1. World Languages
Differences between English and
Arabic, Chinese, Kayah, and Hindi
by Gloria Thorpe

2. Turn to a partner and describe
to them exactly where you
keep scissors in your house or
apartment.
However, you must place all prepositions
behind the noun
Eg: my house in
the floor on
a short table next to
a painting under ocean of

3. Discuss with your partner
your reaction to the previous
activity

4. Students of a new language
have many rules to learn, as
well as habits of speech to
change

5. VARIED
SENTENCE
STRUCTURES

6. English
Tom’s nice cat is in the
kitchen

7. Arabic
Cat Tom nice the kitchenin

8. Chinese
Tom nice describe cat one
kitchen in

9. Kayah
Tom’s nice cat is kitchen in

10. Hindi
Tom’s nice cat kitchen in is.

11. Now, work with a partner to say
these words:
Vjio
Pzae
Ngucdt

12. Of 26 teenage ELLs surveyed, 85%
reported that pronunciation has been
the most difficult aspect of learning
English.

13. Arabic

14. Varieties of Arabic
 Egypt – 50 million speakers
 Algeria – 22 million speakers
 Sudan – 19 million speakers
 Iraq/Saudi Arabia/Syria – 14 million
speakers

15. English words drawn from
Arabic
 Crocus  Syrup
 Ghoul  Candy
 Giraffe  Alcohol
 Algorithm  Lime
 Camel  Sash
 Sugar  Cable
 Borax

16. Considerations for English
learners 1/3 of English vowel sounds
 Use of only
◦ “Sheep” versus “Ship” is difficult
 Consistent syllable stress
◦ English stress is random and inconsistent
 HOLiday
 toMORrow
 yesterDAY
 Consistent patterns to distinguish parts of
speech (eg. “ly” indicates adverbs)
◦ Lack of consistent patterns in English are confusing
 No use of “to be” in present tense
◦ “The man nice” versus “The man is nice”
 Leads to incorrect speaking in English
 Consonant clusters (“spl”, “tch”) are rare
Discuss with partner: Which of these adjustments would be most
difficult for an ELL?

17. Kayah

18. Language of Karenni people in
Burma
 210,000 speakers
 Recently developed written language
◦ Low literacy rate of 20-50%

19. Considerations for English
learners
 Possible low exposure to reading and
writing
 Similar rules of grammar to English
 Many different sounds
◦ Includes sounds that are not found in
English
◦ Excludes many consonant clusters (“dr” &
“ch”)
Discuss with partner: Which of these adjustments would be
most difficult for an ELL?

20. Chinese (Mandarin)

21. Mandarin
 Most common Chinese
dialect/language
 1,200,000 speakers
 Written symbols indicate
meaning, rather than sound
◦ Written language is shared between
different dialects and languages
◦ About 50,000 characters
 Tonal language
◦ Pitch of voice influences meaning of

22. Considerations for English
learners
 Phonetic alphabet is a new concept
and, therefore, confusing
 Difficulty distinguishing “r” “l” and “n”
 Low exposure to words ending in
consonants
◦ Vowel sounds may be added or extended
 Use of tone to express emotion may
be confusing
Discuss with partner: Which of these adjustments would be
most difficult for an ELL?

23. Hindi

24. Hindi
 Spoken by 370, 000 people
 Official language of India
 Closely related to 7 languages
◦ Such as Urdu, in Pakistan and Nepal

25. Considerations for English
leaners
 ½ vowels of English
 2X consonants of English
◦ Sound patterns are unfamiliar
 Highly phonetic language
◦ English phonics are inconsistent
 Lack of “th” sound
 Consistent syllable stress
 Different use of present continuous
◦ I am not knowing the answer
Discuss with partner: Which of these adjustments would be
most difficult for an ELL?

26. References
 Crystal, D. (2003). The Cambridge encyclopedia of language. Cambridge, UK:
Cambridge University Press.
 Shoebottom, P. (2012a). The differences between English and Arabic. Frankfurt
International School. Retrieved from
http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/langdiff/arabic.htm
 Shoebottom, P. (2012b). The differences between English and Chinese.
Frankfurt International School. Retrieved from
http://esl.fis.edu/grammar/langdiff/chinese.htm
 Mylanguages Ltd. (2011a). Learn Arabic. Retrieved from
http://mylanguages.org/learn_arabic.php
 Mylanguages Ltd. (2011b). Learn Chinese. Retrieved from
http://mylanguages.org/learn_chinese.php
 LearnArabicFree.info. (2011). Arabic for beginners. Retrieved from
http://learnarabicfree.info/beginners/
 Ager, S. (2012a). Arabic. Retrieved from
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/arabic.htm
 Ager, S. (2012b). Kayah Li. Retrieved from
http://www.omniglot.com/writing/kayahli.htm
 International Organization for Migration Cultural Orientation Team. (2009).
Retrieved from http://www.churchworldservice.org/
 Helgerson, H.A. (2009, October). Kayah Li. Retrieved from
http://www.karennirefugees.com/uploads/3/0/1/9/3019325/learning_kayah.pdf
 Chinese-Lessons. (2006). Chinese lessons. Retrieved from http://www.chinese-
lessons.com/
 Living Language. (2007). Spoken word Hindi: A complete course for beginners.
Broadway, MD: Random House, Inc.