~~ARABIC language resources~~

[Papa Gregorio]

Greetings Arabic speakers,

Can any of you recommend any good resources with audio for learning formal Arabic?

Many thanks! 

[SamB]

I don't know of any I'm afraid, but here's something, with audio, on the Arabic vernacular spoken in Damascus if you're interested.

http://www.syrianarabic.com/

[ialmisry]

Greetings Arabic speakers,

Can any of you recommend any good resources with audio for learning formal Arabic?

Many thanks! 

Living Language has "Ultimate Arabic" which is pretty good (around $80).  It covers Standard Arabic and four dialects (Eg. Irq, Leb., Saudi)-important because of the diaglossia.  They're kept seperate, though.  It's about the best of a meagre resource base (by all means stay away from "Immersion Arabi" awful).

[Papa Gregorio]

Shukran to both of you!

Isa, which dialect do you speak? Would you say all Arabic speakers have a knowledge of formal Arabic in addition to their respective dialect?

[ialmisry]

Shukran to both of you!

Isa, which dialect do you speak? Would you say all Arabic speakers have a knowledge of formal Arabic in addition to their respective dialect?

Egyptian/Cairene.

All speakers have a passive knowledge of formal Arabic, as they are constantly being exposed to it: whether in mosque or Church, it is the only language of liturgy and prayer.  Of course, their grasp of standard Arabic varies widely.  I noticed that Morrocans, whose dialect is unintelligible to the rest of us, who speak standard Arabic, speak it at a high standard (if prone to hypercorrection)

[SamB]

To add to Isa's remarks there, I would guess that the only Arabs who would have no basic grasp of the sound and feel of Modern Standard would be Arabs brought up in the diaspora, of the 2nd generation let's say, who do manage to speak their vernacular at a manageable leve. Anecdotal evidence seems to suggest that there are some of them who would draw a blank upon hearing the simplest of sentences in Modern Standard.

As for Moroccans, `Isa, some of them seem to function on three registers, in fact.  In addition to M.S.A. (I wouldn't know the level of competence with which they speak in or recite Fus'ha, but I think a unique accent is quite detectable) and their unintelligible vernacular, which is so much its own kind that I cannot distinguish between when they are using it and when they are speaking in Berber, they 'modulate' and switch to an intelligible 'middle' vernacular closer to those of us from Northeastern Africa and the Levant when conversing with us.  I did not communicate with the Moroccans I know in M.S.A., and neither did they with me.

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