There are few differences between classical and modern grammar - anyone who is familiar with classical should have no problems at all with modern...the vice versa is not as true, but the problems should not be that large nevertheless. Some of the main differences are in: i) Syntax - (The way that words are arranged in sentences). The syntax of English is fairly fixed according to meaning- the difference between 'The boy hit the dog' and 'The dog hit the boy' is huge. This is because the syntax in an English verbal sentence is subject-verb-object. In Arabic however, I have the liberty and license to say both:ضرب الولدُ الكلبَ daraba al-waladu al-kalba, and ضرب الكلبَ الولدُ daraba al-kalba al-waladu. BOTH of these sentences would mean 'The boy hit the dog', even though I have swapped the words around. This is because the syntax of Arabic is extremely relaxed, due to the grammatical function of a word being dependant on its case ending (notice how 'wa...
http://www.slate.com/id/2120258/ I'm Trying To Learn ArabicWhy's it taking so long? Robert Lane Greene Posted Thursday, June 9, 2005, at 6:04 AM ET When I walked into Arabic class last week, Karam, my teacher, cheerily asked me how I was doing. I said, "Tamaam, hamdulillah," which means, "Fine, thanks be to God." But I was lying. I'd just spent a full day at work and was sitting down at a desk for two hours of mind-bending grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation. I knew it would be a long night. I am not one of those people who dreads the thought of learning a foreign language. While everyone else was partying in high school, I was learning the Spanish past subjunctive and loving it. I studied German, French, and Portuguese in college. I speak decent Russian and have taught myself some half-decent rudimentary Japanese. Languages are usually fun. But Arabic is really killing me. I'm one of a growing wave of people trying to come to grips with...
So I've memorised Surah Kahf over the last few months. Initially I wanted to just practice tajweed through it but my teacher (a young Qari from Al-Azhar) said to start memorising. A few learning points: It's always better with a teacher. When I knew I had to read to him, it automatically brought me to a focus. Having said that it's also been very difficult with my changing shift patterns and booking locum work at weekends to keep regular appointments with him. The Arabic during Hifz helps immensely. I can't stress this enough. When you know what you are memorising (even if its a very superficial, basic vocabulary level) it makes a huge difference. It makes memorising easier. It makes retaining easier, When you are thinking 'what is the next verse?' when you think of the meaning it often comes back to your memory what the following verse is. Admittedly some verses appear not to flow from one to the other (to the layman like me anway) but for 90% of ...
Comments