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Arabic for Life or Mastering Arabic | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Specific Languages |  | |
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4687 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes  Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 9 of 18 26 August 2014 at 9:47pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||
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Arabic takes so much work in the beginning stages that I don't think it's much of an
issue if Mastering Arabic simplifies things, and isn't really about mastering the language (which, to me, is standard hyperbole that too many language learning courses engage in). You'll have plenty of time later to learn the complexities of the language. I'm interested in hearing how it works for you. I'm currently using Michel Thomas, also with Jane Wightwick and Mahmoud Gaafar, and really like their approach. My main concern with their Mastering Arabic are the reviews that say that there are no transcripts for the dialogues on the CD's, and that there isn't an Arabic-English appendix. Edited by kanewai on 26 August 2014 at 9:50pm 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||||||||||||||
| napoleon Tetraglot Senior Member India Joined 4814 days ago 543 posts - 874 votes Speaks: Bengali*, English, Hindi, Urdu Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 10 of 18 29 August 2014 at 10:38pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||
You are right, of course. Arabic is a difficult language to learn and anything that makes it a tad easier is a godsend. I believe Einstein said, "Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler." The problem with Wightwick is she makes things too simple. She doesn't teach basic declension, for example. Arabic cases, at least the nominative and the genitive don't take long to understand. Believe me, knowing them makes life so much easier, that it doesn't make sense not to know them. She does not use diacritics throughout the book, despite them being indispensable for the beginner. Don't believe anyone who says otherwise. They are like training-wheels. Eventually, you've got to dispose of them but if you take them off too early, you'll fall. Hard. She leaves so many things unsaid that students run the risk of making wrong assumptions about grammar and pronunciation. Errors, that once assimilated become impossible to correct later.
Abdur Rahim's Madina series, (the one I'm using), has its own share of shortcomings. Wightwick and Gaafar aren't all bad. In fact, I loved their script book and despite my reservations, I feel compelled to agree it's Wightwick to whom we'll have to turn to until we find something better. At the same time, we must acknowledge that their book is an introductory work best studied alongside a traditional grammar tome like the one by Haywood. Edited by napoleon on 30 August 2014 at 1:17am 2 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||||||||||||||
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4687 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 11 of 18 29 August 2014 at 11:55pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||
I'm assuming that I'll have to work through multiple beginning-level text books, and I've been debating between moving on to either Wightwick & Gaafar or Living Language (I really liked their intro courses for Italian and Japanese), but Abdur Rahim's Madinah series is tempting. I see that Abdur Rahim distributes the books for free, and that a professor has posted his classes online. I think there are almost 200 hours of video. That's an amazing resource. Madinah Arabic Series on Google Drive Madinah Series Arabic Lessons on YouTube. @ Napoleon: I like the fact that they incorporate poetry, hadith, and Quran passages. But I worry that it's more "classical" than "modern spoken." It also looks intense - like it's designed for full time college-level study rather than for amateur students working in their spare time. I wonder if it might be better to do a run through of an 'easier' course than jumping into this. Do you have any input? @ ericblair - based on skimming the books you will definitely want to have a good command of the alphabet first. But bookmark this for later! 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||||||||||||||
| Talib Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6459 days ago 171 posts - 205 votes Speaks: English*, Arabic (classical) Studies: Arabic (Egyptian) | Message 12 of 18 04 September 2014 at 2:34am | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||
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Another beginning course that focuses on communicative Arabic is the Formal Spoken Arabic: Fast Course. (Make sure it is the Fast Course because the Basic is more advanced). It has a lot of useful dialogs with recordings among other things like grammar explanations, word banks, a glossary, and English transliteration with the Arabic script. The only thing to be aware of is that some of the word endings and verb conjugations are a little different than Standard Arabic because of the Levantine influence.
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| napoleon Tetraglot Senior Member India Joined 4814 days ago 543 posts - 874 votes Speaks: Bengali*, English, Hindi, Urdu Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 13 of 18 04 September 2014 at 10:29am | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||
Sorry for taking so long but I wanted to write a detailed response. :)
Definitely. Do as many books as you like. :)
In fact, it was Mr. Asif Mehrali's videos that lead me to these books in the first place. I don't think I could have made any progress without them.
I have completed only half of the first book, in the course of which I came across half a dozen religious references. These include the Muslim honorific for Muhammad and a few other sentences glorifying God. I am yet to encounter any poetry, hadith or Quranic passages, although, Mr. Mehrali does pull out a sentence from the Quran from time to time to reinforce some grammar point. Having said that, most of the book contains dialogues and short passages. In fact there is a separate three DVD "conversation" course for people who have finished the first three books.
You're right. These books are part of the curriculum at the Islamic University of Madinah. Dr. A. Rahim, the author, says his books are designed to teach Arabic to non-native students. They are graded and very dialogue-heavy, as you've seen in the pages I posted. I don't see any reason why we cannot study them at our own pace.
The first time I saw Mr. Mehrali's videos, I didn't have the books and I couldn't read Arabic very well. I was halfway through the second lecture when I gave up. The next time, I had the books all right, but I was not using them. Neither was I doing the exercises and my enthusiasm fizzled out by the time I started the third lesson. By trial and error, I finally arrived at an optimum method: 1) I read the key 2) I watched the video 3) I did the exercises 4) (Optional) If I had a question, I'd ask it in the forum You could try an easier course if you wanted to. Why don't you watch the first lecture on youtube and tell us what you think? EDIT: I must apologise for quoting myself again, but I thought it might interest you:
Edited by napoleon on 08 September 2014 at 7:46pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||||||||||||||
| Doitsujin Diglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5118 days ago 1256 posts - 2363 votes Speaks: German*, English | Message 14 of 18 05 September 2014 at 4:20pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||
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For completeness' sake, here's another DLI book that beginners might find useful, because it doesn't require any Arabic reading skills. (Arabic text has been transliterated in a mixture of ALA-LC and IPA characters).
A Contrastive Study of English and Arabic 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||||||||||||||
| kanewai Triglot Senior Member United States justpaste.it/kanewai Joined 4687 days ago 1386 posts - 3054 votes Speaks: English*, French, Marshallese Studies: Italian, Spanish | Message 15 of 18 05 September 2014 at 10:41pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||
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Napolean: Why don't you watch the first lecture (of Madinah) on youtube and
tell us what you think? I worked through the first three lessons. It looks excellent, though it's definitely a working course, not a 'fun' course. The intro says it's taught Ramadan to Ramadan (so, 11 months), and it appears to require about ten hours / week commitment to finish in that time. My thoughts: - This is for people who want to learn Arabic properly. It's very methodical. Book 1 focuses on nouns. Book 2 on verbs. Book 3 gets complicated, and they advise that you use a dictionary with it. - It is also for people who have had some exposure to Arabic. Someone who is a total beginner will struggle. - The goal is definitely to read the Quran by the end of the course. The author estimates that you will understand 80% of it. The handouts have a lot of Quranic passages, though you're right, I don't see any in the actual text. I still don't know if it's the course for me, but part of that is I don't honestly know what my own goals are for Arabic. 3 persons have voted this message useful | ||||||||||||||||||
| napoleon Tetraglot Senior Member India Joined 4814 days ago 543 posts - 874 votes Speaks: Bengali*, English, Hindi, Urdu Studies: French, Arabic (Written) | Message 16 of 18 08 September 2014 at 8:18pm | IP Logged | |||||||||||||||||
Indeed.
You're right on the mark. I remember the first time I saw the lectures. This was when I didn't yet have the books and I couldn't read very well either. To say I struggled would be an understatement. :)
The religious angle is certainly a bit of a turn off. That's why I'm still stuck at lesson 10! :) From what I've seen in their forum, people who finish all three books still aren't comfortable speaking Arabic. But I imagine these books are very good for getting a strong foundation in grammar.
Fair enough. I'll tell you what my goals are and what I expect to get out of this course though. I'm not really looking to read the Koran in the original at the moment. I mean if I can understand the Koran after this, great. I know that's what this course is for but my goal is a bit different. If you remember our experience with the FSI Modern Written Arabic Course, the lessons turn progressively difficult while teaching very little grammar. I think I went as far as lesson 12 before dropping out, but I'm not sure. I want to use the Madinah books as a stepping stone to FSI MWA, following which I can attempt newspapers and TV. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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