Team Middle East

An area with study groups for various languages. Group members help each other, share resources and experience. Study groups are permanent but the members rotate and change.
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Saim
Blue Belt
Posts: 676
Joined: Sun Nov 15, 2015 12:14 pm
Location: Rheinland
Languages: Native: English
Others: Catalan, Serbian, Spanish, Polish, Hungarian, Urdu, French etc.
Main focus: German
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Re: Team Middle East

Postby Saim » Thu Oct 27, 2016 7:28 pm

LadyGrey1986 wrote:I am very curious about everyone's motivation to learn Arabic ;)


In my case first came interest in Islam, then in the political situation in the Arab world, and finally I got into Arabic hip hop. I also love seeing the etymological connections with other languages in the Islamic world (on my dad's side of the family they're all Punjabi-speaking Muslims so that's part of it too) and Hebrew. Those were the main motivations to start with, I think. How about you?

No joke about it being a sprint. My Arabic study has been woefully inconsistent to the point that it's probably the language I've been dragging along for the longest without making much progress in it. Thankfully my knowledge of Punjabi, Urdu and Hebrew has helped me in not forgetting the little I did learn, though.
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Systematiker
Blue Belt
Posts: 823
Joined: Tue May 10, 2016 6:09 pm
Languages: ENG (N); DEU (C2+) // SWG (~C1); BAR (~C1); SPA (4/3); FRA (~C1); SCO (~C1); NLD (~B2*); LAT (Latinum Bavaricum); GRC (Graecum Bavaricum); CAT (~B2*); POR (~B2*); SWE (~B2*); HBO (Hebraicum); DAN (~B1*); RUS (~A2); KOR (~A1); FAS (still a raw beginner)
*Averaged for high receptive skill
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7332
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Re: Team Middle East

Postby Systematiker » Fri Oct 28, 2016 12:03 am

Y'all are tempting me with community here...and I really do need to get back to Hebrew...
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Ogrim
Brown Belt
Posts: 1009
Joined: Mon Jul 27, 2015 10:29 am
Location: Alsace, France
Languages: Norwegian (N) English (C2), French (C2), Spanish (C2), German (B2), Romansh (B2), Italian (B2), Catalan (B2), Russian (B1), Latin (B2), Dutch (B1), Croatian (A2), Arabic (on hold), Ancient Greek (learning), Romanian (on hold)
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/viewtopic.php?t=873
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Re: Team Middle East

Postby Ogrim » Fri Oct 28, 2016 7:54 am

LadyGrey1986 wrote:Great to see all the enthousiasm! You make my day. Learning Arabic is defintely a marathon and not a sprint, and it is easy to lose motivation. I am very curious about everyone's motivation to learn Arabic ;)


My interest in Arabic goes back a long time. In my early teenage years I got interested in what may best be described as "romantic Orientalism", and I guess I had a somewhat "Disneyesque" image of the Arab countries as exotic, wonderful places. With the years I got a more realistic worldview, but my interest in the Arabic language was reinforced by my studies of Spanish and medieval Spain. Arabic has had a huge influence on Spanish culture as well as the Spanish language, and I would have liked to explore this more in-depth.

Today, my ambition is mainly to be able to understand written and spoken MSA to a degree where I can make sense of a newspaper article or follow the news on Al Jazeera. I have tried to learn Arabic in the past more than once, but I never got past the very initial stages. It truly is a marathon, but this time I will try to stay the course.
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zenmonkey
Black Belt - 2nd Dan
Posts: 2528
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2015 7:21 pm
Location: California, Germany and France
Languages: Spanish, English, French trilingual - German (B2/C1) on/off study: Persian, Hebrew, Tibetan, Setswana.
Some knowledge of Italian, Portuguese, Ladino, Yiddish ...
Want to tackle Tzotzil, Nahuatl
Language Log: viewtopic.php?f=15&t=859
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Re: Team Middle East

Postby zenmonkey » Fri Oct 28, 2016 10:05 am

LadyGrey1986 wrote:I am very curious about everyone's motivation to learn Arabic ;)


For me, it's pretty easy - it tends to be the same thing for most of my languages - travel, literature and history. I also live in areas with middle eastern immigrant populations and have a few social projects in the pipeline that would be better served if I spoke the language. Finally, It's a balancing act - if I'm learning Hebrew, it seems reasonable to also add Arabic as my own balancing act. But, it's not currently on my active plan.
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I am a leaf on the wind, watch how I soar

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LadyGrey1986
Orange Belt
Posts: 140
Joined: Fri Jul 22, 2016 1:20 pm
Location: The Netherlands
Languages: Dutch (N),
Has studied: English, French, German (I never took a test, no idea where I belong on the CEFR scale)
Studies: Arabic (Beginner)
Wishes to Study: Farsi/Persian
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Re: Team Middle East

Postby LadyGrey1986 » Sat Oct 29, 2016 2:23 pm

Zireael wrote:Can I sign up? I'm learning MSA, currently roughly at A2 level.

Be warned that my log updates are very spaced apart, traineeship is eating my time...


You sure can! I am roughly about A2-level as well.

Maybe the Hebrew learners could help me out here. I would like to create a master list of resources for the benefit of future learners. What resources are you using for Hebew?
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Corrections welcome in any language :)

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Systematiker
Blue Belt
Posts: 823
Joined: Tue May 10, 2016 6:09 pm
Languages: ENG (N); DEU (C2+) // SWG (~C1); BAR (~C1); SPA (4/3); FRA (~C1); SCO (~C1); NLD (~B2*); LAT (Latinum Bavaricum); GRC (Graecum Bavaricum); CAT (~B2*); POR (~B2*); SWE (~B2*); HBO (Hebraicum); DAN (~B1*); RUS (~A2); KOR (~A1); FAS (still a raw beginner)
*Averaged for high receptive skill
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7332
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Re: Team Middle East

Postby Systematiker » Sat Oct 29, 2016 3:14 pm

Ok, I'm in. Now I have to be accountable about studying Hebrew.

I'm doing classical Hebrew, for reasons obvious from my profile picture and background. Probably, I will branch out into contemporary stuff after a while, as the people I took it with at Uni have either lost it, gone into graduate studies using it, or also added contemporary Hebrew to keep it.

I'm using my old text from the course, Jenni's Lehrbuch der hebräischen Sprache. I've got Gesenius' grammar as a PDF, which is out there somewhere on the archive, the Gesenius lexicon, and a BHS. Various electronic resources as well that I've accumulated over the years, I'll have to look at what I've actually got. Somewhere I've got a bunch of links to older public domain materials, I'll dig them out and share them eventually.
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LadyGrey1986
Orange Belt
Posts: 140
Joined: Fri Jul 22, 2016 1:20 pm
Location: The Netherlands
Languages: Dutch (N),
Has studied: English, French, German (I never took a test, no idea where I belong on the CEFR scale)
Studies: Arabic (Beginner)
Wishes to Study: Farsi/Persian
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Re: Team Middle East

Postby LadyGrey1986 » Sat Oct 29, 2016 3:35 pm

Systematiker wrote:Ok, I'm in. Now I have to be accountable about studying Hebrew.



No pressure, eh? I hope you don't mind I added you ;)
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Corrections welcome in any language :)

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Systematiker
Blue Belt
Posts: 823
Joined: Tue May 10, 2016 6:09 pm
Languages: ENG (N); DEU (C2+) // SWG (~C1); BAR (~C1); SPA (4/3); FRA (~C1); SCO (~C1); NLD (~B2*); LAT (Latinum Bavaricum); GRC (Graecum Bavaricum); CAT (~B2*); POR (~B2*); SWE (~B2*); HBO (Hebraicum); DAN (~B1*); RUS (~A2); KOR (~A1); FAS (still a raw beginner)
*Averaged for high receptive skill
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7332
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Re: Team Middle East

Postby Systematiker » Sat Oct 29, 2016 6:27 pm

LadyGrey1986 wrote:
Systematiker wrote:Ok, I'm in. Now I have to be accountable about studying Hebrew.



No pressure, eh? I hope you don't mind I added you ;)


Happy to be here (hey wait, did you add me before I posted that? Haha!)

I probably won't do it if I don't have y'all to talk to about it, so bring on the pressure!
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LadyGrey1986
Orange Belt
Posts: 140
Joined: Fri Jul 22, 2016 1:20 pm
Location: The Netherlands
Languages: Dutch (N),
Has studied: English, French, German (I never took a test, no idea where I belong on the CEFR scale)
Studies: Arabic (Beginner)
Wishes to Study: Farsi/Persian
x 220

Re: Team Middle East

Postby LadyGrey1986 » Sat Oct 29, 2016 8:41 pm

Systematiker wrote:
LadyGrey1986 wrote:
Systematiker wrote:Ok, I'm in. Now I have to be accountable about studying Hebrew.



No pressure, eh? I hope you don't mind I added you ;)


Happy to be here (hey wait, did you add me before I posted that? Haha!)

!

Guilty as charged :shock:
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Corrections welcome in any language :)

User avatar
Systematiker
Blue Belt
Posts: 823
Joined: Tue May 10, 2016 6:09 pm
Languages: ENG (N); DEU (C2+) // SWG (~C1); BAR (~C1); SPA (4/3); FRA (~C1); SCO (~C1); NLD (~B2*); LAT (Latinum Bavaricum); GRC (Graecum Bavaricum); CAT (~B2*); POR (~B2*); SWE (~B2*); HBO (Hebraicum); DAN (~B1*); RUS (~A2); KOR (~A1); FAS (still a raw beginner)
*Averaged for high receptive skill
Language Log: https://forum.language-learners.org/vie ... =15&t=7332
x 2070

Re: Team Middle East

Postby Systematiker » Sat Oct 29, 2016 9:53 pm

Ok, so here's the resources post, keeping in mind that I'm mostly after Classical/Biblical Hebrew and only secondarily anything else and that my resources are really strongly oriented to learning for the sake of a faith tradition:

As I noted, I have a copy of Ernst Jenni, Lehrbuch der Hebräischen Sprache becuase we used this in the course at the LMU. If someone gets it, get the broschure Paradigmentabelle as well, I remember it was super helpful. I'm also using the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia, and a Gesenius Lexikon (Hebrew-German). I've got a copy of Davidson's introductory Hebrew Grammar, but I don't know if I'll use it. I've got a couple of electronic copies of the Brown-Driver-Briggs lexicon, which can also be found free online in a software suite called "e-Sword." Additionally, I've got a copy of V&R's Vokabeltrainer program, which was passed around at the Uni on a USB stick and they probably sell, but I've never looked.

You can find an even older grammar, that of Gesenius, in German here https://archive.org/details/hebrischegramm00gese and in English here http://tmcdaniel.palmerseminary.edu/GeseniusGrammar.pdf.

An interlinear text can be found here http://www.scripture4all.org/

The Hebrew of the Bible can be found in audio, read by a Jerusalem-born priest, here http://www.aoal.org/hebrew_audiobible.htm; the website hosting that also has some free content for learners.

For the modern stuff, I'll use Duolingo (anyone know if that's any good?) and the copy of Pimsleur level 1 I've found on an external drive that someone must have given me ages ago. Beyond that, I don't know what I'll do, but it should hold for a while until I figure it out.

Edit: the interlinear text has English, German, and Dutch versions.
Additional free stuff can be found here http://www.ancient-hebrew.org/bookstore/m/free.html
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