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Arabic Profile | ||
Tags: Arabic | ||
 Language Learning Forum : Collaborative writing |  | |
| administrator Hexaglot Forum Admin Switzerland FXcuisine.com Joined 7190 days ago 3094 posts - 2987 votes  12 sounds Speaks: French*, EnglishC2, German, Italian, Spanish, Russian Personal Language Map | Message 1 of 3 08 March 2005 at 7:34am | IP Logged |
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Here is my second draft for a profile of the Arabic language for prospective learners. The scope of each heading can be seen in the
French or Italian language profiles. Please use the scope of the existing headings ('Usefulness', 'Economic importance', etc...) for your input as I can't add new headings. You are welcome to post proposed changes to each paragraph or to write a new paragraph yourself. If you wish to insert comments, please use Italics. If you have studied the language and used it for some time, your input will be immensely valuable to prospective learners. Several people have posted extremely useful observation on the Arabic language on the 'Specific languages' forum and I have tried to integrate what I could in this draft. Feel free to dig the forum for more information. INTRODUCTION The term 'Arabic' covers two families of languages. One is mainly written (Litterary or Modern Standard Arabic), and the other encompasses a number of spoken Arabic dialects. Anything written, including newspaper, books and the Internet, will be in Modern Standard Arabic. Radio and Television, such as Al-Jazeera, use the same language in order to be understood all over the Arab world. But to speak with Arabs on the street, you will have to learn one of the many 'Colloquial Arabic' dialects. USEFULNESS There is no question that culturally Arabic is an extremely important language. However, it is not as useful as one may assume at first. The first problem is that if you wish to converse on the street, you will either have to learn one of the many colloquial dialects, which are only spoken in a few countries. Thus the large number of countries where 'Arabic' is spoken is actually misleading, since it is written but not actually spoken. Second, if you wish to do business, most Arabic businessmen will speak either English or French (in the Maghreb). The business advantage of speaking Arabic is probably not as strong as being a Muslim. Thus the reader would be advised to limit his ambitions as to the use of Arabic and not assume he'll be able, from the study of one language, to address each and every Arab in their mother tongue. CHIC FACTOR Speaking Arabic is very chic, especially if you are able to speak one of the Arabic dialects. I think it can also be anti-chic in some circles, where anything Arabic or even Muslim is considered as barbaric and deeply suspicious. ECONOMIC IMPORTANCE No text yet TRAVEL OPPORTUNITIES No text yet COUNTRIES Arabic, across its various dialects, is one of the most popular languages on earth with no less than 25 countries where it is spoken : Saudi Arabia, Somalia, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Algery, Tunisia, Morroco, Kuwait, Syria, Oman, Lybia, Lebanon, Sudan, Qatar, Bahrein, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, Comoros, Chad, Djibouti, Eritrea, Israel, Mauritania and Yemen. However, as explained on this page, you cannot assume that learning one 'Arabic' will enable you to converse with the man on the street in all of these countries. SPEAKERS Moroccan Arabic is spoken by about 20,000,000 speakers in Morocco and in immigrant communities in Western Europe. Algerian Arabic has 22,000,000 speakers in Algeria. Tunisian Arabic has 9,000,000 speakers in Tunisia. Lybian Arabic is spoken by 4,500,000 speakers mainly in Lybia but also in Egypt. Egyptian Arabic is spoken by 84,000,000 Egyptians and understood abroad thanks to Egyptian movies. North Levantine Arabic is spoken by about 15,000,000 Syrians and Lebaneses, whereas South Levantine is used by an additional 6,000,000 Jordanians, Palestinians and Israelis. North Mesopotamian Arabic is spoken by 6,300,000 speakers mostly in Iraq but also in Syria and Turkey. The Hijazi dialect is spoken by 6,000,000 people in Saudi Arabia and the Nadji dialect is a spoken by a further 10,000,000 speakers mainly in Saudi Arabia. Travel The Arab world is vast and diverse, with many attractive landscapes of sea, mountains, oasis and deserts. Some countries are worldly and modern such a Lebanon, other are highly conservative and cut off like Sudan. You can visit very religious countries like Saudi Arabia or relax in secular countries like Tunisia. A knowledge of a local dialect will greatly enhance your travel. VARIATIONS You can learn several Arabic languages: * Modern Standard Arabic is the most popular with foreign students. This is a modernized version of the litterrary Arabic. It is used throughout the Arabic world for newspapers and television. The trouble is that nobody speaks it outside of books and medias. People speak in colloquial Arabic. Educated Arabs will know it, but you'd probably end up speaking English or French with them. * Litterary Arabic is the language used in the Quoran, the holy book of Muslims. This language is not spoken as it sounds a bit as Old English "Thou Art in a Shoppe". It is the most difficult of the three brands of Arabic to be learned. Unless you are a Muslim or a scholar, you will probably never study littterary Arabic. * Colloquial Arabic is the spoken language. It changes from country to country, although for example you can learn the Levantine dialect understood in Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine. These dialects are almost exclusively spoken, people using Modern Standard Arabic when writing. Going from Litterary to Standard Arabic is not very difficult, and acquiring a colloquial dialect thereafter is mainly a problem of vocabulary learning. There are many Arabic dialects ('Colloquial Arabic') spoken across the Arab world. Although the media uses the same Modern Standard Arabic everywhere, most Arabs will either speak in their own dialect or use French or Arabic. Dialects are slightly different from city to city and change from one country to another. You can, however, learn 'standard' dialects : * Gulf dialect is the closest to Classical or Modern Standard Arabic. * Levantine dialect is spoken in Jordan, Palestine, Syria and Lebanon * The Egyptian dialect is the most spoken Arabic dialect and widely understood outside Egypt thanks to the popularity of Egyptian movies * North African dialect spoken in the Maghreb (Tunisia, Algery and Morrocco) The differences between those Arabic dialects are similar to the differences between Romance languages. This means they are very close to each other and by knowing one you can learn another easily. It is actually a better strategy to learn one Arabic dialect rather than trying to speak Modern Standard Arabic with people. Although most people nowadays understand Modern Standard Arabic, only a minority can actually converse in it and those who can just don't do it. They'd rather speak their own dialect, French or English than Standard Arabic. CULTURE There are many ways you can practice Arabic in a rewarding way, even from home. Arabic Music - plenty of popular songs in Arabic, modern and traditional. Try Raï, a type of music sung in the Maghreb by singers such as Khaled or Cheb Mami. Arab newspapers Arab TV many people now have access to either Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya. If you receive satellite TV, you can get many more Arab channels. They all speak in Modern Standard Arabic and this is actually the only way to listen to this language. Arab litterature DIFFICULTIES I rate this language as [Difficulty to learn this language for an English speaker (1 to 5 cactuses)] [Difficulty to learn this language for an English speaker (1 to 5 cactuses)] [Difficulty to learn this language for an English speaker (1 to 5 cactuses)] [Difficulty to learn this language for an English speaker (1 to 5 cactuses)] for Modern Standard Arabic, due to the difficult alphabetic writing system, complex vocabulary and difficult grammar. Pronunciation Arabic is a difficult language to pronounce, with many, many unique consonants that will put in motion parts of your mouth you did not know you had. Achieving a correct pronunciation is not easy, and speaking with no accent very difficult. Grammar Arabic uses a logical but difficult grammatical system, especially in Litterary Arabic. GRAMMAR No text yet. PRONUNCIATION No text yet. VOCABULARY The Arabic vocabulary is very large and is the biggest obstacle the student must overcome when learning the language. TRANSPARENCY No text yet. SPELLING Arabic uses an alphabet that you can learn in couple weeks. But the alphabet is only half the story, since most texts do not write vowels. You need to figure out the vowels by yourself based on your knowledge of vocabulary and understanding of the phrase. TIME NEEDED No text yet. BOOKS No text yet. SCHOOLS No text yet. LINKS No text yet. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| souley Senior Member Joined 7055 days ago 178 posts - 177 votes Speaks: Swedish* Studies: Arabic (Written), French | Message 2 of 3 09 March 2005 at 9:33am | IP Logged |
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This is a good profile.
A couple of additions: Grammar Lets say you see the Arabic verb Ista'malu somewhere and want to know what it means, you pick up your brand new Arabic - English dictionary, but you are not gonna find it under IST, but rather under another verb, which is 'amila, which means to work. This verb is referred to as the root verb. In Arabic every word has a root verb, which usely consists of three letters, and from these three letters you can derive 10-20 verbs or more and up to 50-100 nouns, which all have to do in some way with its root verb. Lets go back to Ista'malu, from this root word ('amila), you get the following verbs: 'amila : to work, to do 'aaamila: to apply a'mila: to make something work, put to work ta'aamila: to work together, co-operate ista'malu: to use, apply and then the nouns: 'amal = work, employment 'amaliyah = work, action, activity ma'amal = factory, establishment ta'aamul = cooperation, transactions isti'maal = application, use, employment musta'mil = user musta'mal = employed, used And these were just a few of them. So as you can see, they all have to do with working and they all come from the three root letters 'a (called Ayn in arabic) M and L. So to find a word in a dictionary, you have to study how words are built upon their respective root keys. This is best done through a serious verb conjugation book, which gets you started pretty good, one of these would probably be Arabic Verbs and Essentials of Grammar: A Practical Guide to the Mastery of Arabic (0844246050) by Jane Wightwick and Mahmoud Gaafar. After you have mastered the different verb forms basics, it's up to you what you want to do with your Arabic, if you want to talk to Arabic friends or collegues, then one of the many colloquial books would be of best choice. However if you would like to dwell further in to serious Arabic grammar, there are many books from the Islamic schoolars of Saudi Arabia, tons and tons of books on just Arabic grammar. In English, and most other languages, there are two forms of a noun depending how many it is. We say One car, two cars, five cars, etc. However, in Arabic, you have the dual form, indicating two of something, e.g: Kitaabun = One book Kitaabani = Two books Thalathatu Kutub = Three books This is also used in every aspect of the language, if you want to say to your friend, Sit !, you say in Arabic = Ijlis!, if you however have two friends, you say = Ijlisaa!, and if you have more than two friends, the ordinary plural form kicks in, Ijlisoo! And so on. Time needed This is difficult to say because it depends on what languages you already speak, your resources and where you live. However, like any language, it's all about consistancy, to learn the Arabic alphabet, you need to study 15-20 minutes per day, for let's say 2-3 weeks, and you'll get it. On top of this there is always time to practice, if you're studying in school and you get a 5 minute break, take up a pencil and a piece of paper and just start writing, it's all about consistancy. The language will take some time, but with plenty of Arab friends to converse with, plus hard work and consistancy, I would probably say that you can speak and understand pretty okay in a year. Then to top it off with a trip to an Arab country if the economy allows it, and you will be set. However like any other language, there is no point where you can claim you "know" Arabic, there is always more to learn. Me myself ask Arab friends, 'what does this verb / word mean?', and they have no idea, so in that aspect it's an extremly complex language. Books: Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic (0879500034) Arabic Verbs and Essentials of Grammar: A Practical Guide to the Mastery of Arabic (0844246050) Jane Wightwick, Mahmoud Gaafar. Standard Arabic: An Elementary-Intermediate Course by Eckehard Schulz, Günther Krahl, Wolfgang Reuschel (0521774659) The Arabic Alphabet: How to Read & Write It by Nicholas Awde (0818404302) 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Al-Malik Bilingual Heptaglot Senior Member United Kingdom arabicgenie.com Joined 6948 days ago 221 posts - 294 votes 1 sounds Speaks: English*, German*, Spanish, Arabic (Written), Dutch, French, Arabic (classical) Studies: Mandarin, Persian | Message 3 of 3 14 May 2005 at 11:11am | IP Logged |
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I believe that learning one dialect will greatly help to learn another (even more than learnign one romance language for learning another). There are general patterns in dialects, like dropping most of the endings, using "b" at the start of verbs etc.
And yes, most Arabs claim that they couldn't understand someone speaking a different dialect, but in fact they do understand each other, when they try to replace local words (e.g. Hindi words in Gulf-dialect) with fusha words. Lebanon is an exception, as most people there like to speak French and I have witnessed Arabs of non-levantine origin speaking English to lebanese Arabs. Regarding books: For those people who know German Hans Wehr's dictionary is a good choice, but in my opinion it is too comprehensive. For example, when looking for a verb you might not only find the 5 most common meanings, but also 15 other less used meanings. While this is surely good for the advanced learner, it is confusing to the beginner. Again in German there is the "Langenscheidt Taschenwörterbuch Arabisch", which is smaller and more selective about meanings. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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