Re: Learning to Speak Arabic

Dr. Jam****d Ibrahim wrote:

> qureshna@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
 schrieb:
> 
> 
>>Dr. Jam****d Ibrahim wrote:
>>
>>>There are a variety of reasons why people ought to learn MSA before a
>>>specific dialect. MSA links the Arab world (it is the language of all
>>>types of media) in writing and in speaking although MSA is not always
>>>the appropriate choice in speaking. In addition MSA provides access to
>>>Classic Arabic (the lanuage of Quran and old poetry). Thus MSA works as
>>>a kind of interface between all kinds of Arabic no matter whether they
>>>are regarded chronologically or synchronically.
>>
>>Dear Dr. Ibrahim.
>>
>>Thank you for your kind comments. How would you suggest I go about
>>learning to speak the language? What method(s) would you recommend?
> 
> The order of learning a language naturally is usually to proceed from
> speaking (before school) to writing (after school). In case of Arabic
> as a foreign language in particular and foreign languages in general
> this order is reversed. In Arabic we proceed from writing to speaking
> because there is no MSA as a spoken language. This is not natural. It's
> a compromise but what's the alternative?

At DLI, we studied MSA pretty much as if it were a spoken language, with 
memorized dialogs and Q&A drills. As much as possible, verbal 
interaction between students and teachers was in MSA. (This was in 1973. 
The teaching methods may well have changed since then.)

Although I went from DLI to North Carolina and then to Japan, and lost 
any fluency I had had in school, I did get a chance to exchange a couple 
of sentences with some Saudis who were visiting the aboriginal village 
at Wulai in Taiwan (about 5 years after graduating from DLI).

I presume that many Arabs who might have trouble actually speaking MSA 
would still understand quite a bit, given its use on radio and TV 
newscasts, and its relation****p to Classical Arabic.

-- 
Mike Wright
http://www.raccoonbend.com