what is ur nationality? :) and tell me more...

[mamasue]

Originally Posted by anahuda

yup! ur definitely correct. im staying here for good but still expat by language. so im still in finding ways to cope with that. but ofcourse i will learn arabic for sure. have u learn any arabic words?

Anahuda I lived there many years.....it's amazing how quickly you pick up the ordinary everyday stuff.
Reading and writing are a bit harder, but not impossible....
the first thing I learnt was to read and write the numbers, to avoid being ripped off in the shops (if you can read an Arabic price ticket, you won't get charged 'foreign prices' )
Buying stuff, dealing with taxi drivers etc are not hard to do.
I had a lovely lady who gave me Arabic lessons....it's amazing how much you can learn with just an hour a week!

[hurghadapat]

Originally Posted by Whitedesert

I have. Cannot say that I could put a long sentence together, but I can make myself undertood most of the time. I find Arabic very difficult being a phonetic language, but not giving up yet. It is worth it in the end, I think.

So if Arabic is a phonetic language then surely that should make it easier for you as
that means you can look at a written word and know how to pronounce it. Or you can hear a word and know how to spell it. With phonetic languages, there is a direct relationship between the spelling and the sound.

[Whitedesert]

Originally Posted by hurghadapat

So if Arabic is a phonetic language then surely that should make it easier for you as
that means you can look at a written word and know how to pronounce it. Or you can hear a word and know how to spell it. With phonetic languages, there is a direct relationship between the spelling and the sound.

Exactly, but the problem is the tongue, it does not want to bend as it should!

[Lanason]

Originally Posted by Whitedesert

Exactly, but the problem is the tongue, it does not want to bend as it should!

Bend it like Beckham :-)

[Helen Ellis]

Originally Posted by hurghadapat

So if Arabic is a phonetic language then surely that should make it easier for you as
that means you can look at a written word and know how to pronounce it. Or you can hear a word and know how to spell it. With phonetic languages, there is a direct relationship between the spelling and the sound.

It sounds easy, but Arabic vowel sounds are mostly indicated by accents and things above the letters( more than in French) which would be fine IF THEY USED THEM! Ok not fine because it's difficult to learn them, but if you had learnt them you'd find that half the time they are not used! you just have to know what the word is. So yes it's phonetic, and if the accents and things are used you know exactly how the word is pronounced, but it's irrelevant if they're not there. Never mind that they also love calligraphy and the letters do not always appear in a straight line, it looks good but........
And that's my excuse for not being able to read much :-)