Arabic in bite-sized parts (now with doses of JP & RU)

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Zireael
Orange Belt
Posts: 158
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:29 pm
Languages: Native: Polish
C2: English
B2: Spanish
Somewhere I don't know: German
Beginner: Arabic, Polish Sign Language
Wanderlusting: Japanese, Russian
Language Log: viewtopic.php?t=815
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Re: Arabic in bite-sized parts

Postby Zireael » Thu Sep 10, 2015 7:00 pm

While poking around ancient Egypt history for that AH I'm making, I discovered that the names Phineas and Susannah are ultimately Old Egyptian at their root.

Also discovered that English Wikipedia knows what Daesh is (I decided to check out since the acronym is increasingly used in Polish newspapers)
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Zireael
Orange Belt
Posts: 158
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:29 pm
Languages: Native: Polish
C2: English
B2: Spanish
Somewhere I don't know: German
Beginner: Arabic, Polish Sign Language
Wanderlusting: Japanese, Russian
Language Log: viewtopic.php?t=815
x 77

Re: Arabic in bite-sized parts

Postby Zireael » Tue Sep 15, 2015 3:21 pm

I finally went and got my first headphones.
I decided on a corded headset and spent the last two weeks going to various malls and testing whatever they had. For good reason - some had no way to lengthen/shorten the arch, one pair was too loose so I couldn't hear in one ear because the earmuff was too far away from my hearing aid, one was so tight that they nearly knocked my hearing aid off. And some were just too quiet - mostly those light-weight, small earmuff types.

The headphones are brilliant, I tried listening to "Learn Arabic with Maha" and I could actually UNDERSTAND her, internet hiccups notwithstanding. And I've checked that they work for my old NFS and for audiobooks from podiobooks.com, too. Oh, and the cord is 2m long, meaning I could use them for the TV, too.
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Zireael
Orange Belt
Posts: 158
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:29 pm
Languages: Native: Polish
C2: English
B2: Spanish
Somewhere I don't know: German
Beginner: Arabic, Polish Sign Language
Wanderlusting: Japanese, Russian
Language Log: viewtopic.php?t=815
x 77

Re: Arabic in bite-sized parts

Postby Zireael » Fri Sep 25, 2015 6:07 pm

Due to the migrant crisis, Arabic language and culture have become the center of media attention here. Poland has agreed to take in 7k migrants and the gov't keeps insisting it means refugees and not economic migrants and the distinction is getting a lot of coverage, too. Loads of people are suddenly thinking we're gonna get flooded and Islamicized by the migrants. Overkill much? :)

Obviously this means for my family and friends, Arabic stopped being "that weird language you keep learning for no real reason" and suddenly became "hell yeah, keep learning it since it will boost your chances to find a good job!". Made even more relevant by the fact I'm currently looking for my first real job.

A pile of Maha notes is waiting for the job situation to clear up a bit and me to have more free time instead of filling out paperwork I need to submit before I start working.
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Zireael
Orange Belt
Posts: 158
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:29 pm
Languages: Native: Polish
C2: English
B2: Spanish
Somewhere I don't know: German
Beginner: Arabic, Polish Sign Language
Wanderlusting: Japanese, Russian
Language Log: viewtopic.php?t=815
x 77

Re: Arabic in bite-sized parts

Postby Zireael » Fri Oct 09, 2015 3:17 pm

Job search: a giant mess.
Other news: I got sick. So I couldn't listen to Maha and I can't round up the notes enough to post them.

The Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet (رباعية الحوار الوطنى التونسى) is the recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize this year.

New words
Rubayat رباعية quartet
Al-hiwar الحوار dialogue
Al-watani الوطنى national
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Monox D. I-Fly
Blue Belt
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Joined: Sat Oct 10, 2015 5:22 pm
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Re: Arabic in bite-sized parts

Postby Monox D. I-Fly » Sun Oct 11, 2015 3:21 pm

Zireael wrote:Obviously this means for my family and friends, Arabic stopped being "that weird language you keep learning for no real reason" and suddenly became "hell yeah, keep learning it since it will boost your chances to find a good job!". Made even more relevant by the fact I'm currently looking for my first real job.

\Well, in my religion, learning Arabic is a necessity.
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Read 5,000 pages of Arabic books: 5 / 5000
Watch 9,000 minutes of Arabic videos: 19 / 9000

Read 5,000 pages of Japanese books: 1 / 5000
Watch 9,000 minutes of Japanese videos: 297 / 9000

Zireael
Orange Belt
Posts: 158
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:29 pm
Languages: Native: Polish
C2: English
B2: Spanish
Somewhere I don't know: German
Beginner: Arabic, Polish Sign Language
Wanderlusting: Japanese, Russian
Language Log: viewtopic.php?t=815
x 77

Re: Arabic in bite-sized parts

Postby Zireael » Wed Oct 21, 2015 2:58 pm

Monox D. I-Fly wrote:\Well, in my religion, learning Arabic is a necessity.


Yes, I know that. However, in my corner of the world *points to native language* there are very few Muslims, only the Tatars in the SE corner of my country and I am NOT one of them :)

In other news, posts may get rarer as my Polish Sign Language course has restarted.
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geoffw
Orange Belt
Posts: 195
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2015 3:15 pm
Languages: Speak well = English (N), Deutsch
Speak poorly = יידיש (Yiddish), Français
"Speak," I guess = עברית (Hebrew), Русский (Russian), Español, Nederlands, Esperanto
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Re: Arabic in bite-sized parts

Postby geoffw » Thu Oct 22, 2015 12:26 am

I guess the TAC Team Rare pretty much died along with the forum, huh? I haven't made a personal log post for months because I just thought "what's the point." Anyhow, glad to see you up and running here!

Trying to review your log, I'm not 100% clear--are you still learning specifically Yemeni Arabic? Are you simultaneously learning MSA? Do you have any big standard resources besides a teacher? Is it rude to jump into your log and ask so many questions all at once (I have more...)?

Cheers!
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Zireael
Orange Belt
Posts: 158
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:29 pm
Languages: Native: Polish
C2: English
B2: Spanish
Somewhere I don't know: German
Beginner: Arabic, Polish Sign Language
Wanderlusting: Japanese, Russian
Language Log: viewtopic.php?t=815
x 77

Re: Arabic in bite-sized parts

Postby Zireael » Thu Oct 22, 2015 7:32 am

geoffw wrote:I guess the TAC Team Rare pretty much died along with the forum, huh? I haven't made a personal log post for months because I just thought "what's the point." Anyhow, glad to see you up and running here!

Trying to review your log, I'm not 100% clear--are you still learning specifically Yemeni Arabic? Are you simultaneously learning MSA? Do you have any big standard resources besides a teacher? Is it rude to jump into your log and ask so many questions all at once (I have more...)?

Cheers!

I think I saw Luso once or twice here and Expug is also posting.
What I thought was Yemeni Arabic was MSA with Yemeni pronunciation :)
I have a few books in PDF format but they are either below my level or above it. I have no teacher since Sarah returned to Yemen two years ago. Right now my main source is Maha and I have a pile of disorganized notes waiting to get organized.
No, it's not rude, keep asking questions.
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geoffw
Orange Belt
Posts: 195
Joined: Sun Aug 09, 2015 3:15 pm
Languages: Speak well = English (N), Deutsch
Speak poorly = יידיש (Yiddish), Français
"Speak," I guess = עברית (Hebrew), Русский (Russian), Español, Nederlands, Esperanto
x 338

Re: Arabic in bite-sized parts

Postby geoffw » Fri Oct 23, 2015 1:20 am

Zireael wrote:What I thought was Yemeni Arabic was MSA with Yemeni pronunciation :)


I had to read this a few times...but the takeaway is, you were being taught MSA by a Yemenite? My impression is that you've been learning Arabic for some time now. I guess it's mostly been written, outside of teaching sessions? I was recently reading up more on the MSA/colloquial issue and was particularly curious as to why so many non-natives tend to study MSA primarily or exclusively, when it's not spoken anywhere. Does that make any of the spoken varieties understandable to you? Do you use Arabic for anything outside of the written word currently?

Zireael wrote:No, it's not rude, keep asking questions.


Ever heard of Glossika? Relatively new company selling materials for practicing the mass sentence method. I'm currently using the Russian version (audio only), but they also have MSA, and Egyptian and Syrian Arabic are coming soon.
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Zireael
Orange Belt
Posts: 158
Joined: Mon Jul 20, 2015 6:29 pm
Languages: Native: Polish
C2: English
B2: Spanish
Somewhere I don't know: German
Beginner: Arabic, Polish Sign Language
Wanderlusting: Japanese, Russian
Language Log: viewtopic.php?t=815
x 77

Re: Arabic in bite-sized parts

Postby Zireael » Fri Oct 23, 2015 9:25 am

I had to read this a few times...but the takeaway is, you were being taught MSA by a Yemenite? My impression is that you've been learning Arabic for some time now. I guess it's mostly been written, outside of teaching sessions? I was recently reading up more on the MSA/colloquial issue and was particularly curious as to why so many non-natives tend to study MSA primarily or exclusively, when it's not spoken anywhere. Does that make any of the spoken varieties understandable to you? Do you use Arabic for anything outside of the written word currently?


Yes, my teacher was Yemeni and yes, it was mostly written and no, I'm not using it for anything except writing right now.

On the MSA/dialect front, MSA made it possible for me to communicate with Sarah, Ashraf and Niaz (Yemeni - Aden and Ibb areas, respectively) and with Aida and Anis (Tunisia). If I really learned a dialect, I would only be able to communicate with people speaking the same dialect (which might not even cover a country, see Yemen).
MSA is what I guess Arabic natives default to when asked to "teach me Arabic" for presumably that reason. I believe they also default to speaking MSA to foreigners (be it Yemenis in Tunisia or Caucasians generally). MSA is also taught in Turkey at least to some degree (my Kurdish friend would laugh and nod and remind me it's not Turkish, but she understood me and replied in kind).
I've never had any chance to listen to the spoken varieties. Yemen has a LOT of dialects and it's difficult to find any material specifically from that country. I might have better luck trying to find a sample of Tunisian Arabic, but then, I need to practice my listening on Maha first (as it was nonexistent before I got the headphones - joys of being hearing-impaired)
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