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Gulf Arabic vs Levantine | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Mikael84 Bilingual Pentaglot Groupie Peru Joined 5301 days ago 76 posts - 116 votes  Speaks: French*, Finnish*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Arabic (classical), German, Russian | Message 1 of 8 30 October 2010 at 1:08am | IP Logged | ||
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Hi everyone,
Here is my dilemma: I may move to the Gulf region next year and have been studying MSA for a couple of years. I will keep on studying MSA but I think it's also time for me to start studying a dialect. Now the obvious move would be to select the Gulf dialect, but before thinking about this possible move to the Gulf I had been playing with the idea of studying Levantine, because I understand it is the most commonly understood dialect after Egyptian (and I really don't like the way Egyptian sounds...). What would you do? Is Levantine sufficiently common and similar to Gulf Arabic that I could just stick to it in the Gulf and have no problems with speaking/understanding? Or would I be better off focusing on Gulf Arabic if I want to communicate with cab drivers, people on the street, etc. Looking forward to any feedback, especially from native speakers/people who have lived in the Middle East. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Doitsujin Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5321 days ago 1256 posts - 2363 votes Speaks: German*, English | Message 2 of 8 30 October 2010 at 6:17am | IP Logged | ||
IMHO, it would be rather pointless to study Levantine Arabic at this time. Sure, it couldn't hurt to learn it, but I think that you may want to focus on Gulf Arabic instead, which by the way, varies slightly in the various Gulf states. One common theme is, however, that Qaf is often pronounced like the g in got and that k sometimes softens and becomes "ch" as in "hitch". For example you'll often hear gaHwa instead of qaHwa and "how are you" is shlonak/shlonich (=what's your color). Edited by Doitsujin on 30 October 2010 at 6:17am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Andrew C Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom naturalarabic.com Joined 5191 days ago 205 posts - 350 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written) | Message 3 of 8 30 October 2010 at 6:20pm | IP Logged | ||
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My experience of having lived in the Gulf (Dubai, Bahrain and Oman) is that you will get very little opportunity to use Arabic in the street. Taxi drivers are all Indian or Pakistani as are most shop assistants. Managers might be local, but then their English tends to be excellent, many of them having been to school/university in the UK or US.
I don't know the situation in the Levant. I've heard that it's difficult for a foreigner to use Arabic in Palestine, however I think Syria might be a bit better. I would advise learning Levantine, actually. It is widely understood and has lots of good soap operas you could watch to improve your language and if you go to Syria there is a good chance you'll actually be able to use it. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Doitsujin Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5321 days ago 1256 posts - 2363 votes Speaks: German*, English | Message 4 of 8 30 October 2010 at 7:00pm | IP Logged | ||
Unfortunately, it was pretty much the same in Kuwait. But every now and then, knowing the local dialect did come in handy. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Kinan Diglot Senior Member Syrian Arab Republic Joined 5567 days ago 234 posts - 279 votes Speaks: Arabic (Written)*, English Studies: Russian, Spanish | Message 5 of 8 31 October 2010 at 12:29am | IP Logged | ||
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It depends on your taste.
For example I am studying Spanish and I want to go to Spain but I don't like how they pronounce the letter "c" as "th", so i pronounce it like South Americans do. I don't like the gulf dialect, and would never want to speak it even if I move there, but anyway it's your choice. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| KSAKSA Groupie Australia Joined 5146 days ago 65 posts - 99 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Arabic (Gulf) | Message 6 of 8 31 October 2010 at 8:38am | IP Logged | ||
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I've lived and travelled in the Gulf and you won't need Arabic at all. Having said that, the locals love when expats show an interest in learning the language. Most useful language for speaking with taxi drivers and the like is Hindi :)
I prefer the sound of Gulf dialect - it sounds pure and beautiful to my ears but I am completely biased. My suggestion re dialect is to pick the one that you have access to a native speaker while studying it. If there is a large Lebanese/Jordanian/Syrian community where you live then source a teacher and go with Levantine, if you have access to khaleejis then go that way. As much as you don't like the sound of Egyptian...if you have regular access to a native speaker then it would make your dialect language journey that much easier. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Mikael84 Bilingual Pentaglot Groupie Peru Joined 5301 days ago 76 posts - 116 votes Speaks: French*, Finnish*, English, Spanish, Portuguese Studies: Arabic (classical), German, Russian | Message 7 of 8 01 November 2010 at 9:35pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thank you for your feedback guys.
Kinan, you compare Spanish from Spain and Latin America with Gulf Arabic vs other dialects. Are they that close? Meaning, if I choose to go with Levantine, will I be able to speak it and be understood by local Arabs without major difficulties? If it's really like Spanish from Spain vs Argentina, then great... Other than that... I lived in Abu Dhabi when I was a kid (long time ago now) and even back then there was a very large Indian/Pakistani/Malaysian population... I hope I'll be able to use my Arabic anyway. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Kinan Diglot Senior Member Syrian Arab Republic Joined 5567 days ago 234 posts - 279 votes Speaks: Arabic (Written)*, English Studies: Russian, Spanish | Message 8 of 8 02 November 2010 at 8:39pm | IP Logged | ||
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Of course there are difference between Levantine, Gulf and Egyptian dialects but they are all understood to each other, and the new words can be learned easily.
However, the Morrocan dialect can't be understood at all by others while they understand all the other dialects. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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