ZAI: free platform for learning Arabic

A new digital platform ZAI launched in the UAE will offer innovative resources for foreigners to learn Arabic. The ZAI platform and all the tools created will be available to anyone in the UAE and beyond for free.

Zayed University said it has added Arabic words and phrases to the platform, as well as English translation and transliteration to make it easy for expats and non-native speakers to pronounce them.

The dictionary covers frequently used sentences and words and greatly helps in communicating with native Arabic speakers. The platform teaches how to greet people in Arabic, order food in restaurants, buy groceries in the supermarket and so on.

The platform aims to transform the way Arabic is taught and learnt by providing students and teachers with accessible tools.

The online centre includes resources for teachers such as teaching materials, visual illustrations for vocabulary, morphology visuals and poems, as well as teaching tips, webinars and conferences.

The creators of the platform said they aim to build a dictionary of 10 million words, which will be ranked according to their readability/difficulty level. They also plan to develop a range of educational resources for students and teachers, such as lesson plans, reading lists, writing templates and children’s books adapted for different levels of language proficiency.

The development of the ZAI platform has been a collaborative project between several departments under the leadership of Zayed University. The Department of Education and Knowledge (Adek) is supporting the creation of the first Arabic phonetics programme, while the Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre, in partnership with New York University Abu Dhabi, has contributed to the promotion of the literacy tool.

Source: Khaleej Times