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How different is Sudanic Arabic? | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| topaztrex Triglot Newbie Indonesia Joined 5950 days ago 20 posts - 37 votes Speaks: Mandarin, Indonesian*, English | Message 1 of 15 12 April 2011 at 5:11pm | IP Logged | ||
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I am interested in learning Arabic, but the only Arabic lesson offered at my university
is Sudanic Arabic. How different is Sudanic Arabic from the Standard Modern Arabic, or from a popular Arabic dialect, say, Egyptian Arabic? Will I be understood by Arabic speakers everywhere? Thanks! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Mauritz Octoglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 4849 days ago 223 posts - 325 votes  Speaks: Swedish*, EnglishC2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, Esperanto, French Studies: Old English, Yiddish, Arabic (Written), Mandarin, Korean, Portuguese, Welsh, Icelandic, Afrikaans | Message 2 of 15 12 April 2011 at 10:57pm | IP Logged | ||
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Like all varieties of Arabic, Sudanese Arabic has it's own unique phonology, vocabulary and grammar. I believe that
it is fairly close to Egyptian Arabic, but there are also some shared features with varieties from Saudi Arabia. However, the difference between Modern Standard Arabic and Sudanese Arabic are so big that I find it very difficult to understand even rather simple sentences. I have to admit that I'm not proficient enough in Egyptian Arabic (or any other variety for that matter) to be able to comment the mutual intelligibility between Egyptian and Sudanese Arabic, but I believe that the two of them are much closer to each other than either one is to MSA. Still, you should remember that MSA won't let you communicate with regular people in the same way a colloquial variety of Arabic would. At the same time a variety may limit you to a certain geographical area, while MSA stretches from Morocco to Iraq. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| gambi Newbie New Zealand Joined 4890 days ago 37 posts - 52 votes Speaks: English Studies: Indonesian, Burmese | Message 3 of 15 13 April 2011 at 3:28am | IP Logged | ||
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It's interesting to note that there's also Juba Arabic which is a pidgin Arabic spoken in southern Sudan, and serves as the lingua franca among the many tribes down there. From what I know, Sudanese Arabic spoken in northern parts of Sudan as a native language by the Sudanese Arabs is mutually unintelligible with Juba Arabic.
Edited by gambi on 13 April 2011 at 3:30am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Desertbandit Groupie Netherlands Joined 4881 days ago 80 posts - 104 votes Speaks: Arabic (Iraqi)* | Message 4 of 15 13 April 2011 at 10:38am | IP Logged | ||
I am so sick of this myth , Arabs themself use MSA when they meet an other Arab who has an extremly different dialect , and communication goes just fine, the idea that you ''are'' speaking Arabic even tough not the same dialect is impressive by it self , and people will respect you for it non the less , and Arabs are also prepared to talk MSA to you if they realize you speak only MSA. Seriously nobody cares if you do not speak their dialect the fact is that you can speak Arabic and thats what counts. Arabic people are not stupid they understand that you are not from ''here'' and its considered normal if you do not speak the local dialect. Trust me...as an Arab I know. Edit: by the way I understand Sudanic Arabic just fine...so don't worry , I know its sudanic Arabic but its still Arabic and other Arabs will understand you just fine, it might even make learning MSA later on much and much easier . Edited by Desertbandit on 13 April 2011 at 12:46pm 7 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Mauritz Octoglot Senior Member Sweden Joined 4849 days ago 223 posts - 325 votes Speaks: Swedish*, EnglishC2, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Turkish, Esperanto, French Studies: Old English, Yiddish, Arabic (Written), Mandarin, Korean, Portuguese, Welsh, Icelandic, Afrikaans | Message 5 of 15 13 April 2011 at 5:17pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm really sorry if I offended anyone, but it's true that not everybody speaks MSA.
However, the knowledge of MSA in more rural areas as well as by immigrants is not that good. There are a lot of Arabic speakers in my area, but a lot of them don't even seem to understand basic sentences in MSA. These people are of course not educated in MSA in the same way that anyone from a country where Arabic is spoken would be, but it nevertheless shows that MSA shouldn't be regarded as a language that every speaker of every variety of Arabic speaks. Now, if Sudanese Arabic is the only available variety of Arabic, than go for it. It still is Arabic and, like Desertbandit stated, will surely make learning MSA much easier later on. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Desertbandit Groupie Netherlands Joined 4881 days ago 80 posts - 104 votes Speaks: Arabic (Iraqi)* | Message 6 of 15 13 April 2011 at 6:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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Well...its obvious if you go to some outskirt desert village that has no connections to civilization ...there is a chance that they won't understand your MSA , but that might be mainly because there aren't any schools there or some kind of infromation sourche .
And Immigrants ..well if they mainly grew up in a non speaking Arabic country...you can expect they either speak the dialect of their parents or just barely speak any Arabic at all, or just speak Arabic very weakly , its a known problem ammongst Arabic youth in the west . But the allot of Arabs understand MSA ...when things get confusing between lets say 2 Arab men.... they try it in MSA and it will work most of the time . Dude News channels and goverement insturments use MSA, and everyone loves his piece of news . MSA is everywhere , and a very valueble communication instrument , and in overal all the Arabic dialects have a common ground so sometimes people will notice its the same word but a bit different . Edited by Desertbandit on 13 April 2011 at 6:30pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Woodpecker Triglot Senior Member United States Joined 5592 days ago 351 posts - 590 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (Written), Arabic (Egyptian) Studies: Arabic (classical) | Message 7 of 15 13 April 2011 at 8:34pm | IP Logged | ||
I have yet to meet an Arab who wasn't a language instructor and could speak MSA. Most Arabs will claim that their dialect is very close to MSA, closer than any of the others, and that they can switch easily. And in most cases, it's a load of nonsense. To communicate effectively with Arabs you must learn a dialect. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| hrhenry Octoglot Senior Member United States languagehopper.blogs Joined 4911 days ago 1871 posts - 3642 votes Speaks: English*, SpanishC2, ItalianC2, Norwegian, Catalan, Galician, Turkish, Portuguese Studies: Polish, Indonesian, Ojibwe | Message 8 of 15 13 April 2011 at 8:52pm | IP Logged | ||
I know next to nothing about the various dialects of Arabic, but back when I was in college, I had a roommate from UAE, born in Jordan. There were many other Arab students, ranging from Lebanon, to Egypt, and one from Morocco. They all would regularly get together for meals and even invite me to join them once in a while - absolutely fantastic food. Anyway, they weren't communicating in English. I wonder what they were using to communicate? They all understood each other from what i could tell. R. == 1 person has voted this message useful |
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