Learning Arabic The Magic Way, Arabic Tattoos
This blog has been nominated as a candidate for the Top Language Learning blog in the Language Lovers 2012 competition. If you’ve found the material on my blog helpful, I’d appreciate it immensely if you’d head over to the competition page and vote for ArabicGenie. (You don’t need to register to vote.)
Posted in Announcements.
– May 15, 2012
Das Schatzhaus in Petra, Jordanien
Gestern lief auf dem englischen Sender Channel 4 eine Sendung namens “Hidden Talent”, in der 100 zufällig ausgewählten Personen einen Begabungstest für Fremdsprachen gemacht haben, und von denen keiner Sprachlernerfahrung hat (abgesehen von Schulunterricht). Die fünf, die am besten bei diesem Test abschnitten wurden erneut geprüft: Ihnen wurde an einem Tag ein paar türkische Phrasen beigebracht und dann mussten sie in einem türkischen Restaurant in London arbeiten und Kunden auf Türkisch bedienen.
Der Typ, der bei dieser Aufgabe den besten Eindruck machte, erhielt im Anschluss fünf Monate intensiv Arabischunterricht, von denen er sechs Wochen in Jordanien mit einer jordanischen Gastfamilie verbrachte.
Am Ende der Zeit wurde er ins jordanische Frühstücksfernsehen eingeladen, wo we auf Arabisch interviewt wurde und sich recht gut daring schlag die relativ einfachen Fragen (Warum bist Du hier in Jordanien? Warum willst Du Arabisch lernen? etc.) zu beantworten.
Mein Hauptkritikpunkt an der Sendung war, dass sie darauf angelegt war, den Typen, der ausgewählt wurde als ungewöhnlich talentiert erscheinen zu lassen. Jedoch kenne ich viele Menschen, die sein Niveau im Arabischen ebenfalls nach einigen Monaten intensiven Trainings erreicht haben. Es ist nicht ungewöhnlich, nach fünf Monaten intensiven Unterrichts ein relativ gutes Niveau in einer Fremdsprache zu erreichen, besonders, wenn man das als Vollzeitjob versteht. Obwohl der Mann sich ganz gut schlug, möchte ich betonen, dass die Sendung lediglich bewiesen hat, dass generell jeder mit dem richtigen Einsatz und der richtigen Umgebung eine Fremdsprache lernen kann, sei es Arabisch oder eine andere Sprache.
Die Sendung präsentierte auch eine Anzahl “Experten”, die zunächst in der Auswahl der Person mit dem verborgenen Sprachenlern-Talent hielfen. Vielleicht wurden ihre Kommentare zu sehr geschnitten, aber ich hatte bei vielen Aussagen sehr abweichende Meinungen.
Ein Major von der britischen Armee und Spezialist im Unterrichten von Fremdsprachen zeigte seinen Studentent die Ebbinghaus-Kurve des Vergessens. Obwohl die Kurve ansich nicht falsch ist, bezweifle ich, dass sie relevant für’s Sprachenlernen ist. Ebbinghaus entwickelte diese Kurve basierend auf dem Erlernen von erfundenen Unsinnswörtern und hielt fest, wie lange es ihm gelang, sich an sie zu erinnern. Das Erlernen einer Sprache ist ganz anders, insofern als Wörter im Kontext erlernt werden und tatsächlichen Bedeutungen und Gemeinsamkeiten haben.
Ich kann mich nicht mehr erinnern, wer von den Experten das gesagt hat, aber einer von ihnen hat behauptet, dass alles auf die Aussprache ankommt. Sicherlich ist Aussprache sehr wichtig, aber es ist nicht der heilige Gral um eine Sprache fließend sprechen zu können. Solange Sie die einzelnen Laute der fremden Sprache einigermaßen gut aussprechen können und – noch wichtiger – ein relativ gutes Gespür für die Satzmelodie haben, werden Sie in der Lage sein sich verständlich zu machen und werden für einen Muttersprachle nicht zu unangenehm klingen.
Ein interessanter Punkt in der Sendung war, als der Mann zwei Monate Arabisch gelern hatte und gebeten wurde, in einemr arabischen Radio-Show in London zu erscheinen. Er machte keinen guten Eindruck und war nicht in der Lage, relativ einfache Fragen zu beantworten. Es scheint mir, dass (von den paar Aufnahmen von seiner eigentlichen Lernmethode), dass er sich zu sehr auf das stupide Auswendiglernen von Wörtern ohne Kontext verließ. Bei seinem Aauftritt im jordanischen Fernsehen drei Monate später war er viel besser, nicht nur weil er mehr Zeit hatte, die Sprache zu lernen, sondern auch, weil er sechs Wochen lang Arabisch im Kontext erfahren hatte.
Ich würde sagen, dass Immersion der allerwichtigste Faktor für den Erfolg beim Erlernen einer Fremdsprache ist. Wenn Sie nicht gleich nach Jordanien reisen wollen, können Sie trotzdem eine arabische Umgebung bei Ihnen zu Hause erschaffen, z.B. durch das Lesen arabischer Internetseiten, dem Hören von arabischer Musik und das Anschauen von arabischen Filemen. Ich bin überzeugt, dass die meisten Menschen mit den richtigen Tools und der richtigen Motivation Arabisch lernen können. Wer weiß, vielleicht ist es jetzt Zeit zu entdecken, dass Ihr verborgenes Talent Arabisch ist.
Posted in Arabisch lernen.
– May 9, 2012
The Treasure House in Petra, Jordan
Yesterday I watched a show called “Hidden Talent” on Channel 4 that used a “Modern Language Aptitude” test on 100 randomly selected individuals who had no prior language learning experience other than at school. The five individuals who scored highest on this test were then given a second test: they were taught a few phrases in Turkish for one day and then had to work in a Turkish restaurant in London, serving customers in Turkish.
The guy who did best on this test was trained for five months in Arabic intensive courses, of which he spent six weeks living in Jordan attending classes there and living with a Jordanian host family.
After all this, he was invited to Jordanian breakfast TV where he was interviewed in Arabic and did quite well answering relatively basic questions (“why have you come to Jordan”, “why did you choose to learn Arabic”, etc.).
My gripe with the programme is that they made it seem as though the guy who was selected was somehow unusually talented in learning a foreign language, but I have met many individuals who were able to reach his level in Arabic after a few months of intensive training. It is not unusual to reach a good level of fluency after five months of doing nothing but learning the language. And while the chap did pretty well, I want to emphasise that the programme merely showed that generally anyone can do it with the right dedication and the right environment.
The programme also had various “experts” present who helped in initially selecting the person with the hidden language learning talent. Maybe it’s due to the way their comments were cut, but I found my way disagreeing with a lot of what they said.
There was the major from the British defence language school who was showing Ebbinghaus’s curve of forgetting to his students. While nothing is wrong with the curve itself, I question its applicability to language learning. Ebbinghaus developed this curve after learning nonsense made-up words and measuring how long he would be able to retain them in his memory. Language learning is much different, insofar as words can be learned in context and have actual meanings and similarities.
I can’t recall which of the experts said this, but one of them claimed that it was all about pronunciation. Now, while pronunciation is certainly quite important, it’s not the holy grail of fluency. As long as you can pronounce the individual sounds of the foreign language reasonably well and – more importantly – have a good grasp of the sentence melody, you’ll be able to be understood and won’t sound too unpleasant to a native speaker’s ears.
An interesting point in the programme was when the guy had been learning Arabic for two months and was asked to appear on an Arabic radio show hosted in London. He did not make a good impression, not being able to answer relatively simple questions. It seems to me that (from the few shots of his actual learning methods) that he relied too heavily on rote memorisation of words devoid of context. When he appeared on the Jordanian TV show three months later he was much better, not only because he had had more time to learn the language, but also because he had by that point been immersed in Arabic in context for six weeks.
I would say that immersion is the single most crucial factor of success in foreign language learning. If you can’t make it to Jordan, you can still re-create a lot of an Arabic-speaking environment at home, e.g. reading Arabic websites, listening to Arabic music and watching Arabic TV. In the end, I strongly believe that the majority of people can learn Arabic to a good standard with the right tools and motivation. Who knows, maybe now it’s your time to discover that your hidden talent is Arabic.
Posted in Learning Arabic.
– May 9, 2012
In this post I’ll share with you how I’d go about learning Arabic, knowing all the things I know now.
I would start of by focusing on the Arabic alphabet and the sound system, trying to learn the script as quickly as possible by associating the shapes of the letters with their sound. Materials I would use would be my own book “The Magic Key to the Arabic alphabet”, as well as numerous online resources.
Next, I would start by learning Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). This is the type of Arabic closest to Classical Arabic and the language of the media and education. While most Arabs don’t use MSA to communicate with each other in regular settings, all of them will be able to understand it due to its prevalence in the media. (Some, though, might not be able to speak it though).
My materials of choice for learning MSA would be Assimil’s Arabic course (preferably the old one that has a kind of story connecting all the lessons), and then the “al-Kitaab fi taallum…” series, especially parts two and three that provide a lot of interesting content. At the same time, I’d alternate the lessons with material from the wonderful “al-kitaab al-assaasi” series, that is presented entirely in Arabic.
The way I’d use these books would be to focus a lot on listening to the audio material, even speaking along with it after having listened to it several times (I’d slow the material down at first if needed and speed it up later).
At the same time, I’d make good use of the plentiful video resources available online, seeking out content that is stretching, but engaging, such as short clips from talkshows or news announcements.
To hone in on writing skills I’d copy out some of the learning material mentioned above. In addition, it would be necessary at some point along the line (but not too early) to get hold of an educated native speaker with whom I’d practice my speaking and writing skills.
After reaching a solid level in MSA, I’d add a dialect that is widely spoken and relatively homogenous across a number of Arab countries, such as the Levantine dialect spoken in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan. Learning the dialect will be relatively easy due to similarities with MSA. Some helpful material I would use would be Pimsleur’s Eastern Arabic course, as well as a lot of songs and videos from Arabic soap operas found online.
After a few months of learning, I’d definitely want to travel to an Arabic speaking country to try out my skills and give myself a motivation boost. A high priority here would be to seek out accommodation in a host family and to shun other non-native speakers in favour of the natives as far as possible. The country would of course be where the dialect I was learning would be spoken.
After such a thorough regime of learning, I could proceed to focussing on learning more dialects or on appreciating Arabic literature or simply on travelling through the Middle East, appreciating the beautiful countries and the nice people.
Posted in Learning Arabic.
– May 7, 2012
A reader requested that I translate the word “destiny” into Arabic. In fact, there are a number of alternative translations that are all correct, but might have slightly different meaning nuances.
The Arabic word المصير al-maSeer can mean both destiny and fate. For example مصير الكون would translate as “the fate of the universe”.
al-maSeer
The word القدر al-qadr has a similar meaning, although the difference is probably that al-Qadr already implies that there is some sort of pre-determined goal that will be reached, whereas with al-maSeer this is not as clear. This word would also be used to translate “you are my destiny”, i.e. أنت قدري – anta qadri (or addressing a woman anti qadri).
al-qadr destiny in Arabic
Al-maktoob (المكتوب) literally means “that what is written” and refers to the idea that everything is pre-determined by God (or in some other sense), because it has been “written” in the book of life already. This concept is wide-spread in the Arab world and is often used to rationalize events ex post, e.g. “كان مكتوب عليه” – “it was written for him” or “that was his fate”.
al-maktoob
Which translation to go with really depends on the meaning you wish to express. Perhaps the most encompassing of the three alternatives would be al-qadr.
Posted in Arabic Culture, Arabic tattoos.
– May 7, 2012
Marhaba and welcome to Arabic Genie!
If you enjoy reading this blog, check out Arabic Genie on facebook and on twitter:
Download my Arabic Tattoos collection in e-book format with over 1400 unique Arabic tattoo designs.
Click here for my quick and easy method for learning the Arabic alphabet and script:
Get your free report on 200 Arabic words that you can integrate into your Arabic vocabulary effortlessly! Simply enter your valid email address below. You will also receive a free subscription to my newsletter.
Recent Comments