Tree of Life in Bahrain – a symbol of hope
Flourishing in the middle of the desert The Tree of Life (Shajarat-al-Hayat) is located in Bahrain. It is on a hill in a barren area of the Arabian Desert, 40 kilometres from Manama. This enormous abundantly green tree (Prosopis cineraria) is almost 10m high and over...
Find someone to practise your Arabic with
Just by speaking to real people, your confidence comes on in leaps and bounds. In our interconnected world, it is easier than you might expect to find a language partner. Taxi Drivers In my experience, taxi drivers are always happy to exchange words in their language...
More Language Learning Hacks
Here are three further helpful tips for learning any language, following on from previous post: https://arabiconline.eu/three-language-learning-hacks/ 1. Be present When learning any language, it is helpful to not think too far ahead. When you focus on how many...
A genuine award? Or is it a fake award that can be bought.
Some awards can be fake Recently Gulf News started an investigation into award galas that are being held in the UAE and found out that most of them were fake. The so-called winners turned out to be victims of scams. These galas were run by fraudsters, who were preying...
Islamic geometric patterns
Frequent use of geometric patterns Islamic decoration, which tends to avoid using figurative images, makes frequent use of geometric patterns which have developed over the centuries. The reason why Islamic art does not use figurative images is to avoid them becoming...
Middle Eastern / Arab desserts: kanufah
Cheesy, sweet and crunchy It's rich, creamy, sweet and cheesy with a crunchy topping. If you haven't tried it, it is unlike anything you have tasted before. Kanafah (Arabic: كنافة ) kunāfah, also spelled kunafeh or kunafah is a Middle Eastern cheese pastry soaked...
How is arabiconline.eu different from other online Arabic courses?
Structured courses One of the main advantages of learning Arabic with arabiconline.eu is that the online Arabic courses are very carefully structured. The units and lessons are organised to ensure a successful learning experience. The focus is on speaking and...
Saudi Arabia’s new visa regulations for tourists. Abaya rule relaxed – but there are still 19 punishable offences.
Saudi Arabia allows tourist visas from 49 countries. So far the only way to travel to Saudi was on a business visa, via a sponsor for your visit or by getting a pilgrimage visa to visit Mecca and Medina (only for Muslims). The fact that, all of a sudden, Western...
Vegetarian Dishes in Arab / Middle Eastern countries
Vegetarians have lots of choices Vegetarians going to Arab or Middle Eastern countries often fear that meat dishes will dominate the menu and they will have little choice of vegetarian meals. This is not true, as the Middle Eastern cuisine has at it heart,...
