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Larbi Oukada

Professor of French, Department of World Languages and Cultures

In today's global economy, and as more U.S. citizens travel internationally, communicating across cultural and geographical boundaries is a skill few can do without. However, language learning is a challenge that many are reluctant to tackle. To address this issue, French Professor Larbi Oukada has created a system to help the linguistically cautious take the plunge. His Functional Language Series uses short modules and an interactive approach that Oukada says will make language learning both fruitful and enjoyable.

Born in Morocco, Dr. Oukada is fluent in Arabic, French, and English and has been teaching language for more than 30 years. He says, "I enjoy teaching so much that I look forward to Monday." Still, Oukada laughs, "Professionally, teaching came to me accidentally, like many fortunate accidents in life." It was a fortunate accident for others as well; his first-year textbook, Entre Amis, and his second-year textbook, Controverses (co-authored with fellow IUPUI Professor Didier Bertrand), are used at more than 300 universities, including Harvard and Princeton.

So, Oukada knows a thing or two about learning languages himself and about helping others do the same. He says that forgiving oneself when studying a foreign language is the key. "Making mistakes is inherent to learning another language," Oukada says. "One can communicate satisfactorily without being perfect."

Thus, in creating the series, the professor's goal was to identify the threshold level of communication, below which one cannot communicate and above which one can begin to experience the joy of speaking another language. While putting together the educational program, Oukada constantly asked himself: Is the content I am putting forward functional? Is it useful? Is it necessary?

"Our Functional Language Series," he reports, "will compete with the Rosetta Stone program by relying on sounder pedagogical premises."

Dr. Oukada's series includes communicative tools basic to human interaction and prepares users for "real world" situations by providing as well the necessary information to communicate in a culturally appropriate manner.

The Phase I of the series will include French, Spanish, Arabic and Chinese and will be distributed via The New York Times website, "Knowledge," starting Spring 2010.

--Shaun Ancelet
Liberal Arts News Bureau

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