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Arabic or French?

 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages Post Reply
9 messages over 2 pages: 1 2  Next >>
victoraero
Newbie
Brazil
Joined 5545 days ago

32 posts - 33 votes
Speaks: Portuguese*
Studies: English, Italian, Norwegian

 
 Message 1 of 9
29 June 2010 at 3:17am | IP Logged 
Hello guys, I'm new to this forum and I have a question:
By 2013 I'll graduate (Petroleum Engineering) and I intend to work in the Middle East.
So I thought that besides English it would be nice to speak French or Arabic.
So which one would be more useful for me?
By the way I started this year my arabic course (MSA) but I'm still at the very
beginning.
Thanks
PS: Please correct any English mistakes on my post, I would really enjoy it!
1 person has voted this message useful



zekecoma
Senior Member
United StatesRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 5343 days ago

561 posts - 655 votes 
Speaks: English*
Studies: German, Spanish

 
 Message 2 of 9
29 June 2010 at 5:42am | IP Logged 
Arabic if you are going to work in the Middle East.
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arturs
Triglot
Senior Member
Latvia
Joined 5270 days ago

278 posts - 408 votes 
Speaks: Latvian*, Russian, English

 
 Message 3 of 9
29 June 2010 at 7:47am | IP Logged 
First of all Arabic, and then French, because many Arab speaking people also know French. Invest your time in both languages, just my opinion.
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FuroraCeltica
Triglot
Senior Member
United Kingdom
Joined 6864 days ago

1187 posts - 1427 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, French

 
 Message 4 of 9
29 June 2010 at 5:15pm | IP Logged 
I'd learn MSA and/or Gulf Arabic, after all, thats where the oil is. French is useful for North Africa, but less so for the Gulf.
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Saif
Bilingual Triglot
Senior Member
United States
Joined 5611 days ago

122 posts - 208 votes 
Speaks: English*, Arabic (Levantine)*, French

 
 Message 5 of 9
29 June 2010 at 5:32pm | IP Logged 
IMO learn Arabic (MSA) and continue to improve your English instead of studying French.
English is more important in the Middle East than French.

Edited by Saif on 29 June 2010 at 5:45pm

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victoraero
Newbie
Brazil
Joined 5545 days ago

32 posts - 33 votes
Speaks: Portuguese*
Studies: English, Italian, Norwegian

 
 Message 6 of 9
29 June 2010 at 8:09pm | IP Logged 
Ah! I forgot to mention that I may have the opportunity to study, besides MSA,
Syrian/Lebanese Arabic...
Should I do it?
I know it does not makes sense me (non Lebanese) talking to another non Lebanese in
Lebanese Arabic but would it make easier to learn Gulf Arabic or other variant later?
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Fazla
Hexaglot
Senior Member
Italy
Joined 6261 days ago

166 posts - 255 votes 
Speaks: Italian, Serbo-Croatian*, English, Russian, Portuguese, French
Studies: Arabic (classical), German, Turkish, Mandarin

 
 Message 7 of 9
29 June 2010 at 8:28pm | IP Logged 
As you wrote from the beginning that you will work in the Petroleum industry, it's not much about Arabic or French, it's much more about what languages they speak in petrol exporting countries. And this map gives a clear winner between the two choices

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/c/c2/Oil_producing_ countries_map.png

Arab French speaking countries aren't really full of Petroleum (only Tunisia and Algeria have some as it seems), so, Arabic is the natural choice for you.

But if you came on the forum because you disliked Arabic hoping that we will tell you "study French!!" than study French because you'll never master a language you don't like.

Edited by Fazla on 29 June 2010 at 8:30pm

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victoraero
Newbie
Brazil
Joined 5545 days ago

32 posts - 33 votes
Speaks: Portuguese*
Studies: English, Italian, Norwegian

 
 Message 8 of 9
29 June 2010 at 10:45pm | IP Logged 
Fazla wrote:

But if you came on the forum because you disliked Arabic hoping that we will tell you
"study French!!" than study French because you'll never master a language you don't
like.


No, not at all, I really enjoy learning Arabic. I just think that Arabic is more
difficult than French, at least for me (I speak Portuguese and Spanish already).
I wanted to ask you guys mainly because a lot of people told me that I should be
learning French, because:
-Easier (but thats arguably, as you mentioned, desire counts too)
-More useful (people told me that in many arabic countries, except those in the Gulf
region, educated people should be able to speak French to some extent)
Another information is that I know some people working in Algeria and they left to work
there only knowing French (I know it doesn't apply for, let's say, Saudi Arabia or
Iraq).


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