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Moving from standard Arabic to a dialect | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| Talib Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6471 days ago 171 posts - 205 votes  Speaks: English*, Arabic (classical) Studies: Arabic (Egyptian) | Message 1 of 14 09 January 2012 at 3:43pm | IP Logged | ||
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I would like to learn an Arabic dialect after studying MSA for a number of years. I am mainly interested in Levantine Arabic and Gulf Arabic because I am hoping to move to Jordan or Kuwait in the upcoming year, but I am wondering about how to make the transition from standard Arabic to a dialect? It seems to be easy and difficult at the same time. It is easy because many of the words are similar, but it is difficult because there are some substantial differences in the pronunciation and grammar.
Some questions that I have are: 1.) How do I learn the dialect in general, and specifically how do I learn the grammar and verb conjugation for the dialect? 2.) One idea that I have is to speak to people using MSA and only study the dialect to be able to understand what they are saying. Is this a viable option? 3.) I enjoyed using Formal Spoken Arabic: Basic Course because it was kind of a mix between MSA and common features of the dialects, but I'm not sure how to move onto a purely dialectal course. Any tips? Edited by Talib on 09 January 2012 at 4:06pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| pfn123 Senior Member Australia Joined 4893 days ago 171 posts - 291 votes Speaks: English* | Message 2 of 14 09 January 2012 at 9:59pm | IP Logged | ||
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I haven't learnt an Arabic dialect. But I plan to in the future. One resource I own, and seems really good, is Living Language's Ultimate Arabic. (here)
The first lessons teach MSA. Then after that, they have lessons teaching major dialects. Because the book begins by teacher MSA, in the later lessons on dialect, the dialects are contrasted with MSA. Also, there's lots of audio. All the dialogues (both MSA and dialect) are recored, as well as other things, like an appendix dialect phrase book. Seems like a good resource to bridge from MAS to dialct. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Talib Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6471 days ago 171 posts - 205 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (classical) Studies: Arabic (Egyptian) | Message 3 of 14 10 January 2012 at 12:18am | IP Logged | ||
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I had a chance to look at Ultimate Arabic today, and it looks like a solid book. I don't think it has enough material to learn each of the dialects, but it looks like a good start. The thing that I liked most about that program is the recorded material. Are there any other programs for Arabic dialects that can be recommend to increase listening skills? Edited by Talib on 10 January 2012 at 12:19am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| daristani Senior Member United States Joined 6954 days ago 752 posts - 1661 votes Studies: Uzbek | Message 4 of 14 10 January 2012 at 1:43pm | IP Logged | ||
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Quite a while ago, I posted an article I found that suggested some materials for various dialects; you can find it here:
http://how-to-learn-any-language.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?T ID=15493 Most of the dialect materials suggested there, however, as well as most of the others that are available commercially or from universities, tend to teach the dialects "from scratch", i.e., not presupposing a knowledge of standard Arabic. But for some very extensive materials, with audio, that DO presuppose a knowledge of MSA, why don't you take a look at the various dialect courses that DLI has created (Egyptian, Iraqi, and Syrian, as well as their extensive MSA course)? http://jlu.wbtrain.com/sumtotal/language/DLI%20basic%20cours es/ 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Talib Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6471 days ago 171 posts - 205 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (classical) Studies: Arabic (Egyptian) | Message 5 of 14 10 January 2012 at 3:43pm | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for those links. Because my emphasis is on reading Arabic, I don't think I am prepared to handle a course as extensive as the DLI at the moment. I'm just looking for something to help me communicate. To that end, I was looking at the book 'Intermediate Arabic: An Integrated Approach' since it seems to have a lot of Levantine Arabic in it. Does anyone have any experience using this course? I had a chance to sample the author's Elementary Course which is now called Living Arabic. It seems to be quite good and has lots of recorded material.
1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| KSAKSA Groupie Australia Joined 4955 days ago 65 posts - 99 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Arabic (Gulf) | Message 6 of 14 11 January 2012 at 11:24am | IP Logged | ||
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Arabicpod.net has some Levantine lessons and they are great although not a `course` as such. The
teachers aren`t as relaxed as the regular teachers but you`ll still find them worthwhile. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| pfn123 Senior Member Australia Joined 4893 days ago 171 posts - 291 votes Speaks: English* | Message 7 of 14 11 January 2012 at 8:42pm | IP Logged | ||
That's fine for MSA. But as for dialects, they are not normally written, except in textbooks, etc. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Talib Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6471 days ago 171 posts - 205 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (classical) Studies: Arabic (Egyptian) | Message 8 of 14 11 January 2012 at 9:23pm | IP Logged | ||
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The problem that I find with a lot of textbooks is that they do not have continuous audio conversations. The FSI Saudi course does have recorded audio and looks like a great course, but there are a lot of drills and other stuff on the recording too. It would take a bit of editing to get it down to just the continuously recorded sections. I'm sure those drills are great for speaking, but I am mostly interested in understanding colloquial Arabic. I would prefer to speak in MSA even if it makes me sound a bit Shakespearean, but I need to understand the dialect if I am going to understand what people are saying.
I am mostly interested in audio recordings because that is how I would encounter colloquial Arabic in real life. To that end, it would be nice to find something with just conversations and other recorded material like Assimil. The 'Living Arabic' that I mentioned above does seem to have a lot of conversations in Levantine Arabic in addition to other things like MSA readings and some grammar. That is why I am thinking of going in that direction, but I am always open to ideas since there is a lot that I could be missing. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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