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FSI Modern Written Arabic Advice | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| Gregy1727 Triglot Groupie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6536 days ago 98 posts - 117 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Afrikaans | Message 1 of 14 04 December 2010 at 9:54pm | IP Logged |
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Hello,
I am planning on beginning FSI's Modern Written Arabic course soon and I just need some advice on it. I have the text and audio for volumes 1 and 2 plus the reader (volume 3). I have used FSI in the past and the method has always been one that I like. I used it for French and partially for Spanish and they both seem to follow the same pragmatic layout. However, when I opened the course for Arabic, I didn't see any of the familiar format to which I have become so accustomed. I have read the introduction, but I'm still facing some shock. I see no translation of the dialogues at all and only a vocabulary list at the culmination of each of the lessons. Does this mean that I am meant to get the overall meanings from studying the vocabulary words + the notes? How do you guys use this? It seems to sort of throw you right on in which may be a good approach. I thought it might be that some prior knowledge is presupposed, but they only recommend a knowledge of the script and pronunciation (which I will have to learn, any advice there?) Have you guys had good results by simply diving on in? What pace did you do? Under the old format I did one lesson every week which spread the courses over roughly six months. Is it advisable to split the Arabic lessons over a 6 month time frame as well under this format? I plan to use this in conjunction with Linguaphone's Arabic course (The old one, recommended by Prof Arguelles) So I hope these will get me to a reasonable level. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| CaucusWolf Senior Member United States Joined 5273 days ago 191 posts - 234 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Arabic (Written), Japanese | Message 2 of 14 05 December 2010 at 5:18am | IP Logged |
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I started this course knowing just the alphabet and how to pronounce each letter. It may seem odd that there's no translation but it has helped me much more then a translation would. It basically forces you to learn the patterns of speech as you go.
The beginning is actually very simple as there can only be so much they can do with so few words. In the first book you'll notice some grammar explanations but after that you're pretty much left on your own. I'm actually on lesson 42 which is in the second book and have been completing a lesson a week. My routine is to review all the vocabulary that I previously acquired and then listen to one of tapes from a previous lesson while reading the text. After this I read some text from the lesson that wasn't on the tapes.(in book 2 the tapes don't go on for the entire text.) I then begin to memorize the new vocabulary. If I have already memorized the vocabulary then I'll listen to the new tape while reading the accompanying text. Apparently by the end of the second book you're supposed to be able to read live newspapers which is the aim of the course. I'm guessing book three just adds to your overall vocabulary. I haven't found audio for the third book and I'm not exactly sure if there's any audio for that book. All in all I can say that I've gained alot of vocabulary and can understand much of whats being said from live articles. All of this and I'm not even half way through the second book! 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Gregy1727 Triglot Groupie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6536 days ago 98 posts - 117 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Afrikaans | Message 3 of 14 05 December 2010 at 10:33am | IP Logged |
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Thanks for the information, it's comforting to know it's working out for you with only the script as previous knowledge. When I first saw it, I was a bit overwhelmed, but now it seems to be pretty logical and pushes a lot of self-reliance rather than allowing the learner to use a translation as a crutch. I've been thinking and it was probably chosen this way because it gets the diplomats into the habit of inferring from context or looking for the meaning of words to understand an overall passage.
When you say you understand a lot from live articles, what would you say your percentage is at this point through the course? Secondarily, how well can you follow spoken news? Lastly, what resources did you use to learn the script prior to undertaking FSI? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| CaucusWolf Senior Member United States Joined 5273 days ago 191 posts - 234 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Arabic (Written), Japanese | Message 4 of 14 06 December 2010 at 5:21am | IP Logged |
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I think that you're right about it helping to get diplomats into this habit. In book two you actually get sayings and there definition for example "Shay Alkatheer" or A thing Much is defined as alot or a great deal.
Most of the time I understand most of the words in an article but without knowing certain words it makes it hard to understand the full meaning.(without looking up words in a dictionary.) Sometimes I can understand 75% of an article but most times it's probably like 30%. As for spoken I can understand it about as well as my reading skills provided the person speaks slowly.(I haven't spent as much time with listening but I'm getting better.) The program I used for learning Arabic is http://www.arabicgenie.com/. I learned it in about two weeks using this. I've never tried another program and there could be better programs out there. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Gregy1727 Triglot Groupie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6536 days ago 98 posts - 117 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Afrikaans | Message 5 of 14 07 December 2010 at 3:25am | IP Logged |
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Has anyone found a good English->Arabic dictionary? I've ordered Hans Wehr for Arabic->English but I don't have anything for the opposite direction.
2 persons have voted this message useful | |
| Emiliana Diglot Groupie Germany Joined 5115 days ago 81 posts - 98 votes Speaks: German*, English Studies: French, Arabic (classical) | Message 6 of 14 07 December 2010 at 7:54pm | IP Logged |
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there is a good one in the internet! Check www.lessan.org
it is far from being as good as dict.leo.org for other languages but it is a good start (and the only one I am using ;)). 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| CaucusWolf Senior Member United States Joined 5273 days ago 191 posts - 234 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Arabic (Written), Japanese | Message 7 of 14 08 December 2010 at 4:12am | IP Logged |
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I have The Merriam Webster version that has a side to look up English words with the Arabic equivalent and a side to look up Arabic words with the English equivalent. http://www.amazon.com/Merriam-Websters-Arabic-English-Dictio nary-Merriam-Webster/dp/0877798605/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=12 91777831&sr=8-1-spell
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| mcjon77 Senior Member United States Joined 6612 days ago 193 posts - 248 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Arabic (Egyptian), French | Message 8 of 14 15 December 2010 at 8:54pm | IP Logged |
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Where did you guys find the audio for FSI Modern Written Arabic? I have only found one person selling it, and they want way too much money.
Since it is an FSI course, I was hoping to find it somewhere online, but I have not had any luck yet. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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