KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 25 — The Arabic Language portal of the Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama) has become an additional source of reference for teaching Arabic at the Faculty of Islamic Studies of the National University of Malaysia (UKM), especially for students who are non-native speakers of the language.
Former deputy dean of the faculty, Associate Professor Dr. Zamri Arifin, said the portal provides a variety of local news in Arabic that caters to the needs of students.
“We cannot find reading material like this in that language except on Bernama’s official portal.
“Through (Bernama), our students can learn and know various Arabic terms through political news, economics, health, and so on; while other news agencies are used to increase knowledge on international news,” he told Bernama in an exclusive interview.
He said the various information obtained from the website supports the teaching and learning process of Arabic, such as language proficiency and article writing.
“By using this method, we have received positive feedback from the students,” said Dr Zamri.
Dr. Zamri added that the Arabic language portal has a bright future as it keeps up with the the times, and hopes that it will feature audio visual media and joint activities such as webinars.
Bernama established the Arabic language portal on Oct 24, 2002, to channel news on politics, economy, investment, tourism, education and Islamic religious affairs to 18 news organisations in Arab countries.
The portal contains translations of news, feature articles and special reports produced by Bernama, as well as quotes from authoritative newspapers that are related to the development of Islam in Malaysia or relevant to the relationship between Malaysia and Arab countries.
Source: BERNAMA News Agency