Arabic: How is it useful?

[gurufabbes]

After having a read on the wikipedia page of the Arabic language.

I've found myself quite discouraged on the prospect of learning more of the language, particularly after purchasing the ASSIMIL Arabic language book.

The question I would ask is, is there a point to learning it when there isn't really an 'it' that is even spoken.
MSA or Fusha is literary standard based on the language of the Quran, spoken what, 1300 years ago?

There are numerous dialects which, I've been told are not at all close to it, and therefore most people that are native speakers are essentially bilingual in whichever dialect they speak alongside this written standard.

Therefore, my questions are the following:

How difficult is it to cross from one to the other? Where is most of the variation? Vocabulary or grammar?
Are they more like small variations in a central form, or more like different languages altogether?

For those that are learners, what have you actually done and how have you gone about learning? And which dialect did you learn?

[Scimitar]

Shalom alaikom,

as a Jew, do you speak hebrew Aramaic? and if not, why not?

If you do, you'll find that arabic is a sister language of Aramaic, they share the same roots.

Scimi

[gurufabbes]

Shalom alaikom,

as a Jew, do you speak hebrew Aramaic? and if not, why not?

If you do, you'll find that arabic is a sister language of Aramaic, they share the same roots.

Scimi

Thank you, that's a good answer.

(I don't want to get into trouble with the moderators, but yes, Jewish Babylonian Aramaic is the language of the Talmud as well as of certain prayers such as the Kaddish)

That would be an interesting comparison to make, things like "who?" - man? is the same.

However my question was also going into something deeper for Arabic speakers: Does MSA, literary Arabic, help communicate and learn/understand some of the dialects?
Or is uniquely written and therefore of limited practical value?

[greenhill]

I'm not knowledgeable on Arabic, but if I were to make comparison, it would be like mandarin and all the other Chinese dialects. Speaking mandarin does not necessarily mean you will understand the other dialects. They have evolved and perhaps taken a life of their own. I'm sure having said that, you could find how the root words for these different dialects. P.s I don't speak mandarin either :hiding:


:peace: