ABSTRACT
This presentation draws on my current project ‘Arabic Dialogues: Learning Colloquial Arabic through Phrasebooks 1798–1945’ (monograph forthcoming), and focuses on attempts to teach Arabic consonants often considered ‘difficult’ by Europeans. The classic example is ‘ayn, which receives bizarre and usually not-very-helpful descriptions in Arabic grammars and phrasebooks. This chapter examines how such phrasebooks often borrowed the description of consonants from one another, without reflection on how to teach phonology. It also explores whether there is a contrast between Arab and European authors of phrasebooks in their perception of whether it is possible to teach phonology through a book, or whether it is essential to learn from native speakers.
