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Learning Modern Standard Arabic | ||
Tags: Learning Strategy | Arabic | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| mdkhoury Diglot Newbie United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5547 days ago 9 posts - 9 votes Speaks: English*, French Studies: Arabic (Written) | Message 1 of 6 08 July 2010 at 7:50am | IP Logged |
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Hi everyone, I recently made the decision to start studying Arabic. I decided to start with MSA, I have several
reasons for doing so, and I'm quite sure I want to learn MSA. I'm mentioning this because I know alot of you seem to have strong feelings about whether to learn a dialect or MSA first, lol. So, to other Arabic learners, can you give me some advice? I have already looked at threads on this forum, and saw many resources. I guess I'm looking to see which resources, books, and methods helped you the most, and why it was so. I'm thinking about getting a private tutor, mainly because I feel like learning Arabic is such a daunting task compared to the other IE languages I've studied/learned. Have any of you not had a tutor or classes at all, and completely taught yourself? I've begun learning the alphabet, but don't know how I should go about making sure my writing is correct. I've bought some books, found some websites, and bought L'arabe sans peine. As a personal goal, intend to see how much progress I can make in 3 months, then decide if Arabic is something I want to invest a lot of more time in, and possibly take as a university course. Any advice or words of wisdom? Edited by mdkhoury on 08 July 2010 at 7:51am 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| arturs Triglot Senior Member Latvia Joined 5270 days ago 278 posts - 408 votes  Speaks: Latvian*, Russian, English | Message 2 of 6 08 July 2010 at 8:44am | IP Logged |
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Go with MSA. I'm learning it myself too (although my profile says, I'm learning Gulf Arabic - I just study MSA and check at the same time the differences between MSA and Gulf). Why? I'll give you an example. If you want to live in Austria, you probably just learn standard German. And only in Austria with time you pick up the local pronunciation, vocabulary, etc. right??
I'm learning by myself. I use the FSI materials, some other web resources and books and materials that aren't any popular language programs, just local editions. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| patuco Diglot Moderator Gibraltar Joined 7014 days ago 3795 posts - 4268 votes Speaks: Spanish, English* Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 6 08 July 2010 at 1:52pm | IP Logged |
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Do the following:
1. Buy "Mastering Arabic Script" and learn the alphabet (shouldn't take more than a week). 2. Go through Alif Baa and Al-Kitaab 1&2 with your tutor (if you decide to go down that route). 3. Go through your Assimil course on your own (at the same time as Al-Kitaab). 4. Go and live in an Arabic country for a while. 5. Have fun. 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| CaucusWolf Senior Member United States Joined 5271 days ago 191 posts - 234 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Arabic (Written), Japanese | Message 4 of 6 08 July 2010 at 7:58pm | IP Logged |
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I second the FSI Modern Written Arabic course for actually learning to read write and speak MSA. http://www.uz-translations.net/ has both 1&2 With audio for free just register and search for FSI Modern Written Arabic.(granted not the best audio but it works.) I actually learned the letters and script from http://www.arabicgenie.com/. I'm a little hesitant of recommending it since it seems with his new book that hes trying to sell about how to cuss in Arabic makes it apparent he just wants to make money and doesn't care about language learning in general makes me not want to give it any exposure but since It worked for me it may work for you. Good luck!
1 person has voted this message useful | |
| staf250 Pentaglot Senior Member Belgium emmerick.be Joined 5696 days ago 352 posts - 414 votes Speaks: French, Dutch*, Italian, English, German Studies: Arabic (Written) | Message 5 of 6 08 July 2010 at 10:52pm | IP Logged |
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My advise:
Myngle- courses, teacher Paul. He will teach you: 1. Letters: reading and writing, but also speaking. 2. Words made up with the learned letters, step by step. 3. Sentences: always reading, speaking. 4. Grammar comes along even from learning letters-words-sentences. His skills: he is doing it since years, he is patient, you will succeed. You will have a personal teacher and you will pay for it. Is there something wrong with this? 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| aldous Diglot Groupie United States Joined 5241 days ago 73 posts - 174 votes Speaks: English*, French | Message 6 of 6 20 July 2010 at 7:10am | IP Logged |
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Even though Arabic is a lot of work, the sense of reward you'll get will make up for the effort you put in. The differentness from Indo-European languages is very satisfying.
I took formal classes in Arabic for several years, but before that I started out teaching myself. The book I found most helpful when learning on my own was Haywood and Nahmad's _A New Arabic Grammar_. It follows the older format for self-teaching books -- each chapter has a word list to memorize, an explanation of a point of grammar, and translation exercises. But the most important thing is to keep going with the language, so any book that works for you, you should go with. As for the writing -- I wouldn't worry too much about how correct it is. Almost everyone I've known who took Arabic classes with me wrote atrociously. Starting out you'll write like a small child. That's normal. The way you write at first is not the way you'll always write, as long as you're cognisant of the need to improve, which you obviously are. The best thing you can do is just practice a lot, even if it looks bad. You need to get your hand used to the new movements. I found Arabic very discouraging because progress is so slow compared to Western European languages, especially in the beginning. That's mostly because of the lexicon. There are no cognates whatsoever. Every new vocabulary item is completely new and foreign. That is definitely the hardest thing. I recommend you spend 90 to 95 percent of your time drilling vocabulary. If you write the words over and over, that will give you practice with the writing, too. For a while the words will just look like random strings, but then you'll start the see the patterns of how words are constructed and it'll become easier to learn new words. The grammar is different from Germanic and Romance languages, and therefore more foreign, but it isn't inherently more complex than them. I would recommend that for now you ignore noun declension (i.e. the three cases, the diptote). It's relatively unimportant and you can easily pick it up later. In my opinion the most important element in Arabic grammar, and the main one to pay attention to as a beginner, is the verb. Drill the verb conjugations and the 9 main forms (I-VIII and X) over and over till they become second nature. I'm not saying that's the only aspect of grammar you should think about as a beginner, but I think it's the one a beginner ought to spend the most time on. When you learn a new vocabulary item, here are the principal parts to learn: When you learn a noun, memorize the singular and plural. Gender is usually predictable so not something you have to pay close attention to. When you learn a Form I verb, memorize (1) the 'he' form of the past tense, (2) the 'he' form of the present tense, and (3) the masdar (the verbal noun). Forms II-VIII and X are almost always predictable so with a few exceptions you only need to learn their past tense form. I hope when you reach the three-month mark you decide to continue with it. It takes a while to become comfortable with it, but once you get to know it it's really a fun language. 3 persons have voted this message useful |
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