ALKHOBAR, 22 April 2008 — As the Internet bandwidth available in the Kingdom increases, interest in podcasting has taken off. To provide some idea of what it takes to create a podcast, Arab News turned to two young men living in London, who over the last year have launched a successful Arabic language education website based on podcasts. ArabicPod.net has now grown to include supplemental lesson notes, activities and even video podcasts, but when the site started up in March 2007, the focus for Saudi Mohamed Moshaya and Jordanian Ehab Saleh was on audio podcasts.
“In the last 3 years, podcasts have become a very common feature on the Internet. One of the best things about podcasting is that anyone can get into it; all that is needed is a computer and a microphone. Indeed, at the beginning, we started ArabicPod.net by using a normal USB headphone and a laptop,” said Moshaya. “Only later did we buy one of the many professional microphones out there that were specifically created with podcasting in mind and could be plugged in via the USB port of the PC. Gone are the days when you have to buy an expensive microphone and a mixer to record high quality audio on the PC.”
Podcasting has been one of the successes of Web 2.0 – which is all about how web content is created, delivered and perceived.
“There are a variety of podcasts that cater for each individual need, all of which can be downloaded and played on any computer or MP3 player,” remarked Moshaya. “Thanks to podcasts, you can now learn any language – our site www.arabicpod.net – teaches Arabic — listen to many shows on different topics or even listen to news for free! A quick search in Google for ‘podcast’ or browsing the podcast section of the iTunes store will reveal hundreds of shows ranging from educative to comical.”
Although Moshaya is a graduate in software engineering, he had quite limited experience in website design and no experience at all in podcasting when ArabicPod began.
“It was totally new to me,” he explained, “but I think anyone could pick it up. I did start by looking at some podcasting tutorials. I found out it is quite easy. All you need is a good microphone, a PC and a website where you can post your podcasts. These days there are lots of websites for that, so you don’t even need to set up your own website — you can use one of the free sites designed for that purpose — at least when you start out.”
It’s also essential to have some idea about what the podcast will cover. A podcast can be about anything and can include anything that can be captured on audio. It might be wise to listen to some of the podcasts already online and peruse some large podcast directories to get an idea of what’s already been done and where there might be a niche available for a new podcast. Since Moshaya and Saleh teach Arabic through their podcasts, before each podcasting session they each create two quick scripts that form the outlines for the podcasts. They generally record their podcasts twice a month on the weekend.
“Audio podcasts and podcasts in general are usually quite easy going, similar to radio chat shows – although there’s no listener call in! So you’ll notice if you listen to our podcasts that they aren’t like lectures,” said Moshaya. “There is a certain amount of conversation between those of us participating in the podcast. It’s supposed to be light and amusing. I would always keep the podcast under half an hour; twenty minutes is even better. Ours range from seven minutes to about sixteen minutes. We have the outline for the podcast and then just casually move from idea to idea within the theme of that week.”
The other great thing about recording a podcast is that it doesn’t have to be “just right” from the first take. Any mistakes get edited out of the recording before the podcast is finalized. Saleh and Moshaya create their podcasts with the open source software Audacity. This is a free, easy-to-use audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac OS X, GNU/Linux and other operating systems.
“Audacity is a super application that works really well,” said Moshaya. “We use it for everything from recording to editing to exporting the podcast. You don’t need anything else and you don’t need to spend money to do this.”
After the recording is edited, the file is saved and converted to MP3 format with Audacity. MP3 is the standard format for podcasts and the one that the largest number of users will find familiar. Once the file is converted, it’s tested and then the podcast is published to the ArabicPod website.
“While it’s really easy to create a podcast, it does take some getting used to because at the beginning you can be nervous,” advised Moshaya. “The first time you have a guest on the podcast with you it can be strange, too. Now we’re quite comfortable with the format and when we sit down, we start recording right away. We’ve learned that if we make a mistake, we’ll just edit it out later, so there’s no need to worry about getting it perfect.”
Even though they’ve been recording the podcasts for more than a year now, Saleh and Moshaya still have plenty of ideas for upcoming lessons. They do get requests in the form of e-mails from listeners asking that they create podcasts on certain topics, but mostly the podcasts are based on what the guys feel would be good and useful for listeners.
“One of our most popular podcasts has been on idiomatic expressions. I think that podcast was very well received because it taught Arabic as well as culture,” said Moshaya. “We explained what people should say when they entered someone’s home or before they ate a meal or when someone sneezed. So I think we’ll probably do another one like that. In most of the lessons we try to stick to classical Arabic and Ehab is an expert in that. If we do a lesson showing one of the Arabic dialects, then we always explain which dialect we’re focusing on. If we use words or expressions that could be considered colloquial, then we try to choose things that are broadly understood across the Arab world.”
Arabic is the overall theme of the podcasts, but culture and Islam occasionally become part of the lessons, as well. Moshaya noted that about half of the ArabicPod learners are not Muslims and the goal is to make the podcasts be inclusive of everyone. Recently, the ArabicPod team released a podcast on “Dua” which is a supplication or prayer. However, the listeners were offered a supplication that could be used by anyone.
“We haven’t done any podcasts on Eid, but since that is a holiday celebrated throughout the Arab world we do plan to do a lesson on how to greet people on Eid and talk about some of the traditions associated with the holiday,” Moshaya mentioned. “I believe you can’t talk about Arabic without talking about Islam sometimes – for example “Assalmu Alaikum” is Islamic as well as Arabic and although we teach Marhaba too, we explain that “Peace be unto you” is the more common greeting. We also have emphasized that Islam is a religion of peace. For the future, we hope to expand the podcasts to include more women so that the differences in conversational Arabic when speaking to men or women can be explored.”
Even though ArabicPod is growing rapidly, Moshaya emphasized that it’s essential that they always put some attention into publicizing their latest podcasts. The Internet is a huge virtual world and it’s easy to get lost.
“To get the word out about your podcasts, learn something about RSS so you can connect loads of other websites to your podcasts,” Moshaya advised. “And don’t forget to publish your podcast in a directory so people can find your work.”
For every podcast it’s essential to create a podcast newsfeed. Podcast feeds are RSS files that describe the podcast, along with information for each show. An RSS file is just a text file that links to the MP3 file. Once again, there are numerous tutorials on the Net that show how to do this.
An edited podcast is only about 20 MB maximum saved as an MP3 file. With even a lower end broadband connection, it’s quite realistic to record audio podcasts and post them to a website. Video podcasts are more of a challenge – planning and resources are required to develop them initially and then the video upload to a website will probably be at least 50 MB.
“Since we are producing our content in London, we do have a high speed connection and we have done a few video podcasts. There is an increasing demand for them,” said Moshaya. “Our most recent was filmed in a Syrian restaurant in Shepherds Bush, West London. That video podcast is about what to do and say when you go to an Arabic restaurant and we hope everyone enjoys it.”
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