Learning Arabic

My son Gabriel is very keen on learning languages. He has been studying Latin on and off on his own (well, with a bit of help from my husband who studied Latin in school) for a number of years. He has taken French at a local high school for a year and a half. And he also experimented with German and Russian - I helped him with the latter as that was what I took in high school and also for a year at college.

 

This semester he decided he wanted to study a non European language. Since it's always better to work with someone when learning a language and since I had been thinking about studying Arabic for a number of years, I suggested we do this together. He was pleased and so we have begun. Slowly.

 

Our first consideration was approach and goals. I want to be able to speak to people - I have wanted to work in the Middle East for many years - once my sons are grown I might well do so at some point. Gabriel wants to be able to read - he also wants to be able to write because he thinks the script is really "cool looking". He would like to be able to speak as well. Gabriel is really good at grammar, at the "mechanics" of language. I am really good at "picking up" language and hearing into how people speak. I am lousy at working directly with grammar.

 

We got a few books from the library to help orientate us before settling on an approach. We learned that there is, as one might expect, the Arabic of the Koran which is the bridge between millions of people all over the globe. Then there's the Arabic which real people speak every day. Apparently if one uses "Koran Arabic" "on the streets" with a native Arabic speaker, it is analogous to ordering a sandwich in Elizabethan English in Ohio! Several sources suggested that for conversation, one learn Egyptian Arabic as it is widely understood in part because of the popularity of Egyptian movies. At that hint, we went to Netflicks and took out a couple of Egyptian films to watch. Hopefully the subtitles will help us figure out the dialogue. And if not, it's important that we get our ears used to correct pronunciation anyway.

 

I've been watching Arabic language music videos on YouTube as well. Lots of fun. I wish I could figure out who the artists are and where they come from - maybe North Africa or Lebanon? At any rate, the videos we've watched have been good fun though, being 15, my son has strong ideas about what music he should and shouldn't listen to!

 

After slogging around the internet for a hour or so, I also came upon a site where I could download worksheets for learning the alphabet and also a site devoted to teaching Arabic. Sometimes I just love the internet - here's all these people, presumably all over the globe (looking at their faces, clothes and surroundings) who have taken the time to make little demonstration videos for people they will never meet or know to use! I love that! That really is the bright side of the internet. For today I will not dwell on the shadow side!

 

Anyway, on that site I found useful clips of the alphabet, for instance, where each letter is highlighted while someone says each letter's name. I found clips of an elder reading something slowly - perhaps surahs from the Koran? - so slowly that one could really hear and appreciate the words. I found dialogues between people - I found some lovely little children in a classroom signing and dancing as they sang the alphabet (unfortunately the sound quality was poor on that one so I couldn't make out the words).

 

And I ordered some materials from Amazon to get Gabriel and I on track with our studies. I will report here from time to time on our progress!

 

ma'a as-salaama!

Comments

[Marianna]

Check out Astrolabe as well. They sell a number of Islamic/Arabic items...

Marianna

[umsami]

Here's a cute video that can help you learn the Arabic alphabet. The pronunciation is Egyptian.. so Jeem is Geem. It's actually a famous song by Mohamed Fawzi.
http://www.funwitharabic.com/song.htm

For reading Arabic, there's a program for kids called "Arabic Playhouse" that you can download for $15.00. It's really good/easy. If your son is serious, it's much easier to learn to read the Arabic alphabet than relying on transliteration.

The Hippocrene book and Arabic in 10 minutes per day, are actually quite good too.

[umsami]

Oh, I also highly recommend the DVD series "Arabian Sinbad." It's expensive...$125 for the 10 DVDs... but really really well done. You can watch it with subtitles...and really pick up a lot. My kids love it. If you buy the "Treasure Chest" you get a lot of good add ons... but it's pricey. Most Islamic bookstores will give you 10-25% off on the set. Try NoorArt www.noorart.com or Islamic Bookstore.

[Roxanne Aisha Masters]

What an adventure! I am like you in terms of wanting to hear a language spoken, and having the desire to be able to communicate. But I also want to know some the grammer rules. I have been trying to learn Spanish (pretty unsuccessfully) for the past 10 years. My hubby is Mexican so I thought it would be easy, but it hasn't worked out that way :-(. So I tried using the Pimsleur method, college text books, Easy Spanish tapes...nothing was working. Meanwhile my kids were picking up my really bad Spanish usage!

Recently I found an audio language program by Michel Thomas (you can google him, his life was very interesting during WW II). The class is all spoken language AND you learn the rules. But with amazing tips/tricks he uses to help you remember things. Frankly my husband is amazed at my progress in a matter of a week. Now he is also listening so that he can fine tune his own Spanish.

OK...well that was a longwinded way to say that Michel Thomas also has an Arabic program that is....Egyptian Arabic, and just as amazing. I am usually not one to endorse specific programs, but I am just so thrilled that after 10 years I can finally communicate properly with my mother in law!

Just to warn you though...when you said you would like to work in the Mid East. We are living in the Gulf now and sadly Egyptian Arabic is looked down on here. So it would depend on where you are going. But if you already know the basics it's so easy to pick up the local lingo.

Michel Thomas Method
http://www.michelthomas.co.uk/arabic.htm
You can download it right from the site.

And for your son there is an excellent program called Madinah Arabic that has all of their lessons (from their popular book) online for free. http://www.madinaharabic.com/
at the top you can click on Arabic Reading or Arabic Language to get to the lessons.

Sorry for the long comment..hope it helps a bit.

Roxanne

[dissertation writing]

Blogs are good for every one where we get lots of information for any topics nice job keep it up !!!

[RSA]

I have always wanted to learn another language other than the one I am accustomed to using.