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Lebanese Arabic | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Andros Newbie United States Joined 4056 days ago 4 posts - 4 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Arabic (Levantine) | Message 1 of 8 18 October 2013 at 3:49am | IP Logged |
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Hi all. I want to learn Arabic (the Lebanese dialect specifically). My main interest is
in speaking the language; as of now, I am not concerned with reading or writing MSA/Classical Arabic. I should mention that I live with a native speaker who was born in Lebanon. However, it's been very difficult to find good resources for the Lebanese dialect (so that I can study on my own when she is unavailable). So, if anyone has suggestions, I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks in advance. Edited by Andros on 18 October 2013 at 3:50am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| vonPeterhof Tetraglot Senior Member Russian FederationRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4772 days ago 715 posts - 1527 votes  Speaks: Russian*, EnglishC2, Japanese, German Studies: Kazakh, Korean, Norwegian, Turkish | Message 2 of 8 18 October 2013 at 7:46am | IP Logged |
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Welcome to the forum, Andros!
I have no experience with any variant of Arabic, but I see that Pimsleur has a course for Eastern Arabic and FSI has a course for Levantine Arabic. Both of these terms are used to describe a family of Arabic dialects spoken in the region that Lebanon is part of. The Pimsleur course is stated to be based on the dialect of Damascus, while the FSI course describes its basis as "a dialect of educated Palestinians who have been long-term residents of Beirut". Both of them should probably work fine for Lebanon. Also, both of the courses focus on the spoken language. Edited by vonPeterhof on 18 October 2013 at 7:51am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Andros Newbie United States Joined 4056 days ago 4 posts - 4 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Arabic (Levantine) | Message 3 of 8 18 October 2013 at 1:26pm | IP Logged |
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Thank you, vonPeterhof. This is very helpful!
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| KSAKSA Groupie Australia Joined 5145 days ago 65 posts - 99 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Arabic (Gulf) | Message 4 of 8 19 October 2013 at 12:13pm | IP Logged |
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You could also try out ArabicPod's levantine podcasts (really, *ALL* of ArabicPods' podcasts are brill, you just can't go wrong with them). Link is: http://www.arabicpod.net/learnarabic/topics/levantine
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| Andros Newbie United States Joined 4056 days ago 4 posts - 4 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Arabic (Levantine) | Message 5 of 8 19 October 2013 at 4:36pm | IP Logged |
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Great, thanks so much KSAKSA. By the way, you are studying Arabic too? What are you
using? How is it going? What are the biggest obstacles you've faced? Do you have any advice for someone who is about to start learning it? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| KSAKSA Groupie Australia Joined 5145 days ago 65 posts - 99 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Arabic (Gulf) | Message 6 of 8 20 October 2013 at 3:19am | IP Logged |
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Hi
Yes, I lived in Saudi (working) and commenced studying there. I'm back living in my home country now and although I'm not enrolled in a formal program the language has me hooked - I particularly LOVE that it is based on a triliteral root letter system (ie 3 core letters make up a word). I realise your intent is focussed right now on speaking the language however I would **highly recommend** that you learn how to write rather than using transliteration - unlike English, Arabic is pronounced as it is written so mastering the writing will stand you in good stead. It is not nearly as difficult as people make it out to be either and will pay your effort back a thousand-fold - I promise!! You'll be able to write down what your room-mate's dialogues so you can review it even when she isn't around and have confidence you are pronouncing it correctly. The biggest obstacle I face with Arabic is that there are many beginners courses but it is exceptionally hard to get a course that progresses past the 2nd year (if you are an adult learner) as majority of people find their life overlaps and they don't continue with the course or can't be bothered to study. It is so frustrating. I have also found it hard to get a good teacher that lives close to me. I learn better in a group context - i.e. I do find it useful hearing other people's mistakes so when my own adult university course couldn't continue my progress stalled. It seems like there are a zillion new 'learn Arabic' books coming out now and, alhamdulillah, they are not just aimed at beginners so that is just fabulous and gives me hope for the future (even if it means it is likely to send me broke haha). I have heard good reports of people studying in Lebanon over the summer period so perhaps look in to saving up for that option. Best of luck with your studies....but prepared to be thoroughly hooked ;) 4 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Andros Newbie United States Joined 4056 days ago 4 posts - 4 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Arabic (Levantine) | Message 7 of 8 20 October 2013 at 2:36pm | IP Logged |
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Excellent advice. I really appreciate it.
By the way, since starting this thread, I've become convinced that I should learn the Arabic script, and I'll be getting a couple of books on the subject. But I'm glad to hear it again from another person. So thanks again! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| maydayayday Pentaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5219 days ago 564 posts - 839 votes Speaks: English*, German, Italian, SpanishB2, FrenchB2 Studies: Arabic (Egyptian), Russian, Swedish, Turkish, Polish, Persian, Vietnamese Studies: Urdu | Message 8 of 8 23 December 2013 at 2:52pm | IP Logged |
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Andros - I hope you did start learning the Arabic script: it's not too difficult and there are loads of public resources on-line.
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