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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| nancydowns Senior Member United States Joined 3914 days ago 184 posts - 288 votes  Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written) | Message 9 of 196 14 March 2014 at 2:14pm | IP Logged | ||
I am going for MSA for now. I guess if I had to pick a dialect, it would be Eastern, mostly leaning toward Palestine. I am hoping that the FSI course titled Modern written Arabic is essentially MSA... I'm actually not sure, though! Does anyone know? :-) I started with Maha's "beginner" series. There are 30 something of those videos, and it piqued my interest enough to watch her videos on the alphabet. Her videos were a great introduction and like an appetizer to the language. But I did get to the point where I wondered... "where do I go from here?" I couldn't construct a basic sentence and so forth, so the person I am learning with decided on "mastering Arabic." I am in chapter 4, and it seems pretty good. It throws a lot of Arabic words at you that I guess you aren't really intended to actually learn, just understand the way the words are formed and pronounced. As I go on with that and the FSI program, I'll give my opinion about them. Because she is adept at learning languages, and I know I am going to be behind her, I decided to add in some work with FSI to see if it helps me. I am not even going to think about a dialect right now because I have no one to speak with anyway, so I am just going to try to get the MSA and see where it leads me. :-) I barely just looked at the thread on the main page about learning a language you will fail in. I do feel like that may be the case for me in Arabic. Not that I won't learn it but that it will eventually be lost to me, unless I have a need in my life for it. Right now, it is kind of an academic pursuit, not a language I need to speak. But I am kind of enjoying it like when you put together a puzzle and feel satisfaction when some pieces go in, even though there are lots of pieces still to figure out! :-) Thanks for your comment! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| nancydowns Senior Member United States Joined 3914 days ago 184 posts - 288 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written) | Message 10 of 196 14 March 2014 at 2:21pm | IP Logged | ||
Yes, that does help! Thanks so much for the suggestion, I will be looking into it! I am anxious to start reading in Spanish because I like to read. People always suggest watching TV and movies in the target language, but I don't watch them in my native language, so it doesn't really interest me. I know it would be good for the practice of listening to natives... although, maybe I can find some podcasts eventually on a subject I could enjoy. However I am definitely looking forward to reading! Thanks so much for reading and for your comment! :-) Edited by nancydowns on 14 March 2014 at 2:22pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| napoleon Tetraglot Senior Member India Joined 5008 days ago 543 posts - 874 votes Speaks: Bengali*, English, Hindi, Urdu Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 11 of 196 14 March 2014 at 4:42pm | IP Logged | ||
MWA (Modern Written Arabic) and MSA (Modern Standard Arabic) are used to describe the same language. It is the litholect, a register that is used in the Arabic media. I have always wondered why the people at FSI decided to name their course 'FSI Modern Written Arabic'. Why couldn't they call it 'FSI Modern Standard Arabic' instead? Your question pushed me to investigate. :) A Google Ngram Search reveals that right upto the late 1960s, both these terms were equally popular. The FSI course was released in 1969, when Egypt and Libya were ruled by kings. (See lesson 1) MWA was the term of choice then, as you can see in the graph. In 1970, just after the course was developed, the winds changed. MSA shot miles ahead of MWA. :) Edited by napoleon on 14 March 2014 at 4:55pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| nancydowns Senior Member United States Joined 3914 days ago 184 posts - 288 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written) | Message 12 of 196 14 March 2014 at 5:08pm | IP Logged | ||
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Oh Napoleon, that is great!!!! I love that you even have a graph! Ha! I had been hoping they were the same thing, but didn't
ever bother to look it up. :-) However, whenever I look at a page of nothing but Arabic, I feel very tired all of a sudden, so I don't actually look at the FSI too often because I don't like feeling tired! Ha! But I put up a goal of getting through an entire Arabic page per day on the Arabic study group log. I am in chapter 4 of Mastering Arabic. I have done fairly well with the listening part. I can hear the letters and vowels well, except for the one the book said most people have trouble with, and I was no exception! the two H sounds are hard to distinguish. I think I'll try listening to that lesson a few more times to see if I can get it. Thanks again! I wish I could vote for your post more than once because it was indeed very helpful! :-) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Crush Tetraglot Senior Member ChinaRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5857 days ago 1622 posts - 2299 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Mandarin, Esperanto Studies: Basque | Message 13 of 196 14 March 2014 at 5:41pm | IP Logged | ||
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Ah ok, i know that Egyptian Arabic seems to be a common dialect for learners to gravitate towards, and i've heard pros and cons of both, so i wasn't sure.
Anyway, if i didn't have my hands full already i'd be really tempted to join you. I'd also be interested to hear your thoughts on the FSI course and how you've been using it. Does it actually introduce the Arabic alphabet? I guess it'd be a bit ironic for a course entitled "Moder Written Arabic" NOT to cover it, but... 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| napoleon Tetraglot Senior Member India Joined 5008 days ago 543 posts - 874 votes Speaks: Bengali*, English, Hindi, Urdu Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 14 of 196 14 March 2014 at 7:18pm | IP Logged | ||
The MWA Books are full of Arabic text in microscopic Arabic script. None of the Arabic sentences are translated into English (although there's a glossary at the end of each chapter). The MWA Books do not teach the Arabic script. They don't use vowel signs either. They teach very little grammar. Most of the focus is on reading and listening. I would not recommend MWA to someone who'd just started Arabic. FSI has another book that does teach the script though. Edited by napoleon on 14 March 2014 at 8:07pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| napoleon Tetraglot Senior Member India Joined 5008 days ago 543 posts - 874 votes Speaks: Bengali*, English, Hindi, Urdu Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 15 of 196 14 March 2014 at 8:17pm | IP Logged | ||
ه is softer, closer to the English 'h'. ح is more guttural. It has a very throaty sound, very close to خ This doesn't help much, does it? :) Edited by napoleon on 14 March 2014 at 8:58pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| nancydowns Senior Member United States Joined 3914 days ago 184 posts - 288 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written) | Message 16 of 196 14 March 2014 at 8:39pm | IP Logged | ||
Here is a quote from the introduction to the first volume. Prior to beginning this volume, the student is expected to have learned the Arabic writing system and reasonably accurate Arabic pronunciation. In addition, familiarity with the principles of syllabification and stress, pa,usal and non-pausal foms, and the transcription system utilized in the notes and vocabula~ are likewise presupposed. So this is not for the absolute beginner but for the beginner who has already learned the script and some ways of pronouncing. I do feel that Maha gave me the foundation for this program. So for anyone looking to start Arabic, I would recommend either a book devoted to the script, or Maha's videos, particularly the latter six on reading Arabic. Her beginner series is nice because they are mostly under 3 minutes and do introduce some words that I see coming up again and again. I didn't use any other text for the alphabet, and I am able to decipher the script, albeit extremely slowly! But the FSI introduction says there are 1400 pages of Arabic at this stage... So hopefully if I can stick with it, by the end of 1400 pages, maybe I'll have sped up a little. :-) ???? I'm sorry you aren't able to join me on FSI, it would be fun to work through it with someone, but I DOOO understand being too busy to take on something else! I'll let you know how I progress with it. Edited by nancydowns on 14 March 2014 at 8:43pm 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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