العربية

Merhaba!

What's happening everyone? Sorry for the delay! I promise I didn't forget you.

Tonight's task was Eastern Arabic...And I have to say, I'm not impressed with this Pimsleur series. It isn't because of a lack of information or anything like that; it's simply because it moves INCREDIBLY fast. I learned about 10-15 new words tonight and barely got the time to practice them. With other Pimsleur programs, you'll learn maybe two or three..at the most 5, and then you'll get them beaten into your head, which makes for easier learning. I just don't know how I'm supposed to retain all this and learn probably the same amount for my next Eastern Arabic lesson. It's weird because this one language is the only one that's weird like that.

Anyway..For those of you who don't know, Arabic is written from right to left, just like Hebrew (yes they do have some similarities), but many words are based on a root system. What I mean is that there will be a base part of a word, and then to change it to fit the sentence's context, you are required only to change a part of the word.

For instance:

Day: Yom
Two days: Yom'ayn

Feel me?

It is definitely a tricky language because you really have to know the endings and the words, and also if the word is masculine or feminine. The gender of the word will help determine what the ending will be.

I am by no means good at it, but I do practice with my friend Nayef who owns an Arabic restaurant, and apparently I speak it very well, despite the fact that I think I suck at it.

Unfortunately, I didn't write in Arabic for this lesson, but I will go back and do it, mainly because you have to be spot on, and the dictionary I have sucks. As far as resources, I will aim to have the most in Arabic, just because of its complexities.

I just wish this course was slower. Everyone knows that this is one of the tougher languages, so why make it harder to grasp it by shooting a gatling gun's clip full of words at me? Either way, I'm going to keep going, no matter how much I want to "skip" Eastern Arabic when it shows up in the rotation.

Until later, my friends.

وداعا,

Your Favorite Polyglot

Twitter: @mistercapoeira