent to English and American studies was held – in particular, the issues of the individual’s perspective upon collective history, regional myths as well as the pivotal new historical awareness.

Public Health has become an increasingly prominent discipline within all European member states and also across the European Union as a whole. Public health professionals have to cooperate across borders, using mainly English as a means of both face to face communication and information dissemination. As a result, there has been a transformation in the way in which public health is taught and practiced: language, therefore, adds another dimension to this already multidisciplinary and multi-faceted field of study.The Leonardo Project English for European Public Health. A Specialized Course for Students and Professionals has been created in response to this new trend. An international team of both health sciences specialists and language specialists has collaborated on a collection of materials which seeks to address the new needs. The collection consists of a student coursebook, an instructor's manual, a learner's dictionary and an online learning environment. Texts representative of the major fields of Public Health have been collated and developed for didactic purposes, covering Epidemiology, Environmental Health, Health Promotion, Health Policy, Health Economics, Management, Health Ethics and Law, and Research.

The Learner's Dictionary is a first attempt to develop a comprehensive, interdisciplinary aid to vocabulary learning for Public Health teachers and students across Europe. It has been developed through a uniaue combination of Public Health specialists and language teachers working together to define and translate a wide range of Public Health terms which are sufficiently accurate to assist professional development whilst at the same time presented in a way that will enhance language acauisition. Although the principal target learners are university students, the materials have much to offer professionals and practitioners as well.

The volume offers a valuable result of a joint intercultural project between two universities from the neighbouring countries of Poland and Ukraine. Among the mass of books on intercultural communication, the proposed volume distinguishes itself by three features: unusual format combining the work of both scholars and students, the focus on the intracultural approach, and practical designation. It also stresses the increasing awareness in the modern world that teaching/learning English serves the purpose of developing general intercultural competence and not building the knowledge about the English speaking world.

The choice of topics indicates an interesting cultural difference - Ukrainiar inclination to focus on the characteristic and attractive aspects of their own culture and Polish on the problematic and the difficult.

The second volume in our flagship series designed for heritage students and advanced learners of Arabic offers a comprehensive approach to teaching reading and writing skills

From Reading to Writing is a content- and task-based textbook for students of Arabic as a heritage language at advanced and superior levels, aimed at developing learners’ key language skills, especially reading and writing. Although heritage learners can often communicate in colloquial Arabic through exposure to the spoken language at home or in their country of residence, they equally as often face fundamental problems in reading and writing, as well as in speaking, Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). Through authentic texts, carefully chosen to represent the lived realities of the language, supported by a range of tasks, this book seeks to develop heritage learners’ communication skills to meet the practical requirements of university study and the modern-day workplace. The topics covered also offer intellectually stimulating content to learners while connecting them in a meaningful way to Arab culture and society.

The authors developed the course content with their students for over a decade and have designed the tasks in this book with the notion that language acquisition is not just a set of rules but an interactive process that depends on performing different tasks in multiple contexts. The tasks include prereading and intensive reading activities; comprehension questions; writing, listening, and grammar exercises; and vocabulary building, as well as higher-order questions designed to promote critical thinking skills. The majority of the writing and listening tasks focus on group work to encourage students to collaborate and engage in the learning process.

From Reading to Writing, Volume 2 is also suitable for foreign-language learners of Arabic at the intermediate and advanced levels and native Arabic speakers enrolled at Arab universities.

The essential Lithuanian resource!

This bilingual Lithuanian dictionary features over 18,000 entries that cover essential vocabulary for study, business, and travel.

Spoken by roughly 4 million people worldwide, Lithuanian is an official language of Lithuania and the European Union, as well as a recognized language of Poland. This is the most comprehensive and up-to-date two-way Lithuanian dictionary available and will prove an indispensable tool for travelers, students, and businesspeople visiting Lithuania.

The dictionary includes:

• 18,000 dictionary entries
• Section on basic Lithuanian grammar and a pronunciation guide
• Each entry packed with useful grammatical information, accessible for the professional interpreter and beginner alike

This essential, portable Arabic-English resource is now updated & revised with new entries and terms!

This Arabic Practical dictionary has been the go-to resource for students of Arabic and English alike for nearly two decades. It features the most up-to-date vocabulary in handy reference form.

With more than 20,000 entries, it is especially useful in navigating the ever expanding global terminology of politics, telecommunications, technology, the internet, social media, tourism, business and travel.

Ideal for students, scholars, businesspeople, journalists, aid workers, and anyone working in both English-speaking and Arabic-speaking countries.

Features include: :

• More than 20,000 total entries
• Clear language, pronunciation, and grammar for both sides
• Easy-to-read format and practical arrangement of Arabic and English entries
• Arabic provided with Romanized transliterations
• English provided with phonetic transliterations

Welsh is a Celtic language of the British Isles, spoken primarily in Wales. It has been spoken there for over sixteen hundred years, and Old Welsh was used throughout Britain before the Norman Conquest and the expansion of English. The importance of Welsh in the region’s history and culture makes knowledge of the language important to both travelers and scholars.

Beginner’s Welsh with Online Audio offers a fresh approach for students or travelers who wish to learn Welsh, and the lessons are specially designed to help visitors feel comfortable in Wales.

• A brief introduction to Welsh history and culture
• 17 practical lessons with dialogues, vocabulary, and expressions
• Exercises with answer key
• Welsh-English and English-Welsh glossaries
• Online MP3 audio files for download which feature pronunciation by native speakers

The Irish language, also known as Irish Gaelic or Gaeilge, is spoken today by approximately a million people worldwide. It is also the basis of the Irish literary tradition, which is the oldest in Europe after Greek and Latin. Whether you want to connect to your Irish heritage or carry on a conversation when visiting the Gaeltachtai (small rural pockets in Ireland where Irish is the first language spoken), Beginner’s Irish with Online Audio is the perfect start!

Ideal for those new to Irish, learning at home or in the classroom, this guide includes a brief history of the Irish language; 10 carefully-paced and practical lessons with dialogues, vocabulary, and expressions; a guide to the Irish alphabet and pronunciation; and online MP3 audio files for free download featuring pronunciation by native speakers. The author uses the medium of poetry to enrich the reader’s study of Irish. Numerous examples from Irish literature and poetry, as well as common proverbs and sayings, help teach vocabulary and grammar in an engaging way. A chapter on Irish names and their origins and another on Geography and Tourism round out this unique guide to learning Irish.

A new, comprehensive book to introduce students to the Arabic of the Qur'an, from an expert in his field

Designed as a thirteen-week course for beginners in the Arabic language, this textbook allows students access to the Qur'an: giving them the skills to read and understand this most important and complex text. Structured around ten chapters, that progress in difficulty throughout the book, each chapter examines a different verse, including translations and glossaries and followed by grammar explanations and exercises to help deepen the students knowledge of the language and the text.

Complete with audio resources, this foundational curriculum is a vital resource for students of Islamic Studies, Arabic language courses, with a focus on religious texts, and also all those interested to understand this text fundamental to Islam.

An invaluable guide to more than one hundred of the most commonly used Modern Standard Arabic idioms

Idioms are deeply rooted in their cultural context and as such are both are uniquely tricky and key to competency in a language.

With more than 140 of frequently used Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) idioms, this book is a key learning tool for intermediate to advanced learners of the language. Organized by theme into eight chapters, each idiom includes an English translation or equivalent expression and a short bilingual dialogue to show the idiom used in context. Each unit ends with a set of exercises to practice usage and aid in language acquisition.

Mastering Modern Standard Arabic Idioms is designed to be a flexible resource, and as such could be adopted in a classroom setting or employed in self-study, and will be of interest to students of language, literature, and culture, as well as to translators and linguists.

This comprehensive guide to Arabic grammar is an essential resource for the first five years of language learning and beyond, now in a revised edition

Thorough and carefully organized, this book covers all the basic structures and grammar that students need for the first five years of learning Modern Standard Arabic, from beginner through to advanced proficiency levels.

- Filled with diagrams, tables, and examples for ease of learning
- Provides straightforward explanations of the all the key grammar points, avoiding overly jargonistic language
- Presents grammar rules and structures in order of frequency and communicative functional use

Already a time-proven favorite among students and teachers alike, this classic book now has a new chapter as well as updates and new material throughout.

Learn to speak and write Chinese with confidence while avoiding common mistakes!

Here is a concise guide to supplement any course of study and help with homework, travel, and test preparation. Topics include word order, time, nouns, verbs, adjectives, word choices with verbs and adverbs, and letter writing. The simple format has one goal: quick mastery and growing confidence. This volume makes an ideal companion to any popular Chinese-language textbook, such as Integrated Chinese and New Practical Chinese Reader.

A handy supplement to studying characters in class or independently that teaches useful tricks for remembering words and tones.

From one of the authors of Basic Patterns of Chinese Grammar comes Speak and Read Chinese, a simple, fun guide that helps language learners remember pinyin, tones, and characters of essential Chinese words.

Students and teachers rate pinyin, tones, and characters as some of the most difficult aspects of learning Chinese. This book addresses this issue by organizing easy memorization tricks for the three hundred most basic characters in popular textbook series like Integrated Chinese and New Practical Chinese Reader.

Arabic textbook with online audio and visual materials for students of Modern Standard Arabic who are embarking upon the study of Egyptian Colloquial Arabic

Directed to learners of Egyptian Colloquial Arabic who have previously studied Modern Standard Arabic, this is the first textbook to handle the different levels and the variety of contexts of Egyptian Colloquial: both the everyday and the educated forms. It is also the first to introduce the language through multimedia, addressing recent and compelling topics of interest to learners of both language and culture, and focusing on pronunciation as a skill.

Each of the ten lessons is structured around a video series, Abdalla’s Journey, which covers a range of topics in the everyday language, and video interviews with scholars discussing the same topics in the educated variety. Vocabulary, grammar, and pronunciation in both language levels are the focus of drills and exercises, and the phonetic and syntactic differences between the two forms are highlighted.

An essential, easy-to-use handbook for students at all levels

In a compact, easy-to-use format, this new book offers a convenient guide to grammar for any student of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), the version of Arabic most commonly used in journalism, formal writing, and literature. Drawing on over a decade of experience as a full-time teacher of Arabic, Azza Hassanein explains the rules in straight-forward English, illustrating usage with examples throughout.

The book covers all the rules of grammar and morphology that students require for elementary, intermediate, and advanced levels of Arabic. As a compact guide, it is an ideal auxiliary, no matter what textbook the student is using. While students of the language will find Modern Standard Arabic Grammar extremely helpful, it is also a valuable tool for linguists who want to acquire a clear idea about the skeletal structure of the language, as well as translators who are working with written Arabic.

Covering all the important grammatical rules of MSA, from nisba adjectives and nominal and verbal sentences to more complex constructions such as conditional sentences and the subjunctive, this unique handbook fills a real need for the growing number of people worldwide learning Arabic.

The third volume in a series of classical Arabic language learning textbooks for the intermediate student of MSA, refining written and oral skills

Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is the literary language of today’s books, media, and formal communication throughout the Arab World, the region’s principal shared language of written and official discourse. The third book in this new series for the classroom is designed for adult learners of the language at the intermediate stage.

Drawing on her years of experience as an Arabic instructor, author Samia Louis has developed a course rich in everyday contexts and real-life, practical language, along with a wide range of grammar-learning strategies to allow students to deploy the language with confidence. Written in accordance with the ACTFL guidelines for teaching Arabic as a foreign language, the course is conceived in such a way to make the study of Arabic language and grammar easier for the student.

Divided into five chapters, Book Three addresses the early to middle intermediate Arabic learner. The aim of this book is to help students to read and write articles, essays and texts, using a range of tenses, in correct Arabic grammar. Students will also learn how to communicate orally in a number of different situations, discussing current events, leisure activities, and practical matters.

The students’ facility with sentence structure and vocabulary is increased by reading newspapers and listening to news broadcasts, and by writing about real-life interests such as environmental conditions, political issues, sports, and cultural pursuits. The chapters guide students through the gradual acquisition of vocabulary and grammar. Exercises at the end of each chapter cover all essential skills and translation, with emphasis on reading and writing. The course includes accompanying audio material for all listening activities, dialogs, and reading exercises. The book is further supported by online interactive reading, writing, and grammar drills.

An innovative, interactive, and highly structured course including interactive digital exercises for teaching Arabic to beginners

Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is the literary language of today’s books, media, and formal communication throughout the Arab world, the region’s principal shared language of written and official discourse. The first book in this new series for the classroom is designed for adult learners of the language at the beginner stage.

Drawing on her years of experience as an Arabic instructor, author Samia Louis has developed a course rich in everyday contexts and real-life, practical language, along with a wide range of grammar-learning strategies to allow students to deploy the language with confidence. Written in accordance with the ACTFL guidelines for teaching Arabic as a foreign language, the course is conceived in such a way to make the study of Arabic language and grammar easier for the student.

Book 2 is divided into ten chapters, focusing on real-life situations, including introductions; asking people about jobs and nationalities; talking about daily activities; describing apartments, people, and cities; asking and giving directions; and discussing future plans and past events. The chapters allow for the gradual acquisition of vocabulary and grammar, the exercises at the end of each chapter covering all the crucial skills, with emphasis on reading and writing. The course includes audio material for all listening activities, dialogs, and pronunciation exercises, including real-life situations covered in the chapters. The book is further supported by digital interactive reading, writing, and grammar drills.

This book will help readers develop their competence in advanced Chinese in a business context. Rather than teaching language in isolation from substantive content, Business Chinese presents readers with both content and context. Exercises and tasks in the book require readers to integrate their language skills with their content knowledge. To meet learners'practical communication needs, the book focuses on both oral and written language skills.

In order to keep readers abreast of the real business world, all texts and exercises are drawn from authentic materials from mainland China, Taiwan and Hong Kong. Business Chinese is the perfect, practical guide for those who want to master Chinese language and the Chinese business world.

Paired with the Chaoyue: Advancing in Chinese language text, this workbook completes one of the most sophisticated and comprehensive language instruction tools currently available. The workbook cements students' interpersonal communication skills and their ability to present and interpret Chinese as it is spoken and written. Filled with authentic uses of the language from everyday life, the workbook, just like the textbook, paints a vivid portrait of the Chinese-speaking world for a variety of students to grasp. Also in line with the text, the workbook emphasizes communication, cultures, comparisons, connections, and communities, and includes relatable topics, such as the self, schooling, and social customs, altogether engendering an appreciation of Chinese within a solidly global context.

Instructors may request an answer key by sending an e-mail to Todd Lazarus at tdl10@columbia.edu. Please provide your name, title, institution, and number of students in the course.

Sango, also known as Sanngo and Sängö, is an official language of the Central African Republic (CAR). It is also spoken in Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of Congo and Cameroon and considered a lingua franca of the region. Spoken by nearly 6 million people in the CAR, there are also an estimated additional 1.6 million speakers of Sango worldwide. Although French is still used in most official communication and education in CAR, Sango is spoken by 98% of the population and is the primary language of socialization and oral communication through the country.

This unique two-part resource uses the official Sango Latin alphabet and orthography. It provides travelers to Central Africa with tools for daily interactions. The bilingual dictionary has a concise vocabulary for everyday use, and the phrasebook allows instant communication on a variety of topics. Ideal for businesspeople, travelers, students, and aid workers, this guide includes:  

• 4,000 dictionary entries
• Essential phrases on subjects such as healthcare, time, dates, transportation, money, communication services and much more
• An introduction to the basics of Sango grammar (including a short guide to alphabet and pronunciation)

This combination Amharic phrasebook and two-way Amharic-English dictionary is an essential reference for visitors to Ethiopia. The Hippocrene Dictionary & Phrasebook series allows you be a traveler, not a tourist, by connecting with the local culture and people in their native language.

Amharic is the official working language of Ethiopia, with approximately 30 million speakers. Amharic is the second most widely spoken Semitic language in the world after Arabic. Unlike Arabic, however, Amharic is written left-to-right and uses a distinct script called Ge’ez script.

This unique, two-part resource provides travelers to Ethiopia with the tools they need for daily interaction. The bilingual dictionary has a concise vocabulary for everyday use, and the phrasebook allows instant communication on a variety of topics. Ideal for businesspeople, travelers, students, and aid workers, this guide includes:

• 4,000 dictionary entries with Amharic script, transliteration and English translation
• Phonetics that are intuitive for English speakers
• Essential phrases on topics such as introductions, transportation, dining out, business, and emergencies
• Concise grammar and pronunciation sections

For 45 years, Hippocrene Books has specialized in bringing the world to our readers. The Hippocrene Dictionary & Phrasebook series allows you be a traveler, not a tourist, by connecting with the local culture and people in their native language. Currently available in 86 languages, including Arabic, Bengali, Cantonese, Thai, Punjabi, Swahili, and Oromo.

Yoruba, one of the national languages of Nigeria, is spoken by more than 30 million people worldwide. It is the most widely spoken language in Nigeria after English, and is also spoken in Benin and Togo.

This unique, two-part resource provides travelers to Nigeria and other parts of West Africa with the tools they need for daily interaction. The bilingual dictionary has a concise vocabulary for everyday use, and the phrasebook allows instant communication on a variety of topics. Ideal for businesspeople, travelers, students, and aid workers, this guide includes:

• 4,000 dictionary entries; phonetics that are intuitive for English speakers
• Essential phrases on topics such as transportation, dining out, and business
• Concise grammar and pronunciation sections

Learn Shona with this complete course, now with free audio download!

Spoken by over 10 million people worldwide, Shona (also known as ChiShona) is an official language of Zimbabwe. It is also spoken in Mozambique, Malawi, and Zambia. It is one of the most widely spoken Bantu languages and its writing system was codified during the early 20th century.

Ideal for those new to Shona, learning at home or in the classroom, Beginner’s Shona (ChiShona) with Online Audio includes:

• An introductory section on the geography, climate, economy, arts, culture and history of Zimbabwe, including an extensive section on “Everyday Life” that will be useful to visitors
• Twelve carefully-paced units, each one opening with a dialogue about an everyday topic followed by vocabulary, expressions, grammar lessons, and exercises
• Answer key to the exercises
• Shona-English glossary
• Online MP3 audio files for free download featuring pronunciation by native speakers

Hausa is the Chadic (branch of the Afroasiatic language family) language of the Hausa people, one of the largest ethnic groups in Central Africa. Hausa is spoken as a first language by over 27 million people and as a second language by nearly 20 million more. Commonly spoken throughout southern Niger and northern Nigeria, Hausa has developed as a lingua franca throughout much of West Africa for purposes of trade.

This unique, two-part resource provides travelers to West Africa with the tools they need for daily interaction. The bilingual dictionary has a concise vocabulary for everyday use, and the phrasebook allows instant communication on a variety of topics. Ideal for businesspeople, travelers, students, and aid workers, this guide includes:

• 4,000 dictionary entries
• Phonetics that are intuitive for English speakers
• Essential phrases on topics such as transportation, dining out, and business
• Concise grammar and pronunciation sections

This comprehensive bilingual student dictionary includes 26,000 Word-to-Word dictionary entries, and is approved for ESL/ELL students to use for standardized testing.

Amharic is the official working language of Ethiopia, with approximately 30 million speakers. The language has been used in courts, trade and everyday communications, within the military, and in the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church since the 13th century. Amharic is the second most widely spoken Semitic language in the world after Arabic. Unlike Arabic, however, Amharic is written left-to-right and uses a distinct script called Ge’ez script.

The two-way format makes it useful for both English and Amharic speakers. Ethiopian ELL students can look up the meaning of English words they don't recognize, and also translate their thoughts and writing in Amharic to English.

Yoruba, one of the national languages of Nigeria, is spoken by more than 30 million people worldwide. This book’s 15 lessons, designed with the beginning student in mind, are ideal for both classroom use and self-study. Each opens with a dialogue about an everyday topic, which is then broken down for the study of grammar and vocabulary. Cultural notes give the material its proper context, and exercises reinforce the student’s mastery of the lesson. The accompanying audio (available for free download) further complements the lesson material by helping the student learn the language as spoken. Beginner’s Yoruba also includes information on the various aspects of Yoruba culture, including religion, songs and folklore.

The first bilingual Chewa (Chichewa) phrasebook and dictionary available!

Chewa (also known as Chichewa, Chinyanja, or Nyanja) is a Bantu language spoken by about 12 million people worldwide, mostly in southeastern Africa. It is the official language of Malawi, and is also spoken in Zambia, Mozambique, and Zimbabwe.

This unique, two-part resource provides travelers to Malawi and neighboring regions with the tools they need for daily interaction. The bilingual dictionary has a concise vocabulary for everyday use, and the phrasebook allows instant communication on a variety of topics.

Ideal for businesspeople, travelers, students, and aid workers, this guide includes:

• 4,000 dictionary entries
• Phonetics that are intuitive for English speakers
• Essential phrases on topics such as transportation, dining out, and business
• Concise grammar and pronunciation sections

The essential Kikongo language resource!

Kikongo (also known as Kongo) is a Bantu language spoken by over 5 million people worldwide, mostly by the Kongo and Ndundu people living in the tropical forests of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Republic of the Congo, and Angola. Kikongo was spoken by many from this region who were sold into slavery in the Americas. Thus creolized forms of the language can be found in the ritual speech of Afro-American religions, especially in Brazil, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Haiti. It is also one of the sources of the Palenquerocreole in Colombia, and the Gullah language spoken in coastal regions of South Carolina and Georgia in the United States.

This unique, two-part resource provides travelers to Central Africa with the tools they need for daily interaction. The bilingual dictionary has a concise vocabulary for everyday use, and the phrasebook allows instant communication on a variety of topics. Ideal for businesspeople, travelers, students, and aid workers, this guide includes:

• 4,000 dictionary entries
• Phonetics that are intuitive for English speakers
• Essential phrases on topics such as transportation, dining out, and business
• Concise grammar and pronunciation sections

This comprehensive bilingual student dictionary includes over 25,000 Word-to-Word dictionary entries, and is approved for ESL/ELL students to use for standardized testing.

Tigrinya (also written as Tigrigna) is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken by about 7 million people, primarily in Eritrea and Ethiopia. Tigrinya is written in the same Ge’ez script used for the Ethiopic language Amharic, but Tigrinya grammar and usage differs significantly from Amharic. This comprehensive bilingual student dictionary includes over 25,000 Word-to-Word dictionary entries and is perfect for ESL/ELL students to use for standardized testing. The Tigrinya Student Dictionary is also useful to English speakers (students, travelers, businesspeople, and aid workers) who need to communicate in Tigrinya, as it includes simple Romanization/phonetic pronunciation for all Tigrinya words.

This comprehensive bilingual Somali dictionary includes over 25,000 Word-to-Word dictionary entries, and is approved for ESL/ELL students to use for standardized testing.

Somali is an Afroasiatic language with approximately 15 million speakers worldwide. It is spoken primarily in Somalia, but also in Somaliland, Ethiopia, Djibouti, and Kenya and by a significant Somali-speaking diaspora. Somali is written with the Latin alphabet.

The two-way format makes it useful for both English and Somali speakers. Somali ELL (English-Language Learner) students can look up the meaning of English words they don't recognize, and also translate their thoughts and writing in Somali to English.

Oromo is spoken as a first language by more than 25 million Oromo and neighboring peoples in Ethiopia and Kenya. Oromo is the fourth most widely spoken language in Africa. Also known as Afaan Oromo, Oromiffa(a), and sometimes in other languages by variant spellings of these names (Oromic, Afan Oromo), Oromo is an Afro-Asiatic language.

This unique, two-part resource provides travelers to Ethiopia with the tools they need for daily interaction. The bilingual dictionary has a concise vocabulary for everyday use, and the phrasebook allows instant communication on a variety of topics. Ideal for businesspeople, travelers, students, and aid workers, this guide includes:

• 4,000 dictionary entries, with phonetics that are intuitive for English speakers
• Essential phrases on topics such as transportation, dining out, and business
• Concise grammar and pronunciation sections.

This combination Tigrinya phrasebook and two-way Tigrinya-English dictionary is an essential reference while traveling in Eritrea and Ethiopia. The Hippocrene Dictionary & Phrasebook series allows you be a traveler, not a tourist, by connecting with the local culture and people in their native language.

Tigrinya (also written as Tigrigna) is an Afro-Asiatic language spoken by about 7 million people, primarily in Eritrea and Ethiopia. Tigrinya is written in the same Ge’ez script used for the Ethiopic language Amharic, but Tigrinya grammar and usage differs significantly from Amharic. This unique, two-part resource provides travelers to Eritrea and Ethiopia with the tools they need for daily interaction. The bilingual dictionary has a concise vocabulary for everyday use, and the phrasebook allows instant communication on a variety of topics.

Ideal for businesspeople, travelers, students, and aid workers, this guide includes:

• 4,000 dictionary entries
• Phonetics that are intuitive for English speakers
• Essential phrases on topics such as transportation, dining out, and business
• Concise grammar and pronunciation sections

The volume is a collection of papers which apply Role & Reference Grammar (RRG) to African languages. RRG is a functional theory of syntax which has been developed on the basis of two leading questions: First, how would a syntactic theory look like which starts from ‘exotic’ languages rather than English? Second, how can the interaction between syntax, semantics and pragmatics in different grammatical systems best modelled and explained? Although RRG took linguistic diversity serious from its very beginning, African languages have been underrepresented in the development of the theory. Given the sheer number African languages deserve a wider coverage in a syntactic theory which takes linguistic diversity seriously. The volume is intended to fill this gap and comprises a selection of papers which investigate different aspects related to the syntax-semantics-pragmatics interface of different African languages. This includes: argument doubling and dislocation in iziZulu, complex referential phrases in Gĩkũyũ, serial verb constructions in Igbo, locative complements in Hausa and Zarma Chiine and focus constructions in Emai. The papers will extent the current RRG approach to new languages and phenomena.

A new coursebook in modern standard Arabic from the authors of kullu tamam!

This sequel to the well-known kullu tamam!, on Egyptian Arabic, by the same authors, focuses on the modern written language used in real life by providing short texts taken from Egyptian newspapers, official statements, and the internet, and introduces personal and business letters, some of them in handwritten form (ruq‘a). For those who have studied kullu tamam!, the first lessons give contrastive word lists and exercises to make the link with Egyptian Colloquial Arabic. Extensive pattern drills, translation exercises in both directions, and writing exercises aid understanding and encourage active use of the language. The key to the exercises, the Arabic –English / English –Arabic glossary, and the audio material containing the texts allow for classroom use as well as for self-study.

Publication entitled The Contemporary Arab World. Literary and Linguistic Issues was designed and written by the members of staff of the Department of Arabic Studies of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków. It shows results of the research linked to their scholarly and didactic interests. It is a collection of six papers dealing with selected issues in the field of Arabic language and literature, focused on phenomena and processes taking place in contemporary Arab world.

Teaching Arabic as a foreign language faces many methodological challenges connected with the specificity and complexity of the sociolinguistic situation in the Arabic world. They mostly concern the necessity for considering different types (registers) of the language, distinguishing, understanding and using which makes it possible for learners to achieve full communication skills.

The end of the 20th and the beginning of the 21st century brought above all a new look at the didactic process, forcing revision of the traditional grammar–translation method in teaching foreign languages. Higher education schools must cope with new problems connected with their functioning on the broad market of formal and informal education, which is determined by the term “success on the job market”. Needs and expectations of learners change. Which direction will development of Arabic Studies take then? How to bring together the mission of higher education institutions and pragmatic needs of the market, or current needs of “consumers” and guidelines of central curricula. Is such compromise possible?