A Contrastive Analysis of Indonesian and Arabic Phonetics

There are some factors causing some challenges for non-Arabs speakers in learning Arabic, which include non-linguistic and linguistic ones. These factors also influence Indonesian students learning Arabic as a foreign language. In general, Indonesian students find difficulties in learning Arabic due to a number of differences between Indonesian as their first language (L1) with Arabic as the target language (L2) at almost all aspects of linguistics. The process of learning L2 which does not show its linguistic equations in their L1 has led the assumption among Arabic students in Indonesia that the language is difficult to learn. Therefore, this study aims to: (1) describe the similarities between Indonesian and Arabic phonetics; (2) describe the differences between Indonesian and Arabic phonetic; and (3) offer a formulation of Arabic learning pattern for speakers of Indonesian learning Arabic to help them learn the language easier. This research applied a comparative descriptive qualitative approach. The result of data analysis shows three findings; (1) There are 16 (sixteen) similar sounds of Indonesian and Arabic phonemes; (2) There are 7 (seven) Indonesian phonemes that do not exist in Arabic; and (3) There are 13 (thirteen) Arabic phonemes that do not exist in Indonesian. Based on these findings, it is suggested that the teaching of Arabic language should prioritize the similar sounds in Indonesian and Arabic.