Арабский – один из самых распространенных языков in a world that is gaining popularity every year. The study of the Arabic language has its own characteristics, which is connected with the structure of the language itself, as well as with pronunciation and writing. This should be considered when choosing a program for training.
Prevalence
Arabic belongs to the Semitic group. By the number of native speakers for whom he is native, Arabic ranks second in the world after Chinese.
About 350 million people speak Arabicpeople in 23 countries where the language is considered official. These countries include Egypt, Algeria, Iraq, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Bahrain, Palestine and many others. Also, the language is one of the official in Israel. Given this factor, the study of Arabic presupposes a preliminary choice of a dialect to be used in a particular country, since, despite many similar elements, the language has its own distinctive features in different countries.
Dialects
Modern Arabic can be divided into 5large groups of dialects, which from a linguistic point of view can practically be called different languages. The fact is that the lexical and grammatical differences in languages are so large that people who speak different dialects and do not speak literary language can hardly understand each other. The following groups of dialects are distinguished:
- Maghreb.
- Egyptian-Sudanese.
- Syro-Mesopotamian.
- Arabian.
- Central Asian.
A separate niche is occupied by a modern standard Arabic language, which, however, is practically not used colloquially.
Features of the study
Learning Arabic from scratch isdifficult task, because after the Chinese, he is considered one of the most difficult in the world. In order to master Arabic, you need much more time than to learn any European language. This applies to both independent work and classes with teachers.
Independently learning Arabic isdifficult path, which is better to abandon at first. This is due to several factors. First of all, a letter is very complex, which is not similar to either the Latin or Cyrillic alphabet, which is written from right to left, and also does not provide for the use of vowels. Secondly, the complexity of the structure of the language itself, in particular morphology and grammar.
What to look for before learning?
The program for learning Arabic should be built taking into account the following factors:
- Having enough time. Learning a language takes several times more time than learning other languages.
- Opportunities for both independent work and for group work or with a private teacher. Studying Arabic in Moscow makes it possible to combine different options.
- Inclusion in the process of studying various aspects: writing, reading, listening and, of course, speaking.
We must not forget that you need to decide onchoosing a specific dialect. Learning Arabic is different depending on this factor. In particular, the dialects in Egypt and Iraq are so different that their speakers cannot always understand each other. The way out of the situation can be the study of the Arabic literary language, which has a more complex structure, but it is understandable in all countries of the Arab world, since dialects traditionally have a more simplified form. Despite this, this option has its negative sides. Although all countries understand the literary language, they practically do not communicate in it. It may happen that a person who speaks literary language will not be able to understand people who speak a particular dialect. In this case, the choice depends on the purpose of the study. If there is a desire to use the language in different countries, then the choice should be made in the direction of the literary version. If the language is studied to work in a particular Arab country, but preference should be given to the appropriate dialect.
Vocabulary language
Изучение арабского языка невозможно без use of words and phrases, which in this case have characteristic differences in comparison with European languages. This is due to the fact that in Europe languages intertwined and strongly influenced each other, due to which they have many common lexical units. Almost all the Arabic vocabulary has its own origin, which practically cannot be connected with others. The number of borrowings from other languages is present, but it takes no more than one percent of the dictionary.
The complexity of the study also lies in the fact thatArabic is characterized by the presence of synonyms, homonyms and polysemantic words, which can seriously confuse people who are beginning to learn a language. In Arabic, both newer words and very old words are intertwined, which at the same time do not have definite connections with each other, but they denote almost identical objects and phenomena.
Phonetics and pronunciation
Literary Arabic and its manydialects are characterized by the presence of a very developed phonetic system, in particular, this applies to consonants: laryngeal, interdental and emphatic. Difficulty in studying is also presented by various combinatorial abilities of pronunciation.
Many Arab countries are trying to bringcolloquial pronunciation of words to the literary language. This is primarily due to the religious context, in particular with the correct reading of the Koran. Despite this, at the moment there is no single point of view on how to read certain endings correctly, since ancient texts do not have vowels - signs to denote vowel sounds, which does not allow to correctly state exactly how one or another word should be pronounced.
Arabic is one of the most common, andalso one of the most difficult to learn languages in the world. The difficulty lies in the special letter without the presence of vowels, multi-level morphology and grammar, as well as special pronunciation. An important factor in the study of a language is also the choice of a dialect, since in different countries Arabic sounds quite differently.
