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Arabic Study Group

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napoleon
Tetraglot
Senior Member
India
Joined 5015 days ago

543 posts - 874 votes 
Speaks: Bengali*, English, Hindi, Urdu
Studies: French, Arabic (Written)

 
 Message 25 of 104
12 March 2014 at 8:21pm | IP Logged 
nancydowns wrote:
Thank you very much Napoleon! I did learn the script using Maha's videos, so I recognize
all of the letters and can come up with them on my own, my problem as of right now is
reading.

I think I used her Arabic script videos too. :-)
nancydowns wrote:

I read somewhere that you should try to memorize words like a picture so that
whenever you see that word, you'll know what it means without having to go letter by
letter through the word. Is that what you do? I know I need patience because I am just
beginning! But when I look at a page full of Arabic script, I feel tired! :-)

I think what you describe is true. But I have never consciously tried to memorise them like a picture.
BTW, do you use vowel signs when you write words?

Yesterday, I wrote an entry in Arabic on Lang-8. (Just a simple sentence.)
When I went back to see the corrections I'd received, I discovered that I could not understand any of the explanations that they had written in Arabic. I just didn't recognise the words.

I can read some basic words. These are words I already know. The ones I don't know, I have to read one letter at a time. :-)
nancydowns wrote:

So I did
look at the Madinah book, and I got scared! Ha! But maybe I can pick up on it after a
few more lessons of Mastering Arabic.

The Madinah book scares me every time I start a new lesson. :-)

I read the key first, which is almost entirely in English.
Then, I watch the corresponding lecture on lqtoronto's YouTube channel. These lectures are also delivered in English. Sometimes, the instructor sings in Urdu, but that makes it more fun, IMHO. :-)
Finally, I open the book and do the exercises.


Fixed typos

Edited by napoleon on 12 March 2014 at 8:25pm

2 persons have voted this message useful



nancydowns
Senior Member
United States
Joined 3921 days ago

184 posts - 288 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written)

 
 Message 26 of 104
12 March 2014 at 8:47pm | IP Logged 
Yes, I do use the vowels. I can't imagine trying to read without them at this point, but
I guess everything comes with practice! :-)
2 persons have voted this message useful



Luso
Hexaglot
Senior Member
Portugal
Joined 6060 days ago

819 posts - 1812 votes 
Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish
Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical)

 
 Message 27 of 104
13 March 2014 at 1:32am | IP Logged 
nancydowns wrote:
Yes, I do use the vowels. I can't imagine trying to read without them at this point, but I guess everything comes with practice! :-)

Oh, but you must!

@ this group:

I've been studying Arabic for some five or six years (right now just on and off) and still use many diacritics. If you know what's supposed to be there, that's great, but don't guess. This should not be part of the effort.

I really don't feel I should be giving a lot of advice, since I'm not at all proficient, but this I can say: if you start using texts without 'tashkeel' (diacritisation) too soon, your learning will be impaired. Maybe you'll overcome it, but you should not risk it.
3 persons have voted this message useful



napoleon
Tetraglot
Senior Member
India
Joined 5015 days ago

543 posts - 874 votes 
Speaks: Bengali*, English, Hindi, Urdu
Studies: French, Arabic (Written)

 
 Message 28 of 104
13 March 2014 at 5:26am | IP Logged 
Luso wrote:
nancydowns wrote:
Yes, I do use the vowels. I can't imagine trying to read without them at this point, but I guess everything comes with practice! :-)

Oh, but you must!

@ this group:

I've been studying Arabic for some five or six years (right now just on and off) and still use many diacritics. If you know what's supposed to be there, that's great, but don't guess. This should not be part of the effort.

I really don't feel I should be giving a lot of advice, since I'm not at all proficient, but this I can say: if you start using texts without 'tashkeel' (diacritisation) too soon, your learning will be impaired. Maybe you'll overcome it, but you should not risk it.


Thanks Luso.
We are grateful for any advice we get.
The instructor from lqtoronto says the same thing about using diacritics. That we should use them religiously in the beginning and soon we'll outgrow them in a way that will surprise us. As Nancy says, it's going to take time.

Edited by napoleon on 13 March 2014 at 6:48am

2 persons have voted this message useful



nancydowns
Senior Member
United States
Joined 3921 days ago

184 posts - 288 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Written)

 
 Message 29 of 104
14 March 2014 at 3:33am | IP Logged 
Now that I know a little more about my materials, I am setting a goal for myself to complete two sections per day of Mastering
Arabic, which is 1/2 to 1/3 of a chapter. I will also try to get through one page of Arabic in FSI MWA. It looks to me like
the notes and English part are after all of the Arabic sections, and it looks like there are 4-8 or so pages of Arabic, so some
lessons will take me all week. Maybe I can eventually speed up, but I think for these beginning stages, I want to take it
slowly.

Luso, thank you for your tips. Anyone who has been studying Arabic longer than a month is way ahead of me! :-) So it will be
wonderful for anyone to help us out! :-) I am still too new to even have questions, maybe in a couple of weeks, I will have a
better understanding of things that I will even know what to ask. For now, I'm just going to keep working on these two
resources and do my best!
2 persons have voted this message useful



linguaholic_ch
Triglot
Groupie
IndiaRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5047 days ago

69 posts - 96 votes 
Speaks: English, Hindi, Bengali
Studies: Japanese, Esperanto, French

 
 Message 30 of 104
14 March 2014 at 2:09pm | IP Logged 
Sorry if this seems irrelevant, but I had used this link a year ago, when I didn't choose
a language to embark upon,

http://ikindalikelanguages.com/labs/courses.php?id=18

I have found this course to be very interesting and fun, because each introduces each
letter on the basis of what you have learnt and you learn a few words too.
3 persons have voted this message useful



napoleon
Tetraglot
Senior Member
India
Joined 5015 days ago

543 posts - 874 votes 
Speaks: Bengali*, English, Hindi, Urdu
Studies: French, Arabic (Written)

 
 Message 31 of 104
14 March 2014 at 3:51pm | IP Logged 
linguaholic_ch wrote:
Sorry if this seems irrelevant, but I had used this link a year ago, when I didn't choose
a language to embark upon,

http://ikindalikelanguages.com/labs/courses.php?id=18

I have found this course to be very interesting and fun, because each introduces each
letter on the basis of what you have learnt and you learn a few words too.


Thanks very much! :)
Best of luck with French.
Bon apprentissage!

Edited by napoleon on 14 March 2014 at 3:53pm

2 persons have voted this message useful



napoleon
Tetraglot
Senior Member
India
Joined 5015 days ago

543 posts - 874 votes 
Speaks: Bengali*, English, Hindi, Urdu
Studies: French, Arabic (Written)

 
 Message 32 of 104
17 March 2014 at 7:50pm | IP Logged 
I could not post any updates for the last few days because I was at Shantiniketan, holidaying with my family. :)
Yesterday, I started Wrightwick's ''Mastering Arabic Script'' and completed a good third of the book.
I finished lesson 3 of FSI MWA as well.
I also rediscovered the DLI MSA course. It has 143 units spread over 18 volumes. I enjoyed the first two lessons but I do not want to bite off more than I can chew. :)
I will return to it after I have completed the Madinah books.
While reading Nancy's log,
I chanced across a post by daristani. He recommends FSI Levantine Arabic as a great way to improve pronunciation. It appears to be a short course. I shall do the first unit tomorrow.


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