Languages, Dialects, Accents (page 7)

LoveUniHateExams

So, I'm plowing on trying to learn Arabic.

Today I learnt different countries and nationalities from Russia to Italy to America, but with a focus on the Middle East (ash-sharq al-awsat).

Here are 10 MENA countries I learnt:

1. libya

2. misr

3. as-sudaan

4. al-urdunn

5. lubnaan

6. souria

7. al-3iraq

8. as-sa3oudeeya

9. 3umaan

10. al-yaman

Here's a fun little quiz, if anyone cares to have a go ...

1. Try and work out the English names of the MENA countries.

2. Try and work out which MENA country was omitted from the course, and therefore which MENA country I didn't learn in Arabic.

Tara N Seals

Libya, Egypt, Sudan, South Sudan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Yemen

Morocco left out?

LoveUniHateExams

Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq, Yemen - you got these right, plus if you meant Jordan was number 4. al-urdunn, then you got that right too.

Morocco left out? - well I should've made that clearer. Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria are all not on that list. The only Maghrebi country I learnt was Libya so forget all countries west of Libya.

In the teaching book I'm working from, there's a rough map entitled ash-sharq al-awsat (The Middle East) that stretches from Libya to Iraq.

No, there's one Middle Eastern country that I didn't learn in Arabic.

TD

LUHE, Do you have someone to actually talk to?

Studying a foreign language for X number of years and then struggling to form simple sentences when you actually travel to a country where it is spoken is a common tale of woe among language learners.

If not, I wouldn't think it would be too hard to find somebody to Skype with you. (Probably not for free though....LOL)

LoveUniHateExams

1. libya = Libya

2. misr = Egypt

3. as-sudaan = Sudan

4. al-urdunn = Jordan

5. lubnaan = Lebanon

6. souria = Syria

7. al-3iraq = Iraq

8. as-sa3oudeeya = Saudi Arabia

9. 3umaan = Oman

10. al-yaman = Yemen

The Middle Eastern country left out was Israel.

LUHE, Do you have someone to actually talk to? - well, there are a few Kurdish shops near to where I live. There's an off-licence run jointly by Kurds and Poles that I visit to try out Polish beer. Next door there is a Kurdish restaurant/takeaway that I've visited a few times. One day I heard a Muslim boy of British-Pakistani heritage say "ma3a s-salaama" (goodbye) and the Kurdish guy replied "shukran habibi" (thank you, my friend). I thought about asking them if they didn't mind me speaking Arabic seeing as I'm learning it but I'm kinda shy. Thinking about it, I know enough to order a takeaway in Arabic.

ATM, I don't really intend to travel to an Arab country. The Islamic world is in the middle of a civil war and many areas are dangerous. I know not all Arabs are Muslims but most are - there are no Arab Christian majority countries, for instance.There may be some safe countries - Israel, Oman, Dubai, Morocco - but I'd have to do research before I even consider it. Maybe in the future, when terrorism and extremism have died down.

If I visit my cousin in London and we were to eat out at an Egyptian/Arab/ restaurant then maybe I'd try speaking it.

Crazyguy

I love how language and the evolution of languages can be used to show that humans are much older then the Bible says and also that language wasn’t confused and spread out from one place again like the Bible says.

Phizzy

The Basque language is fascinating, in that it is a Language Isolate, it bears no relation to any other known language, it seems.

So, did Yahweh create this little group at Babel, speaking this tongue, and transport them to a small part of the Iberian Peninsula ?

Explain that Literal Bible believers.

RubaDub

Reminds me of a cartoon I saw recently.

A man was traveling and had a car accident and was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident.

When his body was retuned to his home state of Mississippi, he was pronounced "day-ed".

Rub a Dub

humbled

In 1973-74 I lived in Dublin. My job in Germany as an au pair(sp?) had folded and l wanted to see the land of my ancestors before going home to Arkansas. Ireland and the US share the English tongue? I had to develop an ear for Dublinese.

I was sketching along the banks of the Liffey when a couple young fellows approached and said something to me. I asked him to repeat it as I didn’t understand. They did -and I didn’t again. Again l asked for a repeat with no better results. I never knew their original question but as they gave up in disgust my ear picked up their final remark “air yea feckin diff?”

What a beautiful conversation. If only we could hear each person’s actual voice instead of reading it. Thanks Diogenesister for the video on the Edwardians.

Rub a dub: (edit) hilarious: “day-ed” reminds me of sounds around the hills where l live

Languages, Dialects, Accents

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