|
 |
The Case for Arabic | ||
Tags: Arabic | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages | ( Topic Closed) |  |
| Luso Hexaglot Senior Member Portugal Joined 6062 days ago 819 posts - 1812 votes  Speaks: Portuguese*, French, EnglishC2, GermanB1, Italian, Spanish Studies: Sanskrit, Arabic (classical) | Message 9 of 22 16 August 2015 at 5:36pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I started studying Arabic because I wanted a language without an Indo-European structure, i.e., I wanted another way of looking at the World.
I also got a beautiful calligraphy, a culture that once developed the sciences and literature and a teacher that's more polite and civilised than most people I know. I'd also advise the travel literature: Ibn Battuta and a few others are among the best ever. IMHO there's where the "Case for Arabic" lies. There and in the fact that MSA is an effective tool of communication (but that's a lost battle in this forum, in spite of speakers' opinions). If anything, the current situation of the Arab World is a deterrent from wanting to learn the language: the social situation is dire and even tourism is getting impossible, not to mention the unacceptable and widespread attitude towards women. Unfortunately, arguments saying that "you just have to be street wise" end up causing more harm than good. Most women participating in penpal sites have to block Arab countries altogether, and this while they are geographically and electronically protected. 8 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| cathrynm Senior Member United States junglevision.co Joined 6126 days ago 910 posts - 1232 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Japanese, Finnish | Message 10 of 22 17 August 2015 at 3:51am | IP Logged | ||
|
On Facebook, due to involvement in political issues we won't discuss here, I have hundreds and hundreds of Arabic speaking acquaintances. This is not a rare language at all. Most people seem to just post normal stuff, food, weather, music -- sometimes in English and some I just google translate and read. I do see some Islamic stuff, and political messages too. Confess, I've always been kind of a politics geek. This is where the wars are and I'm interested in this -- though I know enough to stay away personally.
I do get the occasional guy asking for money or saying 'hi' day after day, but I just ignore private messages completely. Really, I'd take it on, but I'm still mucking along with Japanese and Finnish. For the most part, I don't care that much about travel -- I have both Finland and Japan, great destinations, and need to find time to get to these. 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Medulin Tetraglot Senior Member Croatia Joined 4669 days ago 1199 posts - 2192 votes Speaks: Croatian*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Norwegian, Hindi, Nepali | Message 11 of 22 17 August 2015 at 11:00pm | IP Logged | ||
since a Croatian man was beheaded last week in Egypt, just outside Cairo, by ISIS sympathizers. Thanks, but no thanks. There are far more secure, yet exotic countries to visit, like India or Thailand. Even ''advanced'' Arab speaking countries like UAE have terrible civil rights records, so I don't feel like visiting them. Edited by Medulin on 17 August 2015 at 11:04pm 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| luhmann Senior Member Brazil Joined 5334 days ago 156 posts - 271 votes Speaks: Portuguese* Studies: Mandarin, French, English, Italian, Spanish, Persian, Arabic (classical) | Message 12 of 22 19 August 2015 at 12:47am | IP Logged | ||
|
The case for chosing a language based on rational arguments is a very weak indeed. Edited by luhmann on 19 August 2015 at 12:49am 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6598 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 13 of 22 19 August 2015 at 2:45am | IP Logged | ||
You should ;) Thanks for reminding how lucky I am to be close to Finland :) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Kimchizzle Diglot Newbie United States Joined 3420 days ago 24 posts - 44 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Russian | Message 14 of 22 30 August 2015 at 10:32am | IP Logged | ||
|
The case for learning a foreign language for
most students is normally because they are interested in the culture, they know some other people that speak the language, they like the sound, the are interesting in a language from a different language family or a different alphabet, or they want to travel to countries where the language is apoken and interact with natives. I don't think anyone that tries to learn a language because they want to look smart for learning a difficult language sticks through it to reach a high-level. The reason is just too superficial. If I were to ever learn Arabic, it would be to speak with Arab-Americans I know and to learn a language with a really interesting alphabet. I wouldn't be interested in travelling to any Arabic speaking countries except Morocco and maybe Algeria. One problem with learning Arabic as a foreigner is that a large part of the culture is tied to religion, I knew several Arabic learners who told me that native speakers would be happy to meet a foreigner learning Arabic, but many natives would be thankful for religious reasons, that someone was learning what they considered a holy language. Some Arabic natives seem to consider anyone learning their language as closer to becoming a convert to their religion. Even for a person just wanting to speak to Arabic speakers in the US or in Europe, culture can be a big gap. For example, the difference of culture between Arab-Americans I know and Franco-Arabs in France is huge. Many Arab-Americans I knew were much more open speaking to, making friends and hanging out with people of non-Arabic descent. Also many retain their sense of Arabic culture and identity but also place an importance on more American/Western values too especially concerning treatment if woman. Many Arab-American girls I know have lots of freedoms concering how they dress and who they hang out with, etc. Also Arab-American guys I know don't seem to to treat woman they marry or have a realationship with as property but as someone they truly love and care about. I'm sure there are exceptions to all this, and muchore consertive Arab-Americans can be found in big cities, but from what I've seen primiarly many Arab-Americans don't have vey conserative views. When I lived in France, this was not the case. In fact, I was shocked how much the cuture was different compared to what I had known from Arab-Americans. In France, not only did there seem to be a more overall general xenophobia towards Franco-Arabs, more so than I personally experienced in the US,strangely there seemed to be an extreme xenophobia from Franco-Arabs towards people of non-Arabic descent even though they lived in France. Opposite of what I've experienced in my own country, the Franco- Arabs mostly only spoke with other Franco- Arabs and the French mostly with other French speakers. Also the clothes of the Franco-Arab women was was very conservative, some woman even covering their entire faces, which I've never seen in the US. There were exception to all this and there were some Franco-Arabs that were very friendly with people of non-Arabic descent and didn't dress conservatively but they were treated as outsiders by conservative Franco-Arabs and considered as French by them. Perhaps most of the Franco-Arabs living in my neighborhood in France were first-generation and that helps to explain why they had very conservative culture and hadn't assimilated any French culture. The Franco-Arabs that were friendly with everyone and didn't dress conservatively were always 2nd or 3rd generation living in France. All this is to say that depending on where a person lives, ever if an Arabic learner only is interested in talking to Arabic natives speakers in their own country and not travelling, it may still be hard to do so. Also since Arabic has a large number of spoken dialects, a learner may want to learn a particular dialect but only can find speakers of another dialect to speak with where they live. This would be a problem I would face if I studied Arabic, I would be most interested in the dialect spoken in north west Africa, like Morroco, but all the Arab-Americans I know have Palestinian ancestry and speak that dialect. Edited by Kimchizzle on 30 August 2015 at 10:41am 6 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Serpent Octoglot Senior Member Russian Federation serpent-849.livejour Joined 6598 days ago 9753 posts - 15779 votes 4 sounds Speaks: Russian*, English, FinnishC1, Latin, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Danish, Romanian, Polish, Belarusian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Slovenian, Catalan, Czech, Galician, Dutch, Swedish | Message 15 of 22 31 August 2015 at 4:56am | IP Logged | ||
We get that here on HTLAL too. I don't think anyone ever succeeds unless they develop a deeper interest in the language early on. Thanks for your post, very interesting (though almost political). Here's the thread that was mentioned btw :) 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| zenmonkey Bilingual Tetraglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6553 days ago 803 posts - 1119 votes 1 sounds Speaks: EnglishC2*, Spanish*, French, German Studies: Italian, Modern Hebrew | Message 16 of 22 31 August 2015 at 12:52pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I find that the case for language learning is a personal choice and that the "case" for language x rarely makes
sense. If I were to look at 1) size - I'd learn Mandarin and Hindi first. 2) literary tradition - would be fulfilled by a variety of languages -from Mandarin to Finnish, Russian, Spanish, etc... not a unique feature 3) diverse region - Mandarin, Spanish 4) rewarding - as are all languages 5) intellectual prowess - nope, not really - if you want to show off, learn a rare language or speak 12 languages - or Japanese or Korean sit in the same boat. But these are quite common - why not learn Archi, Avar or Lak. 6) travel -again, so many choices. But so many choices with more accommodating travel experiences. I've been to Jordan, Dubai, Morocco and while I loved it - the experience for travel in UAE, SA, Syria, well really - can't talk about that on this site - but I'd rather learn Nepalese for travel reasons alone. And yet - Arabic is on my short list, I have tried to learn it and will try again. But not one of your reasons touch my own person attraction to it. If you wish to continue this conversation - I am over at http://forum.language-learners.org Edited by zenmonkey on 31 August 2015 at 12:54pm 4 persons have voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
