# passive learning



## Xavierfr1

Hello all!

How might one translate 'passive' or 'passively', meaning being the recipient/participant of/in an action, that is not active in said action - the antonym of course being 'active'.

I give the following phrase as an example: 'passive learning' - to learn something through passive methods; without actively searching for information or studying, but rather just soaking up any information one encounters. 

I am confused because the most common translation seems to be 'سلبي' however I wouldn't like to be confused for meaning 'negative'.

Any thoughts or suggestions?


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## Mahaodeh

I understand your point, and I usually have a problem with this. However, it seems that in Modern Standard Arabic, سلبي has acquired a new meaning, at least in some cases, the problem is that it did not loose the original meaning!

For that reason I'm personally still not comfortable using it casually and I always try to find other alternatives such as خامل، غير نشط، عاجز، غير فعّال، مبني للمجهول، صوري الخ. But in some cases you are just stuck and can't really use another word because it just would not be understood by the majority of speakers. This is one of these cases, where someone hastily translated "passive learning" as تعلّم سلبي without taking a moment to think about it, then it spread like wildfire!

Having said that, in this particular case you could try التعلّم غير الفعّال, as active learning would be something like التعلّم الفعّال. Or you could try التعلّم الخامل, where in this case you are using خامل as an opposite of فعّال أو نشط. Other options that might work would be تعلم اجتنابي أو تعلم لافاعل. Personally, I find that خامل fits the intended meaning of just taking what comes without an effort on the learner's part. It's also a word widely understood in both standard Arabic and dialects, so you won't have the problem of having to teach people a new word.

Depending on where you want to use the term, you might want to explain the reason you want to change a term that has already been established (despite no one really giving it much thought). If it's in a book, you might want to explain it in the introduction for example. I would say that the reason you gave (the word meaning "negative" in Arabic, which makes some think that we should avoid passive learning altogether as it's "bad") seems logical enough for me to come up with a new term.


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## Xavierfr1

Thank you for this expert response. Your translations are really helpful!  I didn't know خامل - this one seems perfect as you said - because it encompasses the lack of effort implied by passive,    اجتنابي - I guess fantastically useful for 'passive' in a personality-type context - as you are 'deferring' things off,  and I think  غير فعّال/لافاعل are also useful in the general sense of passive where nothing else fits e.g. passive immunity, passive absorption (could also use خامل here maybe ?), passive in a sporting context. Thank you!


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## jack_1313

Mahaodeh said:


> For that reason I'm personally still not comfortable using it casually and I always try to find other alternatives such as خامل، غير نشط، عاجز، غير فعّال، مبني للمجهول، صوري الخ. But in some cases you are just stuck and can't really use another word because it just would not be understood by the majority of speakers. This is one of these cases, where someone hastily translated "passive learning" as تعلّم سلبي without taking a moment to think about it, then it spread like wildfire!
> 
> Having said that, in this particular case you could try التعلّم غير الفعّال, as active learning would be something like التعلّم الفعّال. Or you could try التعلّم الخامل, where in this case you are using خامل as an opposite of فعّال أو نشط. Other options that might work would be تعلم اجتنابي أو تعلم لافاعل.



I share your issue with using the term سلبي to mean "passive". I think whether or not you can do that depends a lot on the context. Whenever I use the term in lay conversation, I explain in what sense I'm using it to make sure it hasn't been misunderstood as "negative". On other other hand, in academic writing, where the usage of سلبي in the sense of "passive" is more common and where there is a benefit in trying to achieve some kind of parallelism across languages for terminology for universal concepts, you can probably get away more easily with the term التعلم السلبي, and trying to avoid it could create more problems than it solves.

I don't like the suggestion التعلم غير الفعال as the first way I would understand it would be "ineffective learning". In other words, I'm not sure it is any less susceptible to misinterpretation than التعلم السلبي. However, التعلم غير الفاعل ("inactive learning") sits OK with me. Other ideas that come to mind are التعلم الضمني ("implicit learning") and التعلم التلقائي ("automatic/spontaneous learning"). I'm not familiar enough with the term خامل to comment on that one.


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## Mahaodeh

jack_1313 said:


> I don't like the suggestion التعلم غير الفعال as the first way I would understand it would be "ineffective learning".


 good point.


jack_1313 said:


> Other ideas that come to mind are التعلم الضمني ("implicit learning")


I like this one.


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## elroy

التعلّم السلبي sounds like one of those unfortunate coinages that arose due to a perceived need to have a single-word, straightforward Arabic equivalent.  I'm afraid this is nowhere near universal or transparent, so it's probably best not to use it.

I agree with jack about التعلّم غير الفعال / اللافعال; this has a different meaning ("ineffective learning") so it doesn't fit.  I am also against التعلّم الخامل.  خامل implies that you're lazy, that you're not active in the sense of not doing anything when you probably should.  It's about inertia/immobility/lethargy.  It doesn't fit either.  I'm afraid I don't understand the suggestion of التعلّم الاجتنابي: "learning by avoidance"?

التعلم الضمني and التعلم التلقائي also have different meanings, as correctly pointed out by jack in his translations.  Implicit learning has to do with learning something naturalistically, without being taught an explicit rule.  Automatic learning is just what it sounds like: it means that you pick something up right away.

If I had to express the idea in Arabic, I would most likely resort to an explanation:

التعلّم عن طريق تلقّي المعلومات
التعلّم عن طريق استيعاب المعلومات
التعلّم عن طريق التعرّض للمعلومات
التعلّم عن طريق الاحتكاك (in a language-learning context)

For extra clarity, I might add something like دون مبادرة شخصية.  (In fact, التعلّم دون مبادرة شخصية might work, as a way of defining the concept by referring to what it's not.)


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## momai

Maybe  
التعلم المُغْفَل
المهمل
الأعمى
التعلم بالتلقي 
التعلم بالاستماع
....


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## elroy

The first three don’t work; like خامل, they have unsuitable negative connotations/meanings.  The fourth one might potentially work, context-depending (it might need to be defined on the first mention).  The last one is specific to listening, and excludes reading, for example.


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## Schem

التعلم بالتلقي is actually often used here for immersion techniques. My vote for an idiomatic translation goes to التعلم الضمني.


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## elroy

Implicit learning isn't the same as passive learning, though.  

If you're listening to verb conjugations, that's passive but explicit. 
If you're listening to a story that naturally uses various verb forms, that's passive and implicit.


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## Xavierfr1

Thank you everyone for opening up this fantastic discussion!

I personally believe the shidda makes the difference in distinguishing (when necessary) between purely active (focus on the doer) and effective (focus on effect of the deed).

فاعل - active
فعال - effective (thus also active)

Therefore the following might work:
_*غير فاعل/لافاعل*_ - not active/passive
غير فعال- ineffective

I also personally don't find خامل، inert/lazy a bad translation. I know that in chemistry the noble gases are referred to as خامل - inert, don't participate in chemical reactions (under normal conditions).
Even if التعلم الخامل were interpreted as lazy learning - I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing! I think

a) it's 100% what it actually is - it means you aren't exerting yourself
b) a lot of people would be sold by 'lazy learning' - as a brand, to most, that sounds better!
c) as a native, I think that passive in English also implies a bit of laziness - not getting stuck in!

I personally don't think it's negatively connoted and worse case scenario if I interpreted it as 'lazy learning' I would understand it, and not be offended! 

I'd say the best one-worders for this sense of 'passive' are:

1) لافاعل (already common e.g. in medicine  امتصاص لافاعل، تمنيع لافاعل )
2) خامل (common in e.g. in engineering systems نظام خامل، )

Both accurate descriptors at least - does what it says on the tin.

Also all of these:
3) التعلم دون مبادرة شخصية
4)التعلم بالتلقي
5)التعلم الأعمى
6) عن طريق التعرض
7) عن طريق الاستيعاب
... وغيرها
Perhaps also:
ّالتعلم *الإمتصاصيّ*/_*الإستيعابي*_ - 'Absorptive learning' (?)

Once again the Arabic language has proven itself to be rich and expressive, even where the dictionaries haven't caught up!


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## elroy

Sorry, لافاعل doesn’t work, and خامل is in fact negatively connoted.  We’re not translating “lazy”; we’re translating “passive.”


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## Xavierfr1

I see your point.   However of course many words have more than one meaning.

'خامل' means inert/inactive, I know e.g. it is the term used in chemistry "not participating in a reactions" (by extension "not participating in active learning")

لافاعل means 'inactive' 'a non-doer' and I see is in widespread use in science, technology, and economics.

I site the following examples:
الغازات الخاملة - noble gases
التحصين /التمنيع اللافاعل - passive immunisation
نظام خامل (e.g. in engineering, economics).
منزل خامل - a Passivhaus

The point is - is an educated reader who grasps the concept able to associate the word to the idea of passive learning?

From a medical background - I instantly recognised and understood the term التمنيع اللافاعل or indeed المنفعل (both are used) - does what it says on the tin.

Terminology is invented in science, technology, economics, the media 
... on a daily basis - and if you define your term then bob's your uncle. I'm happy that the words mentioned represent the concept of passivity comprehensively for the context in which I wish to use them.  Or at least my vocabulary is a little broader!

It is always useful to hear how words are perceived from different perspectives, I will take these connotations into account when using them - maybe explain the term 'passive' as you suggest a little bit.


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## elroy

Xavierfr1 said:


> is an educated reader who grasps the concept able to associate the word to the idea of passive learning?


 No.


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## Xavierfr1

Okay cheers mate 
I'll take your word for it as a native


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## Sun-Shine

When I searched I found "التعلم السلبي" so let's keep it because it's an idiom. Also I found "تعليم مباشر" and it seems good to me.


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## Xavierfr1

I like this suggestion ! Cheers


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## elroy

Sun-Shine said:


> let's keep it because it's an idiom.


 It’s not an idiom.  It’s a (probably recent) coinage that I think means nothing to most native speakers. 


Sun-Shine said:


> I found "تعليم مباشر" and it seems good to me.


 “Direct learning”?  How does that fit?


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## Sun-Shine

elroy said:


> “Direct learning”?  How does that fit?



 "passive learning" التعليم المباشر learning by receiving information from others (teachers/ professors) by attending classes/ lectures.
(التعلم السلبي (التعليم المباشر والمحاضرة
التعليم المباشر


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## elroy

The point isn’t what terms others have come up with; the point (for me) is what terms are likely to be (relatively) transparent and understood as intended. سلبي and مباشر fall way short of meeting that criterion, in my opinion.


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## Mahaodeh

elroy said:


> I am also against التعلّم الخامل. خامل implies that you're lazy, that you're not active in the sense of not doing anything when you probably should.


I think I probably should explain this choice since there's a lot of discussion about it. I don't understand خامل as being lazy, I understand it as being inactive in the sense of not doing anything regardless of whether you should or could do anything. I don't see الخمول والكسل as interchangeable. I chose the word because of my understanding of what passive learning is, which may be inaccurate. I understand it as receiving information without actively doing anything with the information. That is, without thinking about it, just letting it be absorbed. Of course I'm not married to the term and I have no problem with the objection that it might be understood as negative, although I think that 'passive learning' as a term in English is also somewhat negative.

I also don't really see it as any more negative than التعلّم السلبي, but at least الخامل is easier to understand whereas السلبي might be a little too unclear. Again, I'm not defending the choice, just explaining it.


elroy said:


> If I had to express the idea in Arabic, I would most likely resort to an explanation:
> 
> التعلّم عن طريق تلقّي المعلومات
> التعلّم عن طريق استيعاب المعلومات
> التعلّم عن طريق التعرّض للمعلومات
> التعلّم عن طريق الاحتكاك (in a language-learning context)


This works if you are trying to explain the term, not find an Arabic term. People would automatically shorten it after a while should one of these be chose. Maybe something like التعلم بالتلقي might work as momai suggested.


elroy said:


> We’re not translating “lazy”; we’re translating “passive.”


True, but we don't _really _have to translate passive, do we? I mean, we are translating 'passive learning' not 'passive'. As a term the meanings of individual words don't really matter, it's the meaning of the whole term that matters. As yo said:


elroy said:


> the point (for me) is what terms are likely to be (relatively) transparent and understood as intended.





Sun-Shine said:


> When I searched I found "التعلم السلبي" so let's keep it because it's an idiom. Also I found "تعليم مباشر" and it seems good to me.


I see these two as separate, each referring to a different thing. Even if we skip the fact that one of them is "learning" and the other is "teaching" and use one word for both, then التعلّم المباشر is to learn directly regardless of whether the method of learning was active or passive. For example, if you were researching a master's degree thesis, you are learning both directly and actively. Passive learning would not apply here. The opposite is also true, for example when a child learns aspects of his culture he learns it passively, but not directly.


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## elroy

Thanks for explaining, Maha!  We are in agreement that we don't necessarily need to translate the _word_ "passive" using a _single word_ in Arabic.  What I meant is that we are trying to translate the _meaning_ of "passive."

I don't think "passive learning" is negatively connoted.  Even if it were, خامل in any case would still have a _much more _negative connotation so it would still be an inappropriate translation, in my opinion.


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