Hashimi wrote:PeterMollenburg wrote:Using the Hijazi FSI course (thanks for your opinion of it btw) sounds like a feasible idea, but in practise I’m unsure how far apart the Hijazi and Najdi dialects are (more research needed).
Focus in Hijazi Arabic. It's the best dialect ever and it's more useful because it will help you in learning other dialects more than the Najdi one for the following reasons:
1. It is a living variety of Arabic spoken on streets and in homes, yet it has many conservative features of Standard Arabic more than Egyptian, Levantine, or Moroccan Arabic.
2. It is a hybrid between the group that includes Egyptian and Syrian on one hand and the group that includes Najdi and Gulf dialects. In terms of vocabulary, I would say roughly 50/50 between the Egyptian/Levantine group and the Najdi/Yemeni group.
3. It is widely used in Saudi media broadcast to the Arab world, more than Najdi. The colloquial speech in TV channels like MBC or Al-Arabiyya is mostly in Hijazi.
4. Phonologically, it is the best Arabic dialect for many foreign learners. For example, you can pronounce ث as /θ/, /s/, or /t/ all is acceptable and half of the people in the Hijaz region pronounce it as /t/ or /s/ and this makes it easier for most foreign learners because most major languages does not have this sound except English, Greek, and Peninsular Spanish. The same thing for ذ, you can pronounce it as /ð/, /z/, or /d/. It also has less consonant clusters than Najdi or Levantine dialects.
Thanks for the great feedback, Hashimi. And just to clarify, are you advising me to focus on Hijazi dialect knowing that I will be living in Riyadh? (or did you not catch that part?). I just want to take extra care that by say, hypothetically, were I to learn a good deal of Hijazi, that using it on the streets of Riyadh (to Najdi speakers) would not pose much of a problem?
Additionally, since I am looking at learning some MSA anyway, is it possible 100% focus on MSA would be more useful for interactions with locals in Riyadh compared to, say 50% of my time on MSA, and 50% on Hijazi dialect? In other words, is spoken Hijazi or spoken MSA closer to spoken Najdi? I ask because, if MSA is closer to Najdi or even
just slightly behind Hijazi when comparing proximity to Najdi, then more time on MSA, might be a better investment of time.
And to throw a spanner in the works, would Gulf Arabic be of any use were I to do a couple of Gulf Arabic courses to aid my dealings with locals in Riyadh?
If you don’t mind me asking, Hashimi, what is your background in terms of understanding the value of the various types of Arabic? i.e. Do you live/ have you lived in an Arabic speaking area? Are you into linguistics? Have you learned Arabic or are you a native speaker? Are you simply knowledgable on the topic from reading? Just trying to gauge your perspective, as your input appears to be of particular value and could very much influence decisions I take with my study time. If your opinion is based on very accurate information it could sway me to investing countless hours into a particular course that I may have not considered, such as 3.
FSI Saudi Arabic Basic (Hajazi dialect) and/or
Colloquial Arabic (Gulf Arabic). Sorry, I hope my 50 trillion questions and requested details don’t scare you!