It is universally known that any writer will have difficulties when trying to convey a thought in a new language. Sometimes this is difficult, even between dialects of the same basic language. Problems that arise for a person when writing in a second language due to linguistic and cultural differences are called contrastive rhetoric. Connor simply defines “a contrasting rhetoric that maintains language and writing as cultural phenomena” (Connor 5). If two cultures vary greatly, then it would make sense that writers trying to cross that cultural and linguistic barrier would have a more daunting task than usual. In the case of native Arabic and English speakers, there are many conventional differences between the two languages ​​that make the rhetoric very contrasting when trying to write in a second language. Because cultures are very distinct from one another and because of the vast structural differences within spoken and written discourse, writers will face specific challenges in trying to make themselves understood by natives of the opposing culture. The basic principle of contrasting rhetoric studies is: determine both: why there are differences between languages ​​in general and try to reach a conclusion about how these differences can be mitigated. “The basic principle of…the contrast analysis hypothesis is that language learning can be more effective when the two languages ​​– the native language and the foreign language – are similar. Some linguists call this situation positive transfer” (Al-Sibai). This idea of ​​positive transfer occurs between languages ​​with a similar basis such as German and English or Spanish and French, but it does not hold for Semitic languages ​​and Romantic or Germanic languages. Basic...... middle of paper ......ike plays footballBoth sentence constructions are used in Standard and Classical Arabic. Whereas English only follows one sentence construction because it must start with an entity that performs the action in the sentence, subject. Works Cited Al-Qahtani, Abdulkhaleq. A contrasting rhetorical study of research article introductions in Arabic and English. Diss. Oklahoma State University, 2006. Ann Arbor: UMI, 2006. Print. Al-Sibai, Dina M. “Not Being: The Decline of the Pedagogy of Contrastive Analysis.” January 4, 2011. Web.Connor, Ulla. “New Directions in Contrasting Rhetoric.” TESOL Quarterly, 36.4 (2002). 493-510. Print.Connor, Ulla. Contrastive rhetoric: Cross-cultural aspects of second language writing. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press, 1996. Print. Thomason, Sarah G. “Arabic in Contact with Other Languages.” University of Michigan. 2009. February 23, 2011. Web.