ArabicWebcasts

Podcast Description

The News in Simplified Arabic is posted to the web twice monthly and delivers a survey of the previous two weeks' news in simplified standard Arabic Listeners of Voice of America's "Special English" broadcasts will recognize the slightly slower rate of speech and textual redundancy which characterize these webcasts. Why? In earlier times, the news was easy to understand. The formulaic messages were predictable and the diction clear and slow. But since the advent of modern media outlets such as Al Jazeera Al Arabiya, newscasts feature telegraphic speech and fast diction. Our webcasts serve as a stepping stone between the teacher talk of the classroom and the "real" Arabic of the media. Authentic news. The news itself is taken from a number of Arabic-language sites, including BBC-Arabic Service, Al Jazeera, CNN, Al Hayat, and others. The editorial "slant" is left unchanged and should not be taken to represent the views of the NCLRC. The accompanying exercises include pre-listening background information, vocabulary support, and post-listening activities. The exercises are written in the multiple-choice or fill-in formats. Listeners can check their answers with a mouse click. Timeframe. The news cycle covered runs two weeks with new posted every other Monday or Tuesday.