/lit/ - Literature

>>15407627
arabic is an absolute nightmare to learn lmao

>>15407635
I know. I've learned Latin already and want something a bit more challenging and more useful in the real world.

>>15407627
I've also been considering learning either Arabic or Persian. I know Arabic is probably far more useful, but from what I understand Persian is easier to learn and I find Iran and its history and culture interesting. I also feel unsure about whether I want to learn another complicated language as I have already spent a lot of time learning Japanese.

>>15407651
Nothing is more useful than Latin

What's the best way to get an Arabic woman to teach me Latin?

>>15407627
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kEqu6z_Om8k

How do Arabic and Hebrew compare in difficulty?

I was thinking of (trying) to learn the latter.

>>15407727
Learning any language is easy, it does not depend upon the language itself, but rather upon how you approach the learning process.

>>15407698
Latin's good for reading ig, but I think being able to speak a language is really useful and makes it easier to learn.

How do Arabic and Hebrew compare in difficulty to an English speaker?

I was thinking of trying to learn the latter.

>>15407733
> Learning any language is easy.

I think this is incorrect. Objectively speaking are not some languages more difficult than others? English and Chinese are not the same in difficulty for a German speaker.

>>15407627
لا، القهوة فعلاً مضرة للصحة، يا ابن القحبة

who is this lovely?

>>15407740
Hebrew is simplier, much easier to learn. but there isn't much use for it, if you want to read the bible, you have to learn biblical hebrew which is different

>>15407747
>I think this is incorrect. Objectively speaking are not some languages more difficult than others?
Some languages have more complex grammar, but that does not change the difficulty for the learner.

>>15407740
My sense is something like in descending difficulty
Classical Arabic>Classical Hebrew>MSA>Modern Hebrew
But I could be wrong

>>15407727
Why would a non-jew learn Hebrew or a jew learn Arabic?

>>15407756
What if I wanna date thicc Isrealis?

>>15407752
من هذه العاهرة؟ احتاج السوووس

>>15407787
sure, but what the rabbi isn't going to be happy... just sayin, man.

>>15407627
jesus. that person is beautiful

>>15407627
It will take you at least 5 years to be reading books and conversing fluently. Then there's the problem of diglossia. The arabic you learn from books and class is modern standard arabic which is based on classical arabic, while the stuff people speak ordinarily is very different. I learnt arabic for 4 years and I could understand the Qur'an, hadiths, speeches in classical arabic, but I couldn't understand what a fruit seller or a taxi driver was saying to me because the local dialect is almost a totally different language.

Honestly why do you want to learn it? Unless you are a muslim there is no point.

>>15407787
No such thing

>>15407792
dancing israelis القحبة مرقصة اسرائيلية. ابحث عن

>>15408193
You have a lot to learn about women, anon

What you're seeing is 7% her, 93% cheating

>>15409485
people who speak casual arabic can definitely understand classical arabic, its is the primary language taught in schools. what country did you visit?

>>15409883
Not him but
>people who speak casual arabic can definitely understand classical arabic

That's true.

But people who study classical Arabic cannot understand casual Arabic except through experience.
Casual Arabic cannot be studied because it doesn't have many rules governing it per se. Some people even dispute how certain words are written and spoken, simply because there's no real guideline to local casual Arabic.

But learning casual Arabic should definitely take less than 5 years.

>>15409916
it really depends on the country, each one has different dialects/accents. but I'm pretty sure most
native arabic speakers (in the middle east) can converse in classical arabic just fine, I don't why the other anon had problems communicating.

Arabic seems like it would be harder to learn than any other language just because of the script

>>15409944
They can converse with you in classical Arabic but they'll do it with a smirk. The last time any of them spoke classical Arabic was in high school.
But as a student of classical Arabic, you won't be able to understand their dialect regardless of the country really.

Though honestly some countries have good resources for if you'd want to learn their dialect in specific. Usually found if you ask the country's subreddit and they're not inept like Saudi Arabia.

>>15409944
So do you think someone in Chad would or wouldn’t be able to understand someone from Iraq?

>>15409985
if the person from chad knows classical arabic then yes, he can converse with most from people from the middle east, but as they other anon pointed out, it will be kind of akward, since classical arabic isn't used in everyday life. it will be like if italians tried to speak latin in everyday conversations.

>>15410008
Makes sense. I think I remember reading somewhere that written and spoken Arabic are quite distinct from one another

>>15410014
yeah since written arabic is classical, while spoken arabic depends on the region/dialect

>>15409883
I lived in egypt for 1 year and yemen for 2 years. If the person was educated they will try speak properly then you can converse, but the local dialects just sounded like slurred sounds to me. I wasn't really interested in learning the local dialects because I was living in a madrassa and none of the students spoke anything except classical arabic.

>>15410051
>egypt and yemen
kek yeah, those two sound like completely different languages, I understand now. even I as a native speaker can't understand yemeni properly.

>>15409944
The locals will come up to you talking in their local dialect and you'll be like "wuhh?" and they'll think you can't speak arabic, or a lot of the time they are uneducated so they won't fully understand what you are saying if you speak modern standard/classical. They may understand you when you speak it, but still just reply in their dialect, so you won't understand what they are saying. You can bumble your way through, like I did.

>But learning casual Arabic should definitely take less than 5 years.

Yeah you could learn it as a market language, like indonesian. Just learn through immersion. But you won't be able to understand anything you read, or converse with people from outside the region whose dialect you learnt, or anything literary.

>>15407627

As soon as you got the alphabet memorized, focus on the grammar, OP. I found that you can pick up vocabulary along the way. Also the grammar of Arabic is quite interesting and fun to learn.

Start building your own sentences asap, once you know the basics.

>>15410085
>you won't be able to understand anything you read
all arabic literature is written in classical, its the standard. you can read it just fine if you know classical arabic. I agree you won't be able to speak with everyone since each region has its own dialects.

>>15410102
i said if you just learn a local dialect you won't be able to understand anything you read.

>>15407627
>What's the best way to learn Hebrew during quarantine?

FTFY

>>15410108
oh yeah sorry, although I don't know anyone who learned just one dialect. even in schools, the Classical is the foundation that the dialects are built on.

>>15407627
If you want to learn TRUE arabic, you must move to Morocco.

>>15410120
some people who go to morocco and join the peace corp for example, they would just learn moroccan arabic

>>15409883
The basic letters of an abjad can be memorized after a couple of days at the most. Certainly easier to memorize than hieroglyphs or Chinese characters. Not sure how alphasyllabaries like Ge'ez and the Brahmic scripts might compare.

If you’re learning for travel/cultural purposes, I’d argue in favor of learning a regional dialect. Locals go nuts when they hear a white person speaking a redneck dialect. And depending on whether you’re as dumb as I am, cross-dialect comprehension can be even harder than you think. I’m a B1 brainlet but I struggle to understand people a mere hour’s drive from the city where i learned. I can’t even imagine trying to argue with a jive-talking taxi driver with only MSA vocab in my head.
Maybe start with Duolingo/Pimsleur to learn the basic grammar structure, but don’t get too sidetracked. Depending on your dialect, the Peace Corps have fantastic resources for free online, as does the FSI. Check your local university libraries for resources; they’re always open to the public (maybe not now of course). And there’s a YouTube channel for everything.

Have read that Yemeni and Sudanese dialects are the most conservative vernacular varieties.

>>15407757
Ur retarded

>>15409978
The basic letters of an abjad can be memorized after a couple of days at the most. Certainly easier to memorize than hieroglyphs or Chinese characters. Not sure how alphasyllabaries like Ge'ez and the Brahmic scripts might compare.

>>15407635
Seems like a pretty consistent and orderly language compared to others.

>>15410247
Arabic alphabet definitely takes longer than e.g. Greek or Cyrillic thanks to the wealth of ingrown bullshit it contains, but it shouldn’t be an intimidating factor for beginners.
I’ve tried learning a couple of Brahmic abugidas; it’s a fun challenge but I can see it being a stumbling block for learning.

>>15407627
Is arabica good for you?

>>15407627
Spend $38 to fly to an Arab speaking country and live there for 3 months.

I lived in the ME for 15mos for work, Im terrible at learning new languages, but when youre hungry, you learn fast lol

>>15407627
Fucking study it, you monkey. "What's the best way to learn to drive?" I don't fucking know, by driving? God damn idiots and their stupid fucking questions.

>>15410501
>>15410571
are carbs bad for you?
should i cut or bulk?
is SS a meme?
i wanna be a power lifter
also am trans btw, not sure if it matters

Fus-ha or standard arabic is difficult but you can learn it.
dialects or the spoken arabic are impossible to learn. each one has a shit ton of unspoken rules, different words and different tones. it's impossible to speak arabic like an arab but you can learn it.
focus on learning the root system. if you understand it, you can form a lot of words just from one root

>>15410526
Immersion has never been this easy for me. Even while living in another country I still have to bust my ass every day poring over learning material if I want to make progress. Either I'm really dumb or all expats exaggerate its efficacy.

>>15407752

>>15409916
>Casual Arabic cannot be studied because it doesn't have many rules governing it per se. Some people even dispute how certain words are written and spoken, simply because there's no real guideline to local casual Arabic.
There are specialists all over the world who study the grammars of dialects and write guides for them, dude. You can study dialects like you'd study anything else.

>>15407752
Based.

>>15409916
Only artificial pidgins have flexible rules. Every language, dialect, and creole on earth has concrete rules which can be learned and studied.

>>15410298
>he hasn't seen their plural nouns
Lmao
>>15407627
>>>/int/

>>15411351
plural nouns are governed by consistent and stable grammatical rules, male/female, singular/pair/plural. its basic stuff that middle schoolers learn.

Et3alem franco.

>>15407683
Learned persian at uni. Grammar is simple, only hard part is the script but that isn’t as daunting as you may think. I learned it in 2 weeks.