I have to warn you it won't be the immersion experience that, for example, learning Spanish in Spain would be. In shops, taxis etc, the language is English, because the staff are anything but Arab. Even shop signs and product names are often just transliterations of English words. You'll have a chance to chat with female Arab students and security personnel at University, but Qataris won’t normally invite you into their homes or meet with you off campus. You’ll do better with Palestinian students as their families are less . . . protective. You’ll easy get a Qatari boyfriend, of course, if you can cope with the double standards.
If you wanted immersion Arabic, you’d have to go to less wealthy country such as Egypt, Jordan or Sudan. However, if you also want a few comforts, Qatar’s not a bad choice.
What the teaching is like, I’ve no idea, but pretty stilted and grammar-based, I should think. I assume you know about the dialect variations and differences(s) between classical Arabic and modern Arabic(s). My students take great pride in telling me that Arabic Grammar is so complicated that even university professors can’t always explain it: a claim that makes no sense at all to someone brought up in the Western descriptive and comparative linguistics tradition.
For social advice, see other threads on bars, Arts etc.
I have to warn you it won't be the immersion experience that, for example, learning Spanish in Spain would be. In shops, taxis etc, the language is English, because the staff are anything but Arab. Even shop signs and product names are often just transliterations of English words. You'll have a chance to chat with female Arab students and security personnel at University, but Qataris won’t normally invite you into their homes or meet with you off campus. You’ll do better with Palestinian students as their families are less . . . protective. You’ll easy get a Qatari boyfriend, of course, if you can cope with the double standards.
If you wanted immersion Arabic, you’d have to go to less wealthy country such as Egypt, Jordan or Sudan. However, if you also want a few comforts, Qatar’s not a bad choice.
What the teaching is like, I’ve no idea, but pretty stilted and grammar-based, I should think. I assume you know about the dialect variations and differences(s) between classical Arabic and modern Arabic(s). My students take great pride in telling me that Arabic Grammar is so complicated that even university professors can’t always explain it: a claim that makes no sense at all to someone brought up in the Western descriptive and comparative linguistics tradition.
For social advice, see other threads on bars, Arts etc.