The Arabic language

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Offline Badshah Mamun

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The Arabic language
« on: October 21, 2012, 02:17:59 PM »
Introduction

ARABIC ranks sixth in the world's league table of languages, with an estimated 186 million native speakers. As the language of the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, it is also widely used throughout the Muslim world. It belongs to the Semitic group of languages which also includes Hebrew and Amharic, the main language of Ethiopia.

There are many Arabic dialects. Classical Arabic – the language of the Qur'an – was originally the dialect of Mecca in what is now Saudi Arabia. An adapted form of this, known as Modern Standard Arabic, is used in books, newspapers, on television and radio, in the mosques, and in conversation between educated Arabs from different countries (for example at international conferences).

Local dialects vary, and a Moroccan might have difficulty understanding an Iraqi, even though they speak the same language.

Source: http://www.al-bab.com/arab/language/lang.htm
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Offline Badshah Mamun

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Re: The Arabic language
« Reply #1 on: October 21, 2012, 02:19:56 PM »
Is Arabic difficult?

YES - and no. Learning Arabic certainly takes time and practice, but there are not many irregularities in the grammar. It's much less complicated than Latin, and probably simpler than German, too.

If you speak a European language, the root system of Arabic is an unfamiliar concept. Arabic words are constructed from three-letter "roots" which convey a basic idea. For example, k-t-b conveys the idea of writing. Addition of other letters before, between and after the root letters produces many associated words: not only "write" but also "book", "office", "library", and "author".

Learning vocabulary may cause problems at first. In most European languages there are many words which resemble those in English. Arabic has very few, but it becomes easier once you have memorised a few roots.

Arabic has many regional dialects, and if you want to master one of these the only really effective way is to spend a few years in the place of your choice. For general purposes – such as reading or listening to radio - it's best to concentrate on Modern Standard Arabic (numerous courses and textbooks are available). This would also be useful if you're interested in Islam, though you would need some additional religious vocabulary.

There are 28 consonants and three vowels – a,  i, u – which can be short or long. Some of the sounds are unique to Arabic and difficult for foreigners to pronounce exactly, though you should be able to make yourself understood.

The normal word order of a sentence is verb/subject/object. The function of nouns in a sentence can also be distinguished by case-endings (marks above the last letter of a word) but these are usually found only in the Qur'an or school textbooks.

Feminine nouns add the suffix …aat to form the plural but masculine nouns generally have a "broken" plural which involves changing vowels in the middle of the word: kitaab ("book"); kutub ("books").

Arabic has very few irregular verbs and does not use "is" or "are" at all in the present tense: "the king good" means "the king is good". Subtle alterations in the basic meaning of a verb are made by adding to the root. These changes follow regular rules, giving ten possible "verb forms" (though in practice only three or four exist for most verbs. The root k-s-r produces:

    form I kasara, "he broke"

    form II kassara, "he smashed to bits"

    form VII inkasara, "it was broken up"

Sometimes these must be used with care: qAtala means "he fought" but qatala means "he killed".

Source: http://www.al-bab.com/arab/language/lang.htm#difficult
Md. Abdullah-Al-Mamun (Badshah)
Senior Assistant Director
Daffodil International University
01811-458850
cmoffice@daffodilvarsity.edu.bd
www.daffodilvarsity.edu.bd

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Offline Badshah Mamun

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Re: The Arabic language
« Reply #2 on: October 21, 2012, 02:21:30 PM »
How to learn Arabic

PEOPLE learn Arabic for a variety of reasons: for work, for travel, for religious purposes, because of marriage or friendship with an Arab, or simply as a hobby. The motivation to some extent determines the most appropriate learning method.

Whatever your motive, we suggest you try to learn a little Arabic at home before committing yourself to more serious (and possibly expensive) study of it. At the very least, this will give you an idea of what’s involved and give you extra confidence during the early stages of any course you may take later.

The first thing to decide is whether you want to learn standard/classical Arabic or a colloquial dialect.

Unless your interest is confined to one particular country, the safest option is to learn a version of the classical language known as Modern Standard Arabic. This is what is used in books, newspapers, radio and television news programmes, political speeches, etc.

Using standard Arabic in everyday conversation sounds a bit formal to Arab ears, but at least you can be sure of being understood by educated Arabs anywhere in the Middle East. It may be more difficult to understand what they say to you, unless they make the effort to speak more formally than usual. Having learnt some standard Arabic, however, it is relatively easy to adapt to a local dialect later.

Among the dialects, Egyptian and Levantine (spoken by Lebanese, Syrians, Jordanians and Palestinians) are the most widely understood outside their specific area. Colloquial Moroccan, on the other hand, is of little use outside the Maghreb.

If you are planning to learn Arabic because of an interest in Islam, standard Arabic is preferable to a colloquial dialect. But standard Arabic, on its own, is unlikely to meet all your needs. A specific course in Qur’anic Arabic would be more suitable, perhaps in conjunction with standard Arabic.

Source: http://www.al-bab.com/arab/language/learn2.htm
Md. Abdullah-Al-Mamun (Badshah)
Senior Assistant Director
Daffodil International University
01811-458850
cmoffice@daffodilvarsity.edu.bd
www.daffodilvarsity.edu.bd

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Offline fatema_diu

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Re: The Arabic language
« Reply #3 on: August 13, 2016, 05:58:40 PM »
if any one could teach Arabic in an easy way it would have been wonderful.