|
 |
Good way to learn Egyptian Arabic? | ||
Tags: Arabic | ||
Share with:
| ||
 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| osaieh Diglot Newbie United States Joined 5934 days ago 14 posts - 14 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German | Message 1 of 11 17 June 2009 at 6:50am | IP Logged | ||
|
I want to learn how to speak Egyptian Arabic. I have already thought about which Arabic dialect I wanted to learn, and I have chosen this one since it has the most number of speakers and is most widely understood. But it seems like its going to be pretty hard to learn enough to carry out a conversation, let alone become fluent.
The Pimsleur program, which I love and would prefer to use over everything else (although I haven't really tried that many...), only has Level 1, which definitely won't be enough although its a start. The FSI program doesn't have Egyptian Arabic, which doesn't make any sense to me since it seems like its a widely used dialect...but yet it doesn't and can't help me. Then there's the problem of reading, which I'm really not that interested in. The writing system scares me (as do all non-roman writing systems...), and Arabic is usually written in Modern Standard Arabic which wouldn't benefit my Egyptian Arabic speaking skills at all. It would be a whole different learning process, and like I said I'm not really interested in reading so it would be a waste. But then I wonder how I'm supposed to learn any new vocabulary, since the most common method mentioned here is to read and write down words you don't know. I can't see that working here. So does anyone know of any good program I could use or have any ideas on how I can learn effectively? How did you learn Arabic? I would love any advice you could give, I'm really in a rut here and don't know what to do. Thanks. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| sprachefin Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5744 days ago 300 posts - 317 votes  Speaks: German*, English, Spanish Studies: French, Turkish, Mandarin, Bulgarian, Persian, Dutch | Message 2 of 11 17 June 2009 at 7:03am | IP Logged | ||
|
You could use Kullu Tamam, available at Amazon here: http://www.amazon.com/Kullu-Introduction-Egyptian-Colloquial -Arabic/dp/9774248422/ref=pd_sim_b_5
It is part of a series which is: http://www.amazon.com/Kallimni-Arabi-Bishweesh-Beginners-Egy ptian/dp/977416220X/ref=pd_sim_b_6 and you can find the rest from there. The Egyptian Arabic Rough Guide Phrasebook has a very good grammar section which teaches you all the basics. The Lonely Planet Egyptian Arabic also does a good job at this. I have had a go at Egyptian Arabic before, and it is not terribly hard. I wish you luck, and hopefully I will return to Arabic as I have returned to Farsi again. I have only returned for going on and off studying, but it's better than nothing. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| stelingo Hexaglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5830 days ago 722 posts - 1076 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German, Italian Studies: Russian, Czech, Polish, Greek, Mandarin | Message 3 of 11 17 June 2009 at 11:36pm | IP Logged | ||
|
I believe the Michel Thomas Arabic course is based on Egyptian. You could also try:
Colloquial Arabic of Egypt, This includes a very gentle introduction to the script and all the dialogues are in the Latin and Arabic scripts. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ANK47 Triglot Senior Member United States thearabicstudent.blo Joined 7095 days ago 188 posts - 259 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written), Arabic (classical) | Message 4 of 11 21 June 2009 at 8:35am | IP Logged | ||
|
You're most likely going to need to learn how to read Arabic. My advice to you is to start with MSA for a few months and once you get a little bit of a foundation in that move on to Egyptian. I really don't know if there are courses good enough to get you beyond a beginner's level in Egyptian. The way I learned Egyptian to the level that I know it (which isn't native, but is still pretty good saying so myself) is by learning MSA to a good degree and then by watching Egyptian cartoons and comedies (I've tried to watch the dramas, but they are really boring to me like American soap operas). Learning MSA isn't going to be a waste. It is still building on your ability to be understood since everyone understands MSA. Plus the news won't totally incomprehensible as it would be if you only learned Egyptian. I'm not sure if you really care about the news or not. Arabic news networks aren't anything special imo. If possible I'd do a study abroad program in Egypt. If you're trying to avoid MSA then that's really the only way I can see that you can learn Egyptian to the level that you want to learn it.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ic32987 Groupie United States Joined 6338 days ago 50 posts - 54 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Arabic (Written) | Message 5 of 11 22 June 2009 at 6:35am | IP Logged | ||
|
As a student of colloquial Arabic, you really should pick up the basics of MSA. Spend some time on the alphabet and basic grammar in Alif Baa and maybe Al-Kitaab I (or any similar MSA text - though the Al-Kitaab series includes Egyptian 3amiyya on the DVD.) You will both pick up useful vocabulary and the ability to use Arabic materials written in the script. Once you know the alphabet and 7araka, self-studying becomes much easier as you can better pronounce letters that have no English counterpart.
In regards to Egyptian books, I really liked Kullu Tamam! (link was provided earlier in this thread). I'm sure there are others, but I really liked the conversation-led approach. I study Levantine currently, so I can't really expand beyond my previous use of that book. Though, again, I stress that basic MSA is helpful. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| osaieh Diglot Newbie United States Joined 5934 days ago 14 posts - 14 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German | Message 6 of 11 08 July 2009 at 8:43am | IP Logged | ||
|
Thanks for all of your advice guys. I will be looking at the books and courses you mentioned, but I have also decided that I will also learn MSA. Some of you suggest this and after looking into it more it really is the best course of action for me to learn some MSA and then learn Egyptian Arabic. It would make things easier in the long run I think.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fabriciocarraro Hexaglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Brazil russoparabrasileirosRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 4713 days ago 989 posts - 1454 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishB2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, French Studies: Dutch, German, Japanese | Message 7 of 11 20 September 2013 at 5:48am | IP Logged | ||
|
Does anyone has something to add here?
I'm taking Michel Thomas Egyptian Arabic, but I'm still unsure of what to do next. I wanted to try Assimil, but that's MSA, not the Egyptian dialect... 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Jappy58 Bilingual Super Polyglot Senior Member United States Joined 4636 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 8 of 11 24 September 2013 at 9:55pm | IP Logged | ||
Do you have background in MSA, or are you starting with Egyptian Arabic? Although there has been an increase in quality resources for some Arabic dialects (such as Egyptian and Levantine), many of them require knowledge of the Arabic script and some of them also assume knowledge of basic MSA grammar. That being said, I recommend Kalaam Gamiil - it has great and varied audio, vocabulary lists, drills, etc. and also explores the grammar (and most of the time comparatively to MSA). GLOSS has some great Egyptian Arabic listening modules as well. :) 1 person has voted this message useful |
|  | 
Printable version
|
| Copyright 2024 FX Micheloud - All rights reserved No part of this website may be copied by any means without my written authorization. |
