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Approaching Gulf Arabic | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| drp9341 Pentaglot Senior Member United States Joined 4914 days ago 115 posts - 217 votes  Speaks: Italian, English*, Spanish, Portuguese, French Studies: Japanese | Message 1 of 3 05 February 2013 at 7:36am | IP Logged |
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I have recently decided that I would like to stat studying Gulf Arabic.
on a side note, I used to speak Egyptian Arabic to probably an A1 level when I used to spend a lot of time at relatives house back back when I was 14-16 years old, (they were all from Cairo.)I also used to know the Alphabet quite well, and can read it still (sound it out, not comprehend) and I also can write very basically. So that's where I'm coming from as of now. I also really don't care about learning foosHa. Not for the time being at least. My main question is how intelligible is Gulf Arabic to Arabs of other countries? I understand that speakers in north western Africa may have problems understanding it, but in regards to Arabic speakers of the Levant and Egypt, how much would you all understand of Gulf Arabic? Sadly, Gulf Arabic is not my most preferred dialect to study, but there are tons of Saudis at my school, and most of them are very willing to speak Arabic. Seeing how it would be a good base for other dialects, I think I am going to go ahead with studying it, unless someone comes along and says that it's very hard to understand for other Arabic speakers. The Resources I am planning on using are: http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Spoken-Arabic-Arabian-Audio/d p/0071748067/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360045112&sr=8-1&keywor ds=gulf+arabic Complete Spoken Arabic (of the Arabian Gulf) with Two Audio CDs: A Teach Yourself Guide (Teach Yourself Language) and http://www.amazon.com/Colloquial-Arabic-Gulf-Clive-Holes/dp/ 0415430399/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1360045162&sr=1-2& keywords=gulf+arabic Colloquial Arabic of the Gulf (Colloquial Series) Also, can someone tell me if one is better than the other? [EDIT] I am also not 100% sure what to do after these courses. I am so far going to try to get a tutor, and just hopefully pull a "Benny Lewis style" conversational approach until I can start enjoying easy media in Gulf Arabic. Maybe even Foosha at that point? Thank you very much!! Edited by drp9341 on 05 February 2013 at 7:39am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| arturs Triglot Senior Member Latvia Joined 5273 days ago 278 posts - 408 votes Speaks: Latvian*, Russian, English | Message 2 of 3 05 February 2013 at 5:16pm | IP Logged |
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I'm not a native Arabic speaker, but I have spent some time actively learning this language. From what I have learned about Arabic and it's dialects, is that Gulf Arabic is the closest to MSA.
Those both courses don't use the script because they are teaching the dialect. Considering that you have ability to practice with Saudis, my advice would be to learn MSA (Standard Arabic) and learn the dialect (and the differences between the dialect and MSA) from those Saudis. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Jappy58 Bilingual Super Polyglot Senior Member United States Joined 4640 days ago 200 posts - 413 votes Speaks: Spanish*, Guarani*, Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Maghribi), Arabic (Written), French, English, Persian, Quechua, Portuguese Studies: Modern Hebrew | Message 3 of 3 06 February 2013 at 2:17am | IP Logged |
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In general, Gulf Arabic is intelligible to the other Mashriqi dialects (Egyptian, Levantine, Iraqi, etc.). It is not as easily understood as Levantine and Egyptian, due to a smaller presence in the media, but do not worry - the dialects are generally intelligible.
Contrary to popular belief, Gulf Arabic is not necessarily closest to MSA. Phonologically, there are some differences (change in pronunciation of kaaf, etc.). Also, Gulf Arabic borrows plenty from other languages such as Hindi/Urdu and Persian, so lexically it is not any less different from MSA as other Masriqi dialects. The Najdi dialect of Central Saudi Arabia (not a Gulf dialect) may be a tough contestant for such a dialect, but even this dialect presents differences from MSA. That being said, don't be discouraged - honestly, diglossia is an overrated reason to fear Arabic. Yes, it adds to the challenge, and the gap is large compared to other languages, but MSA and dialect share overwhelming similarities. I don't know as much about the resources for Gulf Arabic - I studied Egyptian, Levantine, and Moroccan; after studying Egyptian, I understood Gulf Arabic quite well, and this understanding only improved after tackling Levantine Arabic, so I did not formally study Gulf Arabic. Still, I preview resources regularly, and the two resources you listed are decent for Gulf Arabic. I recommend studying some basics of MSA to understand the basic differences between the two. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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