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Has anyone taught themselves Arabic?!? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Journeyer Triglot Senior Member United States tristan85.blogspot.c Joined 6869 days ago 946 posts - 1110 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, German Studies: Sign Language | Message 33 of 70 10 January 2011 at 8:17pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Agreed. It only makes sense to learn the language where you live or if you have a certain group of people to communicate with.
I think the arguments for MSA are used by people who don't have a specific Arabic-speaking area in mind. For those people, what dialect to learn is more up to them. Speaking for myself, I'd like to learn a few dialects as well as MSA. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| marmax001 Newbie United States Joined 5268 days ago 8 posts - 8 votes Studies: English* | Message 34 of 70 10 January 2011 at 11:30pm | IP Logged | |||||
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How long has everyone been studying Arabic? What is your current level of proficiency? How do you measure this proficiency? Is it how much you can read/listen to (newspaper/TV/radio) and understand?
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| nebojats Triglot Groupie United States Joined 5197 days ago 89 posts - 120 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Thai Studies: French, Arabic (Written), Mandarin, Italian | Message 35 of 70 11 January 2011 at 8:47am | IP Logged | |||||
Well for me at least, I definitely want to learn both MSA and a dialect. While speaking with people is the main reason I want to learn languages, I also want to be able to access media (reading, TV, news, etc), and MSA is the key to doing that in the Arabic world. I don't want to be conversational yet illiterate, especially for those times that I am not in an Arabic-speaking country (i.e. now, and probably for most of my life). It makes sense to me to study MSA while not surrounded by a dialect, and then focus on a dialect when I'm abroad. Learning MSA allows more consumption of media, which is mostly how I'll be exposed to Arabic when I'm not in an Arabic-speaking country. Learning dialect allows for conversation, which is how I'll be most exposed to Arabic while in an Arabic-speaking country. Not to say that when I'm in country, I'll completely ignore MSA, or that when I'm in the States, I'll completely ignore my dialect... but I will definitely shift my focus. edit: My proficiency? Beginner! I've been studying for three months, plus I had a year of MSA in college. Watching the cartoons, I maybe understand 10%? On a good day? Vocabulary maybe at a couple hundred words, a handful of basic phrases, can form simple sentences (I am a teacher, he is a big cat, the beautiful school is next to the hospital near the bus stop, etc), got the writing system down pretty pat. I haven't studied conjugation yet. Edited by nebojats on 11 January 2011 at 9:24am 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| marmax001 Newbie United States Joined 5268 days ago 8 posts - 8 votes Studies: English* | Message 36 of 70 11 January 2011 at 11:03am | IP Logged | |||||
How often do you study? Every day? How often you you practice? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| liddytime Pentaglot Senior Member United States mainlymagyar.wordpre Joined 6230 days ago 693 posts - 1328 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, Galician Studies: Hungarian, Vietnamese, Modern Hebrew, Norwegian, Persian, Arabic (Written) | Message 37 of 70 11 January 2011 at 4:51pm | IP Logged | |||||
In the introductory matter, Al Kitaab suggests that students spend 2-3 hours studying for every hour spent in class. So, for an hour of class per day that's 15-20 hours of Arabic/week (700 - 1000 hours per year!!!) At DLI the students spend 6 hours a day in class plus several hours outside of class each day learning Arabic and , I believe, after 1 1/2 years that puts the students at the DLI "Level 3 of speaking and comprehension". Obviously those of us that are not full-time students cannot possibly do this! My current plan of attack is to try to do one lesson of the new Assimil Arabic ( the new French one) course each day. I have also re-visited the DLI MSA course and I must say that it IS much better the 2nd time around. There are a ton of audio drills that "get one speaking". I am also using Ahlan wa Sahlan (2nd edition) and trying to get through roughly a chapter a week. Ahlan wa Sahlan seems much more user friendly for self-learners than Al Kitaab which seems more geared for classroom use. This puts me at about an hour of Arabic study time a day. I'm already finding that I can understand more and more of Arabic newscasts ( like the Al Jazeera podcasts) than I could even a month ago. OK, still not very much but I can definitely pick out a few words I recognize in each sentence. After I get through the 3 methods I'm using currently, then I will move on to the dialects. I think the main thing is do a little bit every day and be consistent! Edited by liddytime on 11 January 2011 at 5:08pm 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| aloysius Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member SwedenRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6241 days ago 226 posts - 291 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, German Studies: French, Greek, Italian, Russian | Message 38 of 70 12 January 2011 at 8:08pm | IP Logged | |||||
I have the new version in German and it seems to be available in Italian as well (L'Arabo). 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Tanizaki Triglot Newbie United States Joined 4801 days ago 21 posts - 44 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Japanese | Message 39 of 70 04 October 2011 at 5:58pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Does anyone have any opinions of this text? I am contemplating beginning self-study Arabic and a friend recommended it.
http://www.amazon.com/Standard-Arabic-Elementary-Intermediat e-Eckehard-Schulz/dp/0521774659 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Doitsujin Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5321 days ago 1256 posts - 2363 votes Speaks: German*, English | Message 40 of 70 04 October 2011 at 8:02pm | IP Logged | |||||
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This is the English version of a standard textbook that is used at many German universities. As such it's not really suitable for self-study, because it's meant to be used in a classroom setting. However, if you already have a basic knowledge of Arabic, you might find it useful as a reference grammar.
If you're just starting out with Arabic you're better off with a more conventional beginners' textbook. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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