[lavalse]

(Original post by Socrates)
ba khayr, alhamdollillah

ana adrus al arabiya al quraniya (I think that's right!)

wa anta?

ana tabaana!

adrus el arabee "modern standard" wa el arabee iraqee wa jordanee we misree.

its funny because you're writing with all the cases like they do in the koran, we learnt them but we've been told not to use them

[lavalse]

(Original post by Anatheme)
Al-Kitaab is nasty. I don't hate Arabic, really, I want to learn it, but it's frustrates me like nothing before.

[Socrates]

(Original post by lavalse)
ana tabaana!

adrus el arabee "modern standard" wa el arabee iraqee wa jordanee we misree.

its funny because you're writing with all the cases like they do in the koran, we learnt them but we've been told not to use them

I'm learning Arabic to read the classical texts, hence the old fashioned cases

[Haft_Hasht_Shish]

What text books do people recommend aside from Al-Kitaab?

[Socrates]

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Arabic-Cours...6876254&sr=8-1

This is in three volumes, and my teacher uses it. Its amazing. Works at a decent pace, and its not very long either.

[amrizzle]

Quality thread, if you guys need any help let me know, though don't ask me about tenses and what not. I learnt my Arabic here in the UK so I'm not amazing by any means.

[tRG]

Anatheme - do you go for any of the PASS classes? I know when I went to them last year, they were a bit rubbish. But I think a couple of them from my year who are leading seem to know their stuff. Give it a try?!

Having 4th year students teach us this year is way better! I was meant to be a PASS leader but got back too late for training.. Bit glad for it TBH, won't want anyone cussing me for not knowing how to teach..

And I made a few mitakes in my tranlisteration, so no worries if you ddin't get it! And, how you describe your situation reminds me a lot of one of my friends.. Al Kitaab doesn't make anything easier

[Anatheme]

(Original post by tRG)
Anatheme - do you go for any of the PASS classes? I know when I went to them last year, they were a bit rubbish. But I think a couple of them from my year who are leading seem to know their stuff. Give it a try?!

Having 4th year students teach us this year is way better! I was meant to be a PASS leader but got back too late for training.. Bit glad for it TBH, won't want anyone cussing me for not knowing how to teach..

And I made a few mitakes in my tranlisteration, so no worries if you ddin't get it! And, how you describe your situation reminds me a lot of one of my friends.. Al Kitaab doesn't make anything easier

I am already going to these PASS classes

[tRG]

Find them helpful?

[mr.sudoku]

Asalam Alikum,
I can speak,write and read Arabic very well.
Alhamdulilah=Thanks god

Shukran=Thank you
afwan=welcome
asef=sorry

Three words for today.

I'm ready for anykind of help

TC

[Twinkabelle]

as-salaam alaykum

I've been using Al-Kitaab and the Teach Yourself Arabic. They're not too bad! It does get a bit frustrating at times though especially when you are trying to teach yourself! The hardest thing I think is the lack of opportunities to practice speaking, but I think writing is easier somehow. I do recommend Al Jazeera children on sky channel 823, even though its for children its good for those listening skills, but it feels really good when I can actually understand some of what they are saying!How do you find writing in the arabic script? After a while I forget how to write in English!!

ila_liqaa'

[Anatheme]

(Original post by tRG)
Find them helpful?

Mmmh, I don't know, not really for the moment, lol, I'm just crap because I don't work.

[tRG]

Ahh that I can't help you with then as you already know the solution. Have you done your CME presentation yet?

[Anatheme]

Nope, it's next week. I'm doing mine on the decolonisation of Algeria, I hope it gonna be ok.

[tRG]

Akeed hatkoon jeyyid! I can't remember what dialect that's in :s Basically, I'm sure it will be good
Good luck though! I admire all those who do Power Points. I did mine sans last year.

[KING MONKEY]

[Undiscovery]

SOAS sadly made learning Arabic quite unpleasant and draining, to the point that I will probably not return to study there after Christmas.

[Anatheme]

(Original post by jonboyyork)
SOAS sadly made learning Arabic quite unpleasant and draining, to the point that I will probably not return to study there after Christmas.

Wow. I met someone that drop out from SOAS for Anthropology, and a girl in my Russian course also drop out from the same course last year. I'm sort of happy not to be there . How is it, though? I heard some stuff like you're doing 2 Al-Kitaab a year, which indeed sounds absolutely awful. How is the course in general? I'm having second thoughts about Arabic as well and was wondering if it were just my course at my uni or Arabic in general.

[Socrates]

SOAS Arabic is pretty intense, and a lot of people find it difficult to deal with the workload.

[Undiscovery]

(Original post by Anatheme)
Wow. I met someone that drop out from SOAS for Anthropology, and a girl in my Russian course also drop out from the same course last year. I'm sort of happy not to be there . How is it, though? I heard some stuff like you're doing 2 Al-Kitaab a year, which indeed sounds absolutely awful. How is the course in general? I'm having second thoughts about Arabic as well and was wondering if it were just my course at my uni or Arabic in general.

I don't know what you mean by two Al-Kitaab a year, but if you mean SOAS coursebooks, then we are now almost half way through the second one. SOAS is a great place, don't get me wrong, and if you want to have fun, then live in Dinwiddy. But the intense nature of the SOAS course leaves you exhausted and wanting the weekend or holiday so badly. The course structure left me kind of disappointed. They teach you grammar grammar grammar from the onset of the course, and then they pile vocab (and by vocab I mean literally hundreds of words in a week) and just expect non-natives to pick it up and understand everything as soon as we cover it. There really is little room for understanding or empathy on the part of the lecturers or tutors at SOAS; but apparantly the non-native tutors are much nicer and more sympathetic.

I honestly think Arabic is a great choice for a degree, and the problems I'm having with it are SOAS-related, nothing to do with the Arabic language at all. Where have you applied to? I will probably stick it out, I was just panicking again last night when I wrote that, and it is the holidays soon to consolidate what we have learnt.

That said, I truly feel SOAS is the best place for learning Arabic if you want to be respected by native speakers. I have heard that on the year abroad, even Oxbridge students try to stay clear of SOAS students because we are so much more proficient and fluent in Arabic than them. At Oxbridge, culture and history is featured more prominently on their course if I recall, but SOAS does train you to become an excellent linguist. I am currently taking Arabic and History, so whilst we are beevering away at grammar and vocab, I have one unit a week where I am given history readings (on middle eastern history) and the two overlap very nicely.