<p>I was originally planning on studying abroad in France and the Middle East (dont know which country yet) each for a semester, but am now reconsidering. By the time I study abroad, I would have been learning french for 3 years and arabic for only a year. I know that I wont get very far in arabic spending only 3 months in the ME, so would it be wiser to spend the entire year in France? The thing is, this might be my only opportunity to study abroad, and I might not have the chance to visit the middle east for an extended amount of time. What should I do, any suggestions?</p>
<p>You need to decide what’s more important, actually learning something or ‘experiencing’ the middle east. You’re right to think that you won’t learn much Arabic (or French) by dividing your time between two places. Go to France, you will improve your language skills a lot - going to the middle east with only a year’s worth of Arabic is pointless.</p>
<p>If you want to learn French and Arabic, you could consider studying abroad in North Africa where hopefully you would get experience in both languages. I’m not familiar with what opportunities you would have in Algeria, for example, but most people there speak both Arabic and French, and both are used in the media and in everyday life, so you would hopefully get a better grasp of both languages by being there. Just something to think about :)</p>
<p>That’s an interesting idea smwhtslghtlydzed; French (especially in Algeria and Tunisia) is widely spoken by the middle classes. That does not necessarily mean you will encounter much of it there however. Tunis would be a good compromise especially if you attend the local university, which is bound to offer French classes and may even teach in it.</p>
<p>I would think Morocco would be a bit more safe than Tunis, nowadays? Same French/Arabic idea.</p>
<p>I vote for the whole year in an Arabic speaking country, with vacations in France. Morocco is a great idea.</p>
<p>This might be your only opportunity to get really good at Arabic, whereas French is easier to learn.</p>
<p>Do not go to Morocco if your intention is to advance your Arabic proficiency as far as possible. The Moroccan dialect of Arabic (and more broadly, those across North Africa) are practically unintelligible to other Arabic-speakers. Of course, it all depends on what your exact goals are, and in what contexts you might later be using Arabic.</p>
<p>In descending order of ‘usefulness’ of the dialect, I would suggest the following: Yemen, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, Oman, Lebanon.</p>
<p>Lol. Yemini Arabic the most useful? Get real, it’s the least useful.</p>
<p>All dialects of Arabic are rather unintelligible with each other anyway, the OP should pick one dialect and learn that. The Egyptian dialect is the most useful followed by the Maghrebi dialect.</p>