In a few weeks I will be studying Arabic at the Boston Language Institute insha Allah. I will be in Level 1, although I already know the alphabet and pronunciation.
The class will be 8 sessions, 3 hours each on Saturdays and we will be using "Mastering Arabic" as the textbook (available on Amazon).
Does anybody have any tips for the beginner student starting out?
Also, how different is Modern Standard Arabic from the Qur'an Arabic? Are vowel markings used at all in Modern Standard? Curious to know what to expect. Thanks.
I'm sure if you learn standard Arabic you will be able to understand and read Qur'an Arabic...there is not a big difference exept for some words and for the style...because the style of Qur'an Arabic is somewhat different from Arabic that we learn at school...but you will be able to understand at any rate...
I'm sure if you learn standard Arabic you will be able to understand and read Qur'an Arabic...there is not a big difference exept for some words and for the style...because the style of Qur'an Arabic is somewhat different from Arabic that we learn at school...but you will be able to understand at any rate...
so good luck
peace
What about vowel markings? Whenever I see Arabic written in any form aside from Qur'an and Hadith, there are no vowel marks. I understand that as a native or fluent speaker you are able to distinguish words and therefor don't need the markings, but what about the beginner student?
there are the vowels in Arabic:
ا= A
و= O
ي=U
It's to time for me to pray. i hope that this will answer your question. if not you can ask me whatever you want...discussion to be continued
ohh i see wht r u talkin about but i think now he's askin about al-7arakat
they use .. i for kasra , a for fat7a and u for d'amah
btw, i'm an arab
Exactly. But for instance your signature in Arabic does not use any vowel markings. I'm just wondering whether or not a beginning student in Arabic would use those until feeling comfortable with the words and being able to read them without the marks.
كَ=ka
كُ=ko
كً=kan
كٍ=kin
كٌ=kun
كِ=ki
كـــــَا=kaaaaa
كُـــــــو=kuuuuuu like cooool but without pronouncing "l"
كــــــِي= keeeee like 'ee' in sweet but you should add the consonant "k" to become keeee
Exactly. But for instance your signature in Arabic does not use any vowel markings. I'm just wondering whether or not a beginning student in Arabic would use those until feeling comfortable with the words and being able to read them without the marks.
i'm wondering how to reach ma point .....
look .using vowel markings in writting is much better of course because it makes your pronunciation for the word correct
sometimes if i'm hearing the word for the first time i can't figure the right way for it pronunciation although i'm an Arab
but in my signature for example all the words are common , there is nothing hard to understand without writting with vowel markings
in general, arabs between them don't write with harkat (vowel markings) because we converse with each other in the daily words (in common words)
when you'll be used to the words u can understand without harakat
but the Quran it's hard to read it without harakat(only if u r a hafiz cause in this situation u r already know for example if this word take fat7a or kasra ...etc in the end )
plus we don't want to risk and do mistakes in reading Quraan
cause mistakes during reading Quraan are crucial.
Last edited by *Yasmin*; 02-05-2009 at 05:19 PM.
Our prophet (pbuh) said: “Haya does not bring anything except good.”
yes very true sister
but i think that he will learn more about this when he will start classes...the impossible is nothing...if you want you will get it inchaa lah
I hope that this will help you:
I understand that as a native or fluent speaker you are able to distinguish words and therefor don't need the markings, but what about the beginner student?
This used to happen to us as well when we were small kids, we used to confuse some words...and I remember that we had some lessons in vowels markings...and we used to have, in the exam, a text and we had to put the vowels markings on words...but now we can speak Arabic with vowel markings by intuition even if we do not remember some rules...however we still recall the majority of rules... I think in order to master vowel markings, you need to understand grammar rules. then everything will be easy for you, I'm sure. vowels marking are interrelated with a branch in Arabic called "Iiraab" and " Al ssarf" meaning to conjugate words...according to the words that comes before...i'm sure that everything will be clear for you my brother when you start classes in Arabic
take good care
Great, thanks for all of your help. I'm excited to get started. I think the fact that I already can pronounce the letters and know the alphabet will hopefully make it a little easier and less intimidating, insha Allah.
That is great news the difference between Quranic Arabic and standard Arabic is the markings at the top of the letters, usually but they can be included !
lol no sorry the markings are not the difference
we do not put the markings only because we are familiar with the words we are reading...there are some very difficult words we can not guess their pronounciation from the first sight unless there are markings. for example those we have never seen or those that are unfamiliar for the reader...we can not pronounce them unless there are markings to show the correct pronounciation for the word...
I hope this would answer you...
peace be with you all
Well, I took the first class on Saturday and I was quite disappointed.
The course description said that the class was going to be focusing on Modern Standard Arabic, but the instructor (who is Egyptian) was teaching Modern Standard mixed with Egyptian colloquial. In addition, the book they listed for the course is not the one the instructor wants us to use; at least at that point I hadn't bought the book.
The course itself was taught in a very haphazard way; we covered the alphabet and all vowel markings (including sukun and shadda) in 3 hours...this is something that took me 6 months to properly learn. There was no emphasis on pronounciation, writing letters on the line, or the correct order of the alphabet. He would also write things out without explaining, and when people inquired as to what he was writing, he realized he forgot to explain it and would have to go back and try to tell them what he meant.
I was the only one in the class who had any real background in Arabic, even though my background is nothing compared to those who know the language enough to speak and read it. They were all confused and frustrated, and it was easy to see why. Even though I knew everything he was covering during our session, I was still confused at times.
Insha Allah I'm going to be dropping the class. They said they have a full refund policy if you drop before the second session, so hopefully I can get my money back.
Since I've had a few days to think about this, I've come to some conclusions:
1) My first objective should be to read and recite the Qur'an fluidly. While knowing Modern Standard Arabic is important, I need to lay a solid foundation so I do not confuse the two.
2) I need to study this as a comprehensive language. The way it's being taught in these schools is so that one can just go out and start talking with some Arabs. My goal is to be able to read and understand the Qur'an; I believe these two paths are different.
Insha Allah I will try another approach; perhaps get individual instruction from a knowledgeable Muslim in the area. I guess I just got too spoiled by my teacher back home, who was quite good. But of course, the focus there was on the Qur'an, and obviously the Qur'an is not the focus at these types of schools.
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salamu aleikom my brother!
the difference between Quranic Arabic and standard Arabic is the markings at the top of the letters, usually but they can be included !
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