<p>Has anyone here taken Modern Standard Arabic? Any advice or experiences you'd like to share about learning Arabic?</p>
<p>No clue but you’d probably have good job oppurtunities with the US Gov’t.</p>
<p>That’s assuming that fluency can be attained within four years. A study-abroad program would be best for fluency, but that can be dangerous.</p>
<p>LOL. Uhm you cannot become fluent in Arabic in four years just by taking classes. You’d have to study it intensely outside of class and speak with native speakers either online or in person. If you are just taking it as a required class then I don’t see that happening. People who major in it and their native language is not Arabic still have a problem becoming fluent. </p>
<p>Also you don’t have to go to like Iraq to learn Arabic. You can go to Cairo and places like that which are relatively safe. I’d personally feel safer in an Arabic speaking country in comparison to places like Russia</p>
<p>Rising junior here, studied Arabic straight through from my first semester of freshman year!</p>
<p>As for how hard it is to start it, basically not as hard as Chinese or Japanese, but waaaay harder than a Romance or Latin-based language. Basically, the first 2-3 weeks are spent learning the letters and sounds that are different in Arabic (that’s about how long it takes to really “get it”). Then you move on to simple, short words and phrases. Once you hit that point, it actually gets easier, since Arabic is actually one of the most logical languages on the planet! Very few grammatical exceptions, grammar concepts tend to be relatively straightforward, and it’s a language that lends itself to being melodic and relatively easy to pronounce once you’ve gotten your letters and sounds down. Not to mention all of the rich culture!</p>
<p>And agree with comiclover, very few Arabic-speaking countries are actually as dangerous and unpleasant as they are portrayed in the American media. Yes, obviously going to Iraq or Palestine or Sudan would not be the brightest choice for a trip, but Egypt, Jordan, Morocco, Dubai, and many of the Gulf countries are gorgeous places to vacation or study abroad, and relatively safe! (Lebanon can go either way: U.S. still has strict travel warnings against going there because of the situations in the North, but a friend who studied abroad in Beirut recently felt totally safe her entire trip.)</p>
<p>My review is a resounding YES to studying MSA if you’re interested!!!</p>
<p>Standard Arabic is rarely spoken in the Middle East/Africa, Dialect Arabic is mostly likely spoken.</p>
<p>Iraq, Bahrain, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Oman, U.A.E Share a “Khaleeji” Dialect
Lebanon, Syria share a Dialect
Egypt has its own Dialect</p>
<p>Standard Arabic is useful for Arabic Newspaper comprehension or trying to communicate with Arabs all over the region.</p>
<p>Arabic is a very difficult language. I’ve been immersed in Arabic for years (10+) and only have a grasp of conversational Arabic in the Khaleeji Dialect. I have a difficult time following the other Dialects sometimes. </p>
<p>Advice I can give is to start slow with the intro to Arabic courses and take it from there. Since the language encompasses different types of vocalization techniques to produce certain sounds you must verbally sound out the words you learn daily to make sure you have proper pronunciation.</p>
<p>Good luck.</p>
<p>That’s exactly the kind of answer I was looking for, embord. I appreciate it a great deal! How many courses in MSA does your college offer? My school offers the first four semesters of MSA, but you can go to a nearby college (Swarthmore) for the last four semesters.</p>
<p>And thanks for your insight, aalba. Much appreciated!</p>
<p>Would anyone say that Farsi is easier than Arabic? I don’t have access to formal Farsi courses, but my Iranian friends tell me that Farsi is also an Indo-European language, making it easier for an English speaker to learn.</p>
<p>^ Very true on that one aalba, thanks for pointing out the dialectical issues. From what I’ve been told, however, even if MSA isn’t spoken in it’s formal version in most places, learning MSA does give you a good foundation for trying to communicate in an Arabic-speaking country. Such as, if I go to Morocco, and speak to someone in MSA, they might be a little confused about the social flubs, but I’m likely to be understood eventually. Has this been your experience?</p>
<p>And I should give the disclaimer that, despite two years of intensive Arabic study in a classroom (not immersion, but studied every day) I am MAYBE an advanced-beginner in speaking/reading/writing. Nowhere NEAR conversational, that takes SO much longer!</p>
<p>
</p>
<p>That’s very disheartening!</p>
<p>Anarchist,</p>
<p>Ooooh, just because I’m a stalker, are you from one of the consortium schools including Swarthmore? Bryn Mawr perhaps? (I’m from Mount Holyoke!)</p>
<p>Yes, my school offers the same as yours, just the first 4 semesters. However, I am very close to UMass Amherst and can take classes there, including a class in Advanced Arabic, which I am doing my senior year. Until then, I’m doing an independent study with my Arabic professor to work on more media sources and expanding my conversational vocabulary, and then studying abroad in the spring in either Cairo (American University in Cairo) or Alexandria (Alexandria University via Middlebury). I’ve enjoyed my structured classes so far, but I don’t feel like you can ever really get comfortable in a language until you’re immersed in it. Hence, Egypt for me!</p>
<p>Feel free to ask me about any more questions you have! (And unfortunately I’m not sure about Farsi in comparison to MSA, although I know the Rosetta Stone language programs offer it!)</p>
<p>And make sure you learn the alphabet well. Once you get that it’s a lot easier like embrod said. I’d even pick up a book about ‘learn the arabic alphabet’ and try to teach yourself some of the writing aspects of it before class starts. It’s kinda like ‘wt- omg this is hard’ the first day you really start learning stuff but I’d recommend it. </p>
<p>It really depends on your teacher though. One of mine started out trying to teach conversation (hello, what’s your name, etc) by sound and it was a disaster. </p>
<p>I’m learning standard in school and my informal teacher is Syrian. (Russian and Arabic major.)</p>
<p>“That’s very disheartening!” </p>
<p>Told you. xD There are a lot of language sites that’ll connect you to native speakers wanting to learn english so you can get some experience there through emails or skype or something. Or join a club where you’d have a lot of interaction with native speakers. Or…watch movies in Arabic without the subtitles, etc.</p>
<p>I speak Arabic (Egyptian dialect). Pay attention to the dialect you learn, some of them can differ greatly. </p>
<p>A lot of people find the “transformation” of words the most difficult part. i.e. kitaab vs. alkitaab – which to someone who doesn’t know what to listen for may mistake for a different word.</p>
<p>Ha, I’m actually in my sixth week of Arabic classes right now! It’s an absolutely beautiful language, and I love it.</p>
<p>Thoughts on learning Arabic: first of all, it is absolutely essential to get a good hold of the script if you really want to learn MSA. All of my friends who jumped into class without having studied the script really, really suffered. I would recommend spending some quality time with “Alif Baa” before class if you really want to have time to soak up the shapes and sounds.</p>
<p>I can’t really speak much on what it’s like to study Arabic in the US, but I’m pretty confident in saying that most American Arabic-learning resources suck. The most popular series in the US (Al-Kitaab) is absolutely useless when it comes to learning practical vocabulary (the colors don’t appear until chapter 18, but you learn “United Nations” in the first chapter), but is apparently the best thing out there, so…
Don’t expect to attain any sort of real proficiency without taking some time to study in an Arabic-speaking country. This is pretty much true of any language, but I think it’s especially true for Arabic–especially in terms of learning colloquial. [There are, in fact, people who do not understand MSA, at all. Like the guy who works at the bakery down the street. Headdesk.]</p>
<p>Re: Farsi: I do think it’s a somewhat easier language for English speakers to learn than Arabic [at least in the respect that the formal and informal registers aren’t quite as divergent], but I think it may have an even worse problem than Arabic in the “having sufficient language-learning resources” area.</p>
<p>Well, I am humbled that you are willing to learn the most beautiful, most logical language of Arabic. While it is true that there are many dialects in Arabic, some of the differences between dialects in countries range from being subtle to being very different in terms of pronounciation and such. I am learning Arabic from a software called Rosetta Stone. I highly recommend it because it uses many different types of learning approaches to help you grasp knowledge of this language. Other than this, go to the UAE, Jordan, or Egypt. Many of these countries are not only very modern, but aesthetically beautiful, and culturally regarded.</p>
<p>I have been learning Arabic every since I was a small child, but have found it difficult to grasp because of school, EC’s, and other sorts of things that have caused me to lose sight of one of the earliest, most important goals of my life. I am fluent in Urdu/Hindi, English, and learning ( rather unfortunately re-learning) Arabic. Reading the Quran, and my willingness to understand the meanings, and not just the words has been one of the driving forces in my quest to grasp this language. </p>
<p>If you’re a beginner, MAKE SURE, you work with your accent. Many westerners and others who try to speak Arabic with an English accent sound painful and utterly repulsive to hear. Many latin based languages are much lighter, but Arabic is one of those language where you express feeling, and meaning by the sounds of your throat and nasal passages. </p>
<p>Good luck,
Ali</p>
<p>^^^ You are exactly like me!</p>
<p>I can understand Hindi/Urdu am also learning Arabic to be able to read the Qur’an instead of English translation. I also speak another Indian language. </p>
<p>I am taking MSA as well. I will be going into my third semester. I love learning it but the one thing that irks me is the lack of textbooks. The most common Al-Kitaab series leaves something to be desired. It has some pretty random vocabulary and the grammar is kind of strewn across the book. </p>
<p>As a side, does anyone suggest any supplements to this series?</p>
<p>As a language Arabic is indeed beautiful. I thing its most defining characteristic is its poetic nature and potential.</p>
<p>I wish I could learn my own language XD What are some good books to study and learn Egyptian dialect arabic? How is the Egyptian dialect different from the other dialects?</p>
<p>Quick update – I ended up registering for introduction to modern standard Arabic and have attended one week of class so far! Working my way through Unit 3 of Alif Baa. Thanks to everyone for their suggestions and advice!</p>
yeah! i have been learning MSA from about an year and still find it difficult.I have a suggestion if you really want to learn language, you really need to make sure you know how to speak it.MSA is a formal version of arabics and it does not teaches you [how to speak arabics](http://www.melspublications.com/).All you need to do is get some audio and if [possible try to learn one or two dialects.So you be able to speak arabics properly and atleast with arabs.