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

This forum is for the Total Annihilation Challenge. See the sticky thread for more information.

Moderators:''', Forum Administrators

Zireael
Posts:228
Joined:2012-02-27, 12:29
Gender:female
Country:PLPoland (Polska)
Arabic in bite-sized parts (now with doses of JP & RU)

Postby Zireael » 2013-02-17, 12:34

Goals: learn as much Arabic as possible before the end of the university year (late June), hopefully be able to read a short text by this time.
Be able to converse freely in written form by the end of the year.

***
Arabic has long held my attention – as I told a friend once, ‘I want to know what these pretty squiggles mean!’ And Google Translate allowed me to understand that a line of ‘pretty squiggles’ I got on my birthday meant Happy Birthday!, and to copy’n’paste a thank you.

Once my Yemeni friend announced she will be giving Arabic lessons, I jumped at the chance.

***
Before my first lesson, my knowledge of Arabic was limited to the following:
· It looks pretty!
· You write and read from right-to-left
· Yemeni Arabic differs a lot from Modern Standard Arabic (MSA)
· It has that weird deep-in-the-throat sound
· It has these neat word roots like k-t-b or m-t-b or whatnot

***
Lesson 1, 6 Jan 2013
Arabic has 28 letters. Several of these are pronounced the same (kha and haa and ha; seen and saad; qaf and kaf).

As if that weren’t bad, to my ears θaa and taa, as well as ðal and dal, sound the same. It’s a good thing Sarah knows IPA, otherwise I’d be completely lost – I’ve got 90 dB of hearing loss, and θ~t, ð~d sound the same to me.

I learn some pronouns – all personal pronouns begin with A and all pronouns used for somebody not here begin with an H. Not that bad, especially since virtually all demonstratives begin with an H too.

Numbers are neat, but I can’t remember them – except for sefr, khamsa, settah and sabaah, since 3 of these are similar to their European cognates.
Sarah shows me a few phrases, but I only know 2: Ahlan and Al Salam Aleikom.

Also, I learn about Al, which apparently works like ‘the’, and Sarah tells me a lot of Arabic surnames start with Al. (The thesis is quickly confirmed when I watch a handball match between Poland and Saudi Arabia).

***
At home, I try to find a way of typing Arabic. I locate an Arabic font and install an Arabic keyboard layout and… and nothing. I press ‘w’ key and I DON’T get waw. Pissed off, I cancel Arabic keyboard and start some frenzied Googling. 20 mins later – success!

I’ve found Intellark, which allows me to type in Arabic using Latin layout. I press ‘s’ key and I get seen, I press ‘s’ twice and I get sheen. Neat!

Over the weekend, I practice typing. I can reliably type madrasah, and two personal names I’d already known: Khalid خالد and Mustafa مصطفيَ. I misspell Aisha every single time, before I realize it contains a hamza and I give up, because I can’t find it in Intellark.

I try typing Sabah alkheir to Sarah on FB and I misspell it (differently) three times. Also, I realize that I need to copy the alphabet on an A4 sheet, which I do on Wednesday.

I run into Sarah a day earlier and she quizzes me a bit. The only phrase which escaped me was shukran. She was really impressed – and I haven’t had time to review beyond typing Mustafa or Khalid.

New words
Some words are missing, because the list is very long.
(I cheated and used Google Translate to get some Arabic words, but for others I had to use Intellark from scratch)

The order is IPA pronunciation - Arabic spelling - Meaning.

Al ال the

Ahlan أهلا hello
Al Salam Aleikum السلام عليكم welcome
Marhaban مرحبا hi

Sabah Alxeir صباح الخيرgood morning
Masaa Alxeir مساء الخير good evening

Shukran شكرا thanks
Afwan افون you’re welcome

Keif haluk كيف حالك؟how are you?
Ana bixeir أنا بخير I am OK

Ila Al-leqaa إلًى اللقاءso long
Maa Al-Salamah مع السلامة bye

Ana أنا I
Anta أنتَ you (male)
Anti أنتِ you (female)
Nahnu نحن we

Huwa هو he
Heya هي she
Hum هم they (male)
Hunna هنَ they (female)


Sefr صفر zero
Wahed واحد one
Eθnan اثنان two
Ðalaθa ثلاثة three
Arbaah أربعة four
Xamsa خمسةfive
Settah ستة six
Sabaah سبعة seven
Θamania ثمانية eight
Tesaah تسعةnine
Asharah عشرة ten

Haða هذا this is
Haðehi هذه this is (female)
Haula هؤلاء these are
Ðalika ذلكthat is (male)
Tilka تلك that is (female)

Ila to

Al-Madrasah المدرسةschool
Al-Mataam المدرسةrestaurant
Last edited by Zireael on 2016-04-09, 18:30, edited 8 times in total.
Native: [flag=]pl[/flag] Very advanced/near native: [flag=]en-US[/flag]
Intermediate: [flag=]es[/flag]
Beginner [flag=]de[/flag], [flag=]sgn[/flag], [flag=]tpi[/flag], [flag=]en_old[/flag], [flag=]ar[/flag]
Wanderlusting: [flag=]ja[/flag], [flag=]ru[/flag]
Artificial languages: [flag=]art-qya[/flag], [flag=]art-sjn[/flag],
My interest has been drawn by: [flag=]fa[/flag], [flag=]zh[/flag],

Zireael
Posts:228
Joined:2012-02-27, 12:29
Gender:female
Country:PLPoland (Polska)

Re: Arabic in bite-sized parts

Postby Zireael » 2013-02-17, 15:17

Lesson 2, 17.01.2013
A quick revision. I ask Sarah how to say ‘I don’t understand’ in Arabic.
The topic for today seems to be Ma haða. I keep confusing miftah and maktab since they sound similar to me. Sarah jokes I must love books, since I learn qalam and kitab quickly.

My favorite word is qamees – I think I discovered the origin of the Spanish word la camisa.

The best part about today was learning how to spot individual letters in a word, and my homework is to dissect all new words. I’ve already done it.

And oh yeah, I find out reading Arabic involves a lot of Guess The Vowel…

New words
(I cheated and used Google Translate to get some Arabic words, but for others I had to use Intellark from scratch)

The order is IPA pronunciation - Arabic spelling - meaning.

Ma haða? ما هذا What is this?
Ahaða qalam? اهذا قلم Is this a pen?
Hal haða qalam?هل هذا قلم Is this a pen?

Law samaht لو سمحت Please
La afham لا أفهم I do not understand

La لا No
Naam نعم Yes

Miftah مفتاح key
Maktab مكتبdesk
Qalam قلم pen
Kitab كتاب book
Qamees قميص shirt
Nadʒm نجم star
Sareer سـرِرbed
Kursi كرسي chair
Last edited by Zireael on 2013-02-24, 11:53, edited 2 times in total.
Native: [flag=]pl[/flag] Very advanced/near native: [flag=]en-US[/flag]
Intermediate: [flag=]es[/flag]
Beginner [flag=]de[/flag], [flag=]sgn[/flag], [flag=]tpi[/flag], [flag=]en_old[/flag], [flag=]ar[/flag]
Wanderlusting: [flag=]ja[/flag], [flag=]ru[/flag]
Artificial languages: [flag=]art-qya[/flag], [flag=]art-sjn[/flag],
My interest has been drawn by: [flag=]fa[/flag], [flag=]zh[/flag],

Zireael
Posts:228
Joined:2012-02-27, 12:29
Gender:female
Country:PLPoland (Polska)

Re: Arabic in bite-sized parts

Postby Zireael » 2013-02-18, 12:42

I found a Polish website which has some useful information. The second link below the line contains Arabic lessons. A word of warning, the site has absolutely horrible colors.

Apparently, what Sarah called ‘the feminine marker’ ـةis properly called ta marbuta. And the vowel diacritics are called tashkeel and their names are َ fatha,ِ kasra and ُ damma.
Also, a hamza ء can be supported by an alef, ya or waw. However, I’m still stunted when it comes to typing Aisha...


Well, using this I can now type Ila إلًىand Ila Al-leqaa إلًى اللقاء correctly.

And I found this which has some interesting info on pronunciation and writing, too. Using this, I can practice the pronunciation of khaa and the emphatic consonants ta, dad and saad.

***
The only online dictionary with phonetics I managed to find: http://www.firdaous.com/en/0023.htm

So now I know snow is talj and winter is sita’


[url]Also, some links to loanwords lists I found on Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Ar ... in_English[/url]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Influence_of_Arabic_on_other_languages
[url]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_inf ... h_language[/url]

***
I found this site, which is with 99% certainty the site Sarah used to find our textbook.

I can guess the topic of the coming lesson is going to be Man hada? مان هذاi.e. Who's that?

I also did the two vocabulary tests for Lesson 1, without looking at my notes nor reviewing, and got 75% and 80%, respectively.

One question, though: why does the online speaker append -un to EVERY word I click on? Qamees becomes qameesun and qalam becomes qalamun...

EDIT: OK, now I know it's the tanween but how the heck is it supposed to clarify pronunciation, I have no idea

***
Installed Anki 2.0 and put in vocabulary from Lesson 1.
entered all my words into Anki. There's 50 cards in the deck and I need to separate numbers from everything else.

EDIT: Ok, done.

Also, where do I find unwovelled dictionaries or wordlists? The Madina Arabic site has wovelled words throughout, while Sarah's advice was 'just ignore all that stuff' and she's having me read and write unwovelled words (which I think is better)

***
Okay, somebody on HTLAL directed me to Quizlet.com, where I found neat flashcards for the Medinah book I'm using. That's how I realized I'd missed some words when typing the log - they are now where they should be. I also added them to my Anki deck.

My Anki deck is now 56 and Anki says 48% of that is 'Unseen'. There are some words which give me a lot of grief 'cause I can't recognize them. I tweaked the settings so that 'Again' has a time interval of 10 mins and 'Good' a time interval of 30 mins. The 1-min. interval just annoyed me.
***
Time to learn Arabic chat alphabet, also known as Arabish or Araby, since Sarah often uses Windows Messenger, which has no support for Arabic language.

Also, no lesson this Monday, Sarah just left me a message on FB. Drat, I'll have to wait until next Monday...

Meanwhile, how do I move or copy my cards into a sub-deck?

EDIT: Anki problem solved. And Sarah just messaged me that she might find time for a lesson on Monday.

New phrase

sanabqa ala itisal سنبقى على يتيسال keep in touch
Last edited by Zireael on 2013-02-24, 11:54, edited 1 time in total.
Native: [flag=]pl[/flag] Very advanced/near native: [flag=]en-US[/flag]
Intermediate: [flag=]es[/flag]
Beginner [flag=]de[/flag], [flag=]sgn[/flag], [flag=]tpi[/flag], [flag=]en_old[/flag], [flag=]ar[/flag]
Wanderlusting: [flag=]ja[/flag], [flag=]ru[/flag]
Artificial languages: [flag=]art-qya[/flag], [flag=]art-sjn[/flag],
My interest has been drawn by: [flag=]fa[/flag], [flag=]zh[/flag],

Zireael
Posts:228
Joined:2012-02-27, 12:29
Gender:female
Country:PLPoland (Polska)

Re: Arabic in bite-sized parts

Postby Zireael » 2013-02-19, 9:38

Plugged the Yemeni Arabic keyboard support into my Windows languages and made a chart of the keys on a sheet of paper.

Then I remembered Sarah had asked me about a friend of mine who has an Arabic name (but who's not Arabic and doesn't know Arabic)...

The result? My first complete sentences in Arabic.

بتنة لا تفعم العربية

ابو بنتة لا يفعم العربية

(Sarah fixed a few typos in tafham, yafham and abu)

Of course, that means I entered two new words in Anki...

***
Lesson 3, 18 Feb 2012

Turns out I was wrong, Man haða wasn't today's topic. It was verb conjugation.

It seems that by default, verbs are given in 3rd sg masc form. In 1st sg, the ya is dropped. For feminine forms, ya is replaced by ta. In plural and dual, ya stays. In 1st pl., ya is replaced by nun.

In plurals, the verb also takes a nun at the end.

Homework: conjugate all verbs from the list which do not end in a vowel.

New words
The order is IPA pronunciation - Arabic spelling - meaning.

Yaðhab يذهب he goes
Yodʒeb يوجب he likes
Yasaal يسال he asks
Yadros يدرس he studies
Yatakalam يتكلم he talks/speaks
Yanam ينم he sleeps
Yakol يكل he eats
Yamshi يمشي he walks
Yofaker يفكر he thinks
Yaqraa يقرا he reads
Yaktob يكتب he writes
Yaraa َيري he sees
Yasmaa يسم he hears
Yaqool يقول he says
Yorsel يرسل he sends
Yastaqbel يستقبل he receives

Ana yodʒeboni... انا يوجبني I like...
Last edited by Zireael on 2013-02-24, 11:56, edited 1 time in total.
Native: [flag=]pl[/flag] Very advanced/near native: [flag=]en-US[/flag]
Intermediate: [flag=]es[/flag]
Beginner [flag=]de[/flag], [flag=]sgn[/flag], [flag=]tpi[/flag], [flag=]en_old[/flag], [flag=]ar[/flag]
Wanderlusting: [flag=]ja[/flag], [flag=]ru[/flag]
Artificial languages: [flag=]art-qya[/flag], [flag=]art-sjn[/flag],
My interest has been drawn by: [flag=]fa[/flag], [flag=]zh[/flag],

Zireael
Posts:228
Joined:2012-02-27, 12:29
Gender:female
Country:PLPoland (Polska)

Re: Arabic in bite-sized parts

Postby Zireael » 2013-02-19, 9:44

Some more sentences in Arabic from yesterday evening:
أنا تعجبني اللغة العربية

انا يوجبني سارة

Sarah made the second one سارة تعجبني, I wonder why - canتعجبني only take inanimate objects or something?

انا تعلم كلملة جديد
Native: [flag=]pl[/flag] Very advanced/near native: [flag=]en-US[/flag]
Intermediate: [flag=]es[/flag]
Beginner [flag=]de[/flag], [flag=]sgn[/flag], [flag=]tpi[/flag], [flag=]en_old[/flag], [flag=]ar[/flag]
Wanderlusting: [flag=]ja[/flag], [flag=]ru[/flag]
Artificial languages: [flag=]art-qya[/flag], [flag=]art-sjn[/flag],
My interest has been drawn by: [flag=]fa[/flag], [flag=]zh[/flag],

Zireael
Posts:228
Joined:2012-02-27, 12:29
Gender:female
Country:PLPoland (Polska)

Re: Arabic in bite-sized parts

Postby Zireael » 2013-02-20, 15:14

I took a Lesson 3 test on the Madinah site, and scored 100%.

Today's Anki session was 38 cards with 95% correct answers, while the total number of cards has exceeded 100 today after adding words below.


New words
The order is IPA pronunciation - Arabic spelling - meaning.

Himaar حمار donkey
Hisaan حصان horse
Maa ماء water
Dʒamil جميل beautiful
Hadʒar حجر stone
Waraq ورقة paper
Thaqil ثقيل heavy
Xafif خفيفة light (adj.)
Last edited by Zireael on 2013-02-24, 11:56, edited 1 time in total.
Native: [flag=]pl[/flag] Very advanced/near native: [flag=]en-US[/flag]
Intermediate: [flag=]es[/flag]
Beginner [flag=]de[/flag], [flag=]sgn[/flag], [flag=]tpi[/flag], [flag=]en_old[/flag], [flag=]ar[/flag]
Wanderlusting: [flag=]ja[/flag], [flag=]ru[/flag]
Artificial languages: [flag=]art-qya[/flag], [flag=]art-sjn[/flag],
My interest has been drawn by: [flag=]fa[/flag], [flag=]zh[/flag],

Zireael
Posts:228
Joined:2012-02-27, 12:29
Gender:female
Country:PLPoland (Polska)

Re: Arabic in bite-sized parts

Postby Zireael » 2013-02-20, 18:40

Since there's no capital letters in Arabic...
انت مالكة
هو كريم
how do you know if it says "you're a queen" or "you're Malika"; "he's generous" or "he's Kareem"?
Of course, if I wrote اسمه كريم it'd be obvious, but what happens if I only use a pronoun - how do you know it's a proper name or a general noun?


I scored 80% on a Madinah Lesson 4 test, even though I didn’t know some of the words.

New words
The order is IPA pronunciation - Arabic spelling - meaning.

Aina اين where
Man مَن who
Maða ماذا what

Fi في in
Min من from

Bint بنت daughter, girl
Ibn ابن son
Ism اسم name

Salaam سلام peace

Malik ملك king
Maalik مالِك owner
Malika ةملك queen

Bulanda بولندا Poland
Last edited by Zireael on 2013-02-25, 10:39, edited 2 times in total.
Native: [flag=]pl[/flag] Very advanced/near native: [flag=]en-US[/flag]
Intermediate: [flag=]es[/flag]
Beginner [flag=]de[/flag], [flag=]sgn[/flag], [flag=]tpi[/flag], [flag=]en_old[/flag], [flag=]ar[/flag]
Wanderlusting: [flag=]ja[/flag], [flag=]ru[/flag]
Artificial languages: [flag=]art-qya[/flag], [flag=]art-sjn[/flag],
My interest has been drawn by: [flag=]fa[/flag], [flag=]zh[/flag],

Zireael
Posts:228
Joined:2012-02-27, 12:29
Gender:female
Country:PLPoland (Polska)

Re: Arabic in bite-sized parts

Postby Zireael » 2013-02-22, 18:08

100% on a Lesson 7 test on Madinah site and 75% on Lesson 11 test (I skipped Lessons 8-10 since they cover material I don’t know yet)

Thursday's Anki session: 41 cards, 100% correct. Total deck size: 122 cards.

Some more sentences. Letters in red are Sarah's corrections. (Damn retyping an entire sentence just to get the first alif fixed in the last sentence, and I can't make it red either)

انا من بولند و انتِ من اليمن
امي و ابوي لا يفهمون اللغة الهربية
انا لا يوجبني
ماذا يوجبنك انتِ؟
أنا أقرأكياب


I had to change the Arabic font so that it looks 'correct' to Sarah (it's now Arabic Typesetting instead of Fixed Simplified Arabic). Also, I've started using Open Office Writer since it's much better than the fixed Arabic font sizes in Word 2000.

Sarah confirmed that Bulanda بولندا doesn't take an article, unlike اليمن or الصين or اليابان

To sum up what I know of Arabic sentences already, adjectives come after the noun they describe and the pronouns seem to come at the end of the questions. Spanish also has adjectives come after the noun, so I'm not surprised.

She also told me to „just focus on the things” she gave me, i.e. the verbs I was supposed to conjugate.

I conjugated all of them already except the last one, yastaqbel يستقبل. I'll do it over the weekend, after I pass an English exam for work.

Today's Anki session: 12 cards, 100% correct. 14 cards coming in tomorrow.

New words
The order is IPA pronunciation - Arabic spelling - meaning.
Samak سمك fish
Tabib طبيب doctor
Last edited by Zireael on 2013-02-24, 11:58, edited 1 time in total.
Native: [flag=]pl[/flag] Very advanced/near native: [flag=]en-US[/flag]
Intermediate: [flag=]es[/flag]
Beginner [flag=]de[/flag], [flag=]sgn[/flag], [flag=]tpi[/flag], [flag=]en_old[/flag], [flag=]ar[/flag]
Wanderlusting: [flag=]ja[/flag], [flag=]ru[/flag]
Artificial languages: [flag=]art-qya[/flag], [flag=]art-sjn[/flag],
My interest has been drawn by: [flag=]fa[/flag], [flag=]zh[/flag],

User avatar
Shad
Posts:1759
Joined:2006-08-31, 8:52
Gender:male
Country:ARArgentina (Argentina)

Re: Arabic in bite-sized parts

Postby Shad » 2013-02-23, 6:56

Hi, Zireael. What are your motivations for learning Arabic? Are you interested in any dialect?

Zireael
Posts:228
Joined:2012-02-27, 12:29
Gender:female
Country:PLPoland (Polska)

Re: Arabic in bite-sized parts

Postby Zireael » 2013-02-23, 8:40

This is a Yemeni dialect, as far as I'm aware (Sarah uses مأ for what), but it's probably not Adeni dialect, as θ and ð do not become t and d, respectively.

My motivations were outlined in the first post. :D
Native: [flag=]pl[/flag] Very advanced/near native: [flag=]en-US[/flag]
Intermediate: [flag=]es[/flag]
Beginner [flag=]de[/flag], [flag=]sgn[/flag], [flag=]tpi[/flag], [flag=]en_old[/flag], [flag=]ar[/flag]
Wanderlusting: [flag=]ja[/flag], [flag=]ru[/flag]
Artificial languages: [flag=]art-qya[/flag], [flag=]art-sjn[/flag],
My interest has been drawn by: [flag=]fa[/flag], [flag=]zh[/flag],

Zireael
Posts:228
Joined:2012-02-27, 12:29
Gender:female
Country:PLPoland (Polska)

Re: Arabic in bite-sized parts

Postby Zireael » 2013-02-24, 11:59

Some major updating of the log and fixes to the IPA transcriptions.

I curse the diversity of Yemeni Arabic when trying to establish the phonological values for the vowels. So far, I know that vowel length does not matter in Yemeni and that some dialects delete some vowels, with no apparent rules.
According to Arabic Wikipedia (via Google Translate, I’m not that good yet), Sana’ani dialect pronounces dad as /za/. So I can rule it out too.
I’m starting to suspect I’m learning some sort of a cross between MSA and Yemeni, since Sarah doesn’t correct me regardless of whether I pronounce ذلك /dalika/ or /daleka/, nor هؤلاء /haola/ or /haula/. Or it there so much variation in Yemen that she genuinely doesn’t care?

Also, I've found the 'Record your voice' function in Anki and have been putting an old mic to use last afternoon. I think I've recorded all the words and phrases I can pronounce, which is to mean 95% of my Anki deck.
Native: [flag=]pl[/flag] Very advanced/near native: [flag=]en-US[/flag]
Intermediate: [flag=]es[/flag]
Beginner [flag=]de[/flag], [flag=]sgn[/flag], [flag=]tpi[/flag], [flag=]en_old[/flag], [flag=]ar[/flag]
Wanderlusting: [flag=]ja[/flag], [flag=]ru[/flag]
Artificial languages: [flag=]art-qya[/flag], [flag=]art-sjn[/flag],
My interest has been drawn by: [flag=]fa[/flag], [flag=]zh[/flag],

księżycowy

Re: Arabic in bite-sized parts

Postby księżycowy » 2013-02-24, 13:02

I just noticed you're learning some Yemeni Arabic, interesting dialect choice. I've had the Arabic and more specifically the Yemeni Arabic bug for a bit now. Good luck on your continued study. :wink:

Zireael
Posts:228
Joined:2012-02-27, 12:29
Gender:female
Country:PLPoland (Polska)

Re: Arabic in bite-sized parts

Postby Zireael » 2013-02-24, 20:21

księżycowy wrote:I just noticed you're learning some Yemeni Arabic, interesting dialect choice. I've had the Arabic and more specifically the Yemeni Arabic bug for a bit now. Good luck on your continued study. :wink:


Well, as I noted in the first post, I've had the Arabic bug for a time, too. The choice of dialect is simply forced by the fact my friend is Yemeni :D

Not that I'm complaining... :)
Native: [flag=]pl[/flag] Very advanced/near native: [flag=]en-US[/flag]
Intermediate: [flag=]es[/flag]
Beginner [flag=]de[/flag], [flag=]sgn[/flag], [flag=]tpi[/flag], [flag=]en_old[/flag], [flag=]ar[/flag]
Wanderlusting: [flag=]ja[/flag], [flag=]ru[/flag]
Artificial languages: [flag=]art-qya[/flag], [flag=]art-sjn[/flag],
My interest has been drawn by: [flag=]fa[/flag], [flag=]zh[/flag],

księżycowy

Re: Arabic in bite-sized parts

Postby księżycowy » 2013-02-24, 21:26

That is cool! I have a co-worker who is Egyptian, so that would probably be the first of a few dialects I'd touch. Though I have a coursebook for Yemeni laying around somewhere so I'm sure I'd touch that eventually.

Zireael
Posts:228
Joined:2012-02-27, 12:29
Gender:female
Country:PLPoland (Polska)

Re: TAC 2013: Arabic in bite-sized parts

Postby Zireael » 2013-02-25, 10:38

What is the name of the coursebook?

Do you know what the font this forum's special markup for Arabic uses is? I find it very readable and I wish I could use it in my offline notes, either in OO Writer or in Anki...
Native: [flag=]pl[/flag] Very advanced/near native: [flag=]en-US[/flag]
Intermediate: [flag=]es[/flag]
Beginner [flag=]de[/flag], [flag=]sgn[/flag], [flag=]tpi[/flag], [flag=]en_old[/flag], [flag=]ar[/flag]
Wanderlusting: [flag=]ja[/flag], [flag=]ru[/flag]
Artificial languages: [flag=]art-qya[/flag], [flag=]art-sjn[/flag],
My interest has been drawn by: [flag=]fa[/flag], [flag=]zh[/flag],

księżycowy

Re: TAC 2013: Arabic in bite-sized parts

Postby księżycowy » 2013-02-25, 11:15

Yemeni Arabic by Hamdi Qafisheh. I have volume 1 in book form, and have been slowly printing of volume 2. [I don't have any audio for it though. :( ]

Zireael
Posts:228
Joined:2012-02-27, 12:29
Gender:female
Country:PLPoland (Polska)

Re: TAC 2013: Arabic in bite-sized parts

Postby Zireael » 2013-02-25, 19:05

Lesson 4, 25.02.2012
Time for past tense and imperative mood.
Past tense conjugation is easier than present, since you don't have to worry about the beginnings. The default form is, as usual, for 3rd sg. The endings are -tu, -t, -ta, -a, -u or -na; other endings rhyme with the pronoun, i.e. 'you went' is انتَ ذهبت anta ðahabta and 'they (dual) went' is انتما ذهبتما antuma ðahabtuma.
The imperative is even easier, as there are only 5 persons to worry about - male singular, female singular, dual (i.e. هما), plural male (i.e. انتم) and plural female (i.e. انتن).
Male singular has no ending, female singular has a standard -i appended, dual has an -a, plural male takes -u and plural female takes -na, so there are no surprises here.
All imperatives begin with an alif, so they are rather easy.

New words
The order is: IPA pronunciation - Arabic spelling - meaning.
oheb أحب he loves
ahbba احب he loved
aheb احب love!

ðahaba ذهب he went
mashe مشىَ he walked
kataba كتب he wrote

iðhab اذهب go!
iktob اكتب write!
is'al اسأل ask!
Native: [flag=]pl[/flag] Very advanced/near native: [flag=]en-US[/flag]
Intermediate: [flag=]es[/flag]
Beginner [flag=]de[/flag], [flag=]sgn[/flag], [flag=]tpi[/flag], [flag=]en_old[/flag], [flag=]ar[/flag]
Wanderlusting: [flag=]ja[/flag], [flag=]ru[/flag]
Artificial languages: [flag=]art-qya[/flag], [flag=]art-sjn[/flag],
My interest has been drawn by: [flag=]fa[/flag], [flag=]zh[/flag],

Zireael
Posts:228
Joined:2012-02-27, 12:29
Gender:female
Country:PLPoland (Polska)

Re: TAC 2013: Arabic in bite-sized parts

Postby Zireael » 2013-02-26, 10:15

Spent half an hour this morning recording for 150 Anki cards, since the function I used on Saturday doesn't save the sound file. Blame Anki creator for putting two nearly identical functions in...
Native: [flag=]pl[/flag] Very advanced/near native: [flag=]en-US[/flag]
Intermediate: [flag=]es[/flag]
Beginner [flag=]de[/flag], [flag=]sgn[/flag], [flag=]tpi[/flag], [flag=]en_old[/flag], [flag=]ar[/flag]
Wanderlusting: [flag=]ja[/flag], [flag=]ru[/flag]
Artificial languages: [flag=]art-qya[/flag], [flag=]art-sjn[/flag],
My interest has been drawn by: [flag=]fa[/flag], [flag=]zh[/flag],

Zireael
Posts:228
Joined:2012-02-27, 12:29
Gender:female
Country:PLPoland (Polska)

Re: TAC 2013: Arabic in bite-sized parts

Postby Zireael » 2013-02-27, 16:15

Last night, I dreamed of Arabic script. The word was ذلذلذ, so pretty much nonsense as far as I know...

I found a bookstore which has Arabic textbooks in Polish, I might check it out...

For fun, I read a novel which is a vision of an Arabic-dominated future. The title is „Allah 2.0”.

New words

The order is IPA pronunciation - Arabic spelling - meaning.

li-mada لماذا why
mata متى when

Some words which sound the same in English and in Arabic:

كسكس kuskus
جني djinn (sg.)
جن‎ djinn (pl.)
مارد‎ marid
عفريت ifrit (sg) -> عفاريت is the plural
Native: [flag=]pl[/flag] Very advanced/near native: [flag=]en-US[/flag]
Intermediate: [flag=]es[/flag]
Beginner [flag=]de[/flag], [flag=]sgn[/flag], [flag=]tpi[/flag], [flag=]en_old[/flag], [flag=]ar[/flag]
Wanderlusting: [flag=]ja[/flag], [flag=]ru[/flag]
Artificial languages: [flag=]art-qya[/flag], [flag=]art-sjn[/flag],
My interest has been drawn by: [flag=]fa[/flag], [flag=]zh[/flag],

Zireael
Posts:228
Joined:2012-02-27, 12:29
Gender:female
Country:PLPoland (Polska)

Re: TAC 2013: Arabic in bite-sized parts

Postby Zireael » 2013-02-28, 18:36

Here is a list of Arabic word roots I found.

A minimal pair قلم qalam vs. كلم kalam

The worst word I've encountered so far: Sana'a صنعاء‎ has two damned hamzas. Shit! I won't even attempt to pronounce TWO glottal stops in a single word (I only get glottal stops in English words, when it's in a linguistic context)

عدن Aden

Found an interesting website with basic information about Arabic: http://arabic.desert-sky.net/index.html. At last I know how to pronounce عيد ميلاد سعيد....

Two Arabic sentences from today:
هل تأكلون كسكس أنتم (علا اليمن)؟
انا يوجبني كسكس

Sarah says that antuma can be safely deleted from the first sentence. The addition in brackets is mine after I wondered why she first thought it was just a grammatical exercise for me (and btw, I learned something about Yemen in her reply).

Reorganizing my Anki deck, since it's grown to 170 cards and I need to keep tabs on my words :)

15 days of using Anki behind me and I'm very pleased that I found it, it's brilliant for reviewing.

I've started thinking of doing a secondary deck, Polish → Arabic.

New words
The order is IPA pronunciation - Arabic spelling - meaning.

Darasa درس he studied
Dars درس lesson
Mudarris مدرّس teacher

Habibi حبيبي darling
Habibti حبيبتي darling (to a woman)

Nur نور light
Walad ولد boy

Nur aini نور عيني light of my eyes

Yadʒri يجري he runs
Yafaal يفعل he does, he makes
Yahtaadʒ يحتاج he needs sth
Yantazir ينتظر he waits
Yamil يعمل he works
Yashrab يشرب he drinks
Yataa'llam يتعلّم he learns
Yatbux يطبخ he cooks
Yuhdiru يحضر he brings
Yuxallis يخلّص he finishes
Yuriid يريد he wants
Native: [flag=]pl[/flag] Very advanced/near native: [flag=]en-US[/flag]
Intermediate: [flag=]es[/flag]
Beginner [flag=]de[/flag], [flag=]sgn[/flag], [flag=]tpi[/flag], [flag=]en_old[/flag], [flag=]ar[/flag]
Wanderlusting: [flag=]ja[/flag], [flag=]ru[/flag]
Artificial languages: [flag=]art-qya[/flag], [flag=]art-sjn[/flag],
My interest has been drawn by: [flag=]fa[/flag], [flag=]zh[/flag],


Return to “Language Logs and Blogs”

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 19 guests