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 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center |  | |
| Humdereel Octoglot Groupie United States Joined 4789 days ago 90 posts - 349 votes  Speaks: English, Spanish*, Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Written), Turkish, Persian, Urdu Studies: Russian | Message 17 of 27 22 November 2011 at 6:11pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Dialects under the "major dialect" umbrellas are not problematic.
If you choose to focus on Lebanese, Syrian, Jordanian, and Palestinian are all extremely comprehensible. The dialects between these countries are sometimes compared the colloquial differences of English within the U.S. A person might say "taking a shower" rather than "having a shower" or say "to-may-toe" versus "to-mah-toh". I have found that Arabs themselves can distinguish a Lebanese person from a Syrian person based on the accent or idiom or way to say a word, but communication and understanding between these is not a problem. I learned first in Syria, but I could easily understand the Lebanese and Palestinian dialects. Many say that there are dialect differences even in different cities and even between different neighborhoods. These don't pose a problem either. As for within the Maghreb, my understanding is that the case is similar, but I have only a few months of experience with "Darija" compared to with other dialects. Learning Cairene will not notably impede your understanding of Saidi or other Egyptian dialects. As for Farsi, Dari, or Tajik: The "proper" English way to refer to the language is "Persian". Saying "I speak Farsi" is akin to "I speak Deutsch" for German. Farsi usually refers to the form spoken in Iran, Dari to the one in Afghanistan, and Tajik in Tajikistan. These are certainly the same language. I have friends from both Iran and Afghanistan and there is little to no trouble with communication, and I myself can understand a good degree of both with knowledge of Persian in general. As for Tajik, it is written using the Cyrillic script, but as far as my understanding goes, it is intelligble with the other forms. However, I've had no Tajik friends to confirm this. And don't worry about all the questions. It's great that you're taking a good amount of time into making sure you make the choice that best suits you. 4 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Kanishka Triglot Newbie Italy Joined 4739 days ago 15 posts - 32 votes Speaks: Italian*, English, French Studies: Persian, Pashto, Dari | Message 18 of 27 22 November 2011 at 6:11pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I cannot talk for Tajik, but Dari is a variant of Farsi, a bit more "literary" i.e.
archaic. However, the differences are very few, and speakers of the two languages will understand each other without any difficulty, since in fact it's the same language. I'm studying Dari but since Farsi has more learning materials I switch from one source to the other. It's more a matter of lexicon and some pronunciation. For Dari, I'm using the wonderful (and free) DLI course hosted at http://jlu.wbtrain.com/sumtotal/language/DLI%20basic%20cours es/ It is really complete (lots of books and audio) and very well organized! 6 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Humdereel Octoglot Groupie United States Joined 4789 days ago 90 posts - 349 votes Speaks: English, Spanish*, Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Written), Turkish, Persian, Urdu Studies: Russian | Message 19 of 27 22 November 2011 at 6:13pm | IP Logged | |||||
I also recommend this resource. A great way to get into the language. :) EDIT: AccentClipper, the following link is great for listening to the languages, to get a feel for them. They have audio clips for Arabic (MSA, Egyptian, Levantine, Iraqi, and Gulf), Persian (Farsi and Dari), and Turkish. Edited by Humdereel on 22 November 2011 at 6:23pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| Kanishka Triglot Newbie Italy Joined 4739 days ago 15 posts - 32 votes Speaks: Italian*, English, French Studies: Persian, Pashto, Dari | Message 20 of 27 22 November 2011 at 6:20pm | IP Logged | |||||
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AccentClipper, since you know French, there is also a short but very practical manual
from L'Asiathèque: http://www.asiatheque.com/eshop/fra/show/65 I bought it in Paris and it's very nice (audio quality is not very good, however). Edited by Kanishka on 22 November 2011 at 6:21pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||
| AccentClipper Bilingual Triglot Newbie United States Joined 4566 days ago 13 posts - 15 votes Speaks: French*, English*, Portuguese Studies: Persian | Message 21 of 27 23 November 2011 at 7:25pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Thanks for all the help guys, it's greatly appreciated.
I've decided to choose Persian, since I already have friends who speak it as their native language, and because it interests me more (by just a few points) than Turkish. Are there any other beginner resources I could use that you guys would recommend? Also, would it be wise to learn Persian and Arabic at the same time or just save Arabic for later? Thanks again. :) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Humdereel Octoglot Groupie United States Joined 4789 days ago 90 posts - 349 votes Speaks: English, Spanish*, Arabic (Levantine), Arabic (Egyptian), Arabic (Written), Turkish, Persian, Urdu Studies: Russian | Message 22 of 27 23 November 2011 at 8:14pm | IP Logged | |||||
The links Kanishka gave you are pretty good. "Your First 100 Words in Persian" is not bad for vocabulary and learning how to write the script. http://www.amazon.com/Farsi-Persian-Basic-Understand-Pimsleu r/dp/0743551249/ref=pd_sim_b_2 I'm not typically a fan of Pimsleur, but I found this one reasonably satisfying and a good way to get some basic conversational skills going. Persian Gramar: For Reference and Revision is also great, IMO, and goes into further depth. I would not recommend studying Persian and Arabic actively simultaneously. 1)This is your first venture into a foreign language that isn't related to one you already know. 2)Either language requires serious dedication. 3)Progress would probably be slower than you'd hope for. While many learn two languages simultaneously, I don't think I'd do so with Persian and Arabic. They're not (gramatically related) and the reasons above are good enough points. "Dabbling" or "tasting" Arabic while focusing on Persian wouldn't be bad, but I think both would be overwhelming. That's just my two cents, however. Edited by Humdereel on 23 November 2011 at 8:15pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| ljones29 Triglot Newbie United States Joined 4608 days ago 35 posts - 59 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French Studies: Arabic (Written), Greek | Message 23 of 27 23 November 2011 at 10:45pm | IP Logged | |||||
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For me, it's rather difficult to learn two languages at once and I'm better off just
focusing on one at a time, especially if they're similar. So I'd stick with just Persian for now and then move on to Arabic later if you wanted to do so. And you will have already learned the script, which should help you greatly! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Kanishka Triglot Newbie Italy Joined 4739 days ago 15 posts - 32 votes Speaks: Italian*, English, French Studies: Persian, Pashto, Dari | Message 24 of 27 24 November 2011 at 9:28pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Yay for Persian! :D
I have John Mace's "Persian Grammar" here on my desk, I forgot to cite it ;) I don't think you need other resources; you'd risk to lose focus. I recommend starting with Assimil, it's so gradual it's sometimes unnerving... but it works. Or, the DLI course is awesome, though you'll have a LOT to print out (or to read on the screen, if it doesn't tire you). I actually have some more resources, but they are in Italian and they are not so beginner-friendly. AccentClipper, I can understand your situation; I also would like to study Turkish at the same time as Persian, but it would be useless, or worse. I'm not so good at self- discipline ;) Edited by Kanishka on 24 November 2011 at 9:31pm 1 person has voted this message useful |
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