Al-Insomniyya

TheLadyoftheHouse said: This subject is near and dear to my heart, so allow me to make a few points: No, there is not a “huge” difference between the three types of Arabic identified here. The difference between Old English and modern English is NOT analogous to the difference between Classical Arabic and MSA/dialects. Dialects are directly derived from the the Classical, just with lazier pronunciation and grammar observance. In fact, if you study dialects, you will often learn words from the Qur’an that are not taught in beginning MSA classes. About half of the Qur’anic vocabularly I personally leaned came to me by way of learning a dialect. Arabs who “don’t understand you” when you speak MSA to them are most likely uneducated. (By the way, Somalis don’t speak Arabic, they speak Somali, although their language is significantly derived from Arabic, it is not an Arabic dialect but a completely different langauge… I have studied both.) This fact has led many people to believe tha...

http://muslimmatters.org/2009/02/11/arabic-for-children-part-2-the-three-kinds-of-arabic/ The following simplification is needed before we engage in a healthy dialogue about the proper scope, strategy and execution of Arabic educational ventures regardless of the target audience being adults or children. Please note that my writing style is un-academic, popular science-ish by design. So be not offended if it doesn’t cater your suave intellectual taste for good writing. Colloquial Arabic is basically street Arabic. It is spoken in casual settings in contemporary Arab society. It varies from country to country (much like English does from the U.S. to Scotland). Learning colloquial Arabic is great if you are seeking to become a member of a particular Arab society, tourism, breaking the ice between yourself and some Arab acquaintances etc. On occasion, colloquial Arabic is so drastically different from standard Arabic that قلم QALAM can be pronounced ALAM or even LAM. Another...