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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| qurfy Newbie United States Joined 4435 days ago 3 posts - 3 votes | Message 1 of 3 07 October 2012 at 4:51am | IP Logged |
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If I spoke guilf arabic, and went into egyp how well would I do there? Better question how different are the dialects in Arabic? If I knew one of the dialects but went into another country that had a different dialect that I spoke would I understand them, and them me? Thanks in advance.
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| whitelily Diglot Senior Member Norway Joined 5632 days ago 42 posts - 47 votes Speaks: Norwegian*, English Studies: Arabic (classical), Urdu | Message 2 of 3 07 October 2012 at 12:37pm | IP Logged |
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Most Arabs will understand the Egyptian dialect (due to TV shows), but this is not the case with dialects from
Morroco or Tunis (with a lot of influence from French etc.). Most of the Levantine dialects from various countries (Syria, Palestine, Lebanon) can probably be understood by people from Egypt and the Gulf - due to exposure through TV. If you learn one of the Levantine dialects, you can probably quite easily understand the other levantine dialects, but I think the differences between the Levantine dialects, Egyptian and Gulf dialects are so big that you´d probably need a lot of exposure to them to understand them all. Edited by whitelily on 07 October 2012 at 12:38pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Jappy58 Bilingual Super Polyglot Senior Member United States Joined 4637 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 07 October 2012 at 8:26pm | IP Logged |
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It depends largely on where you go and also on how much exposure you have received.
Contrary to what some might say, most dialects are mutually intelligible, even with minimal media exposure. However, there are some dialects - such as Maghrebi dialects (spoken in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, and Libyan) that are difficult for most Middle Easterners. Egyptian and Levantine are very widely understood, due to their prominence in media such as music, television, and films. Before I studied Moroccan Arabic, I used Egyptian Arabic sometimes while I was in Morocco, and I was understood generally well, though some people in rural areas were unfamiliar with some expressions. However, I understood relatively little of what they said (I had at least a B2 command of both MSA and Egyptian at that time). I'd pick up some phrases and some words but in general, intelligibility was low on my part. On the other hand, after I had both Egyptian and MSA under my belt (although I continued working on both), I could understand plenty of Levantine, Hijazi, Sudanese, and Gulf Arabic. I would miss out on some expressions, and I had to get used to some of the phonological differences, but in general, if you know a Mashriqi dialect (Egyptian, Sudanese, Levantine, Iraqi, Gulf, Hijazi, Najdi, Yemeni), then you get an enormous discount on most other dialects of the Middle East. In all, I found the analogy of them being as distinct as separate languages as nonesense, since I found them far more interrelated than some people credit them to be. Again, however, this changes when you get to the Maghrebi dialects, especially Moroccan and Algerian. In this case, I can understand Moroccan and Levantine being classified as different (but closely related) languages. The problem that I have seen when observing Moroccan and Algerian, however, is that most people still exaggerate their divergence from MSA and other dialects. Common misconceptions I have read and heard: 1) Moroccan and Algerian are not Arabic, but a creole language mixing French, Spanish, Arabic, and Berber; 2) Maghrebi has a small percentage of Arabic vocabulary; and 3) Maghrebi is significantly different from other dialects in terms of grammatical aspects. First off, Moroccan and Algerian are definitely still Arabic - their vocabulary, although having a higher presence of French and Berber than other dialects, is still overwhelmingly derived or directly related to the vocabulary of other dialects and MSA. Grammatically speaking, Maghrebi is not any more divergent from MSA than other dialects. So what is it that makes Maghrebi (especially Moroccan and Algerian dialects) so unintelligible to speakers of the Mashriqi dialects? In my experience, it has definitely been the phonology. Compared to Mashriqi dialects, Maghrebi employs a lot more vowel deletion and the result is a higher presence of consonant clusters and more changes in emphasis. It doesn't help that Moroccans also speak relatively fast compared to Mashriqi speakers. Second, Berber vocabulary has a notable effect - moreso than French loan words, IMO. Berber loan words are not really present in Egyptian, Levantine, and other Mashriqi dialects, so it these that tend to cause the most trouble in comprehension. In short: Dialects - especially between Mashriqi dialects - are closely related enough to be mutually intelligible. Exposure, however, is more important for non-native speakers. That being said, with a background in MSA and one other dialect, the rest are highly accessible. EDIT: I've touched this topic in a few other threads, one of the most recent: Arabic - MSA or dialect? http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?T ID=33535&PN=3 Edited by Jappy58 on 07 October 2012 at 8:28pm 4 persons have voted this message useful |
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