TAC - voron (Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic)

[voron]

It’s because I think that Pashto is more similar to Persian than Kurmanji, but maybe I’m wrong?

I think they are more or less equally distant from Persian but even if Pashto were more similar, since when are we choosing languages based on how similar they are to each other?

[Antea]

Because then they’re easier to learn

And, moreover, I know nothing of Kurmanji. I will look for a song, in order to know how it sounds

[voron]

I will look for a song, in order to know how it sounds

These are ones of the most viewed on youtube (not necessarily the most beautiful ones -- according to my taste):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OpbUyS0Smr4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF-e-R8UPFg
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_K0J0r4LsS4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XiZQzy2m2tc
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPZApB00ASM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-aQGBkD7C6w

And of course, Warni Warni by Omar Souleyman, which is half Kurdish half Arabic.

[Antea]

شكرا جزيلا

Yes, I know Warni, warni, and I like it

[voron]

I had days off on Monday and Tuesday so on the long weekend I took a trip to the Hatay province. There are indeed so many Syrians there that you would walk through the whole districts hearing nothing but Arabic.

I also heard people switching between Turkish and Arabic a few times -- I assume they were "native" Turkish Arabs. Like this one woman with her children on the train, they were all speaking Turkish, and then she switched to Arabic when talking on the phone -- I assume with her mother. Her Arabic sounded Levantine and was more or less understandable; she used a lot of Turkish words in it (like "ondan sonra" -- after that, alışveriş -- shopping); she also used the ش postfix for negation (like مافيش -- there isn't), and pronounced ج as /g/.

Today is a Turkish day.
I started reading this collection of small stories by Yaşar Kemal. Read the first story, Sarı Sıcak.
https://www.dr.com.tr/kitap/yolda-secme ... 0000329569

I googled the name and found that there is a film with the same name, probably inspired by Yaşar's story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzXdUmuVjRM

Tomorrow and Friday are Arabic days. I will revise my Anki decks, and then I'll add one more dialogue from GLOSS to my Anki collection.

[vijayjohn]

Happy Arabic day!

But yeah, I would join a language group for Persian, Pashto, Kurmanji, Sorani, Zazaki, etc. too. (As if I needed to clarify that I would). A language group for Persian could also probably help at least Saim and me with Urdu!

[Antea]

And me, though my level of Urdu is still very basic.

[księżycowy]

At this rate, I'm surprised you didn't suggest an Urdu group, Vijay.

[Saim]

That's because there already is an Urdu group!

I'm confused though, why would starting a Persian group help me with my Urdu?

[księżycowy]

I did not realize that.

[vijayjohn]

I'm confused though, why would starting a Persian group help me with my Urdu?

Because you're trying to learn a lot of Perso-Arabic vocabulary?

Besides, there's rap in it! And it doesn't suck!

[Saim]

I'm confused though, why would starting a Persian group help me with my Urdu?

Because you're trying to learn a lot of Perso-Arabic vocabulary?

Besides, there's rap in it! And it doesn't suck!

Somehow I feel a more efficient way to learn Perso-Arabic vocabulary as used in Urdu would be to just learn Urdu rather than an entire new language from scratch.

[vijayjohn]

I'm confused though, why would starting a Persian group help me with my Urdu?

Because you're trying to learn a lot of Perso-Arabic vocabulary?

Besides, there's rap in it! And it doesn't suck!

Somehow I feel a more efficient way to learn Perso-Arabic vocabulary as used in Urdu would be to just learn Urdu rather than an entire new language from scratch.

The lyrics to the national anthem of Pakistan lead me to feel otherwise.

Nah, actually, I also find that learning more Urdu (and Turkish and Arabic) helps me learn more Persian.

[voron]

Tomorrow and Friday are Arabic days.

Didn't do anything for Arabic. (If you don't count a random chat with an Iraqi who asked me for directions).

Kurdish: read 80 something pages of the Zazaki-Kurmanji comparative grammar. It's a bit inconsistent (for example it says that in both Kurmanji and Zazaki feminine nouns have the 'a' ending -- but for Kurmanji, it's only true for the construct case -- and it leaves me wondering if it is the same in Zazaki, or if Zazaki nouns have 'a' in the nominative case, too); but otherwise an interesting read.

Turkish: Read 3 more stories from the Yaşar Kemal book. (Süpürge, Keçi, Sinek).

[voron]

I've created Kurmanji Study Group. Everyone is welcome to join!

[księżycowy]

I think I'll wait for the Sorani group to form.

[vijayjohn]

Good because you need to focus on your German and Japanese.

[księżycowy]

Just as soon as I have my flashcards for German and Japanese!
(You'll be happy to know I found good premade decks for Japanese. )

[vijayjohn]

You'll be happy to know I found good premade decks for Japanese.

[voron]

Changing my study schedule again.

Let's see...

I decided I don't need to allocate separate days for Turkish, because Turkish is around me anyway, and I kinda got into the habit of reading more or less regularly. I won't use Anki or anything, I'll just watch, listen, read and speak. (At least in the summer period; perhaps in winter, I'll do something more intensive to increase my vocabulary).


Let's face it, Kurmanji and Zazaki grammars I bought are bad -- too unstructured and amateurish. They were a waste of money. The western grammars (Thackston for Kurmanji and Todd for Zazaki) are much better.

That leaves me with the fairy tales book I bought... ok I'll just try to read it, without making Anki cards. And I'll do Hînker 3 with the Kurmanji Study Group (which is going to be quite slow paced it seems -- do you think we can accelerate it Vijay? I suppose with so many study groups you're taking part in, the answer is 'Nein' ).

And let's face it #2, even though I have plenty of Kurdish neighbours, I don't have close Kurdish friends (except for one person who's not very willing to speak Kurdish with me -- we speak Turkish all the time), so my speaking abilities will progress very slowly. Perhaps it will take a dozen more years until I speak it well -- so I'll relax and enjoy the process.


Same routine: songs, GLOSS and the Quran. And maybe occasional italki lessons. Seems to work well.

How about this light summer schedule then:

Monday and/or Tuesday - Kurdish
Wednesday and/or Thursday - Arabic
Friday-Saturday-Sunday - days off

Actually, let's make this summer schedule even lighter.

Turkish: reading
Arabic: studying the Quran
Kurdish: following the Kurmanji Study Group

No appointed days. I'll just do it whenever I feel like. And for Turkish and Arabic, I won't need the computer.