[Doctor H]

Hey,

So I've been studying Arabic for the past 2 years and I've made significant progress. I'm reading at a collegiate level with about 70% comprehension, depending on the the vocabulary. However, my listening and speaking skills are far behind my writing and reading skills. Any suggestions?

I know I can produce the language(writing) but my speech is lagging behind, likewise my listening skill is weaker than my reading skill. What can I do?

Also, I have difficulty memorizing new vocabulary. I find myself reading the same thing over and over again in attempt to make the new words stick. Any suggestions.

[kikimora]

The way I learned English was being kissed on the cheek and dropped off at school, so I don't know if I can be of any help. The way kids learn is immersion -just soak it up 24/7, in every way.

Vocabulary is vastly more important than the mechanics of a language, so don't worry if you can't do grammar or something, but definitely keep trying to memorize. I would use flash cards. Also try to find associations with words because that makes it easier. Reading an interesting book, watching a show (do they have Arabic soap operas?). If you have any Arabic speaking friends, try just speaking to them in Arabic. Usually native speakers will love helping you because they love their culture but people don't really ask them about it.

[Ytterbium]

Exposure, exposure and exposure. As mentioned find associations. Don't read only, speak and listen. Watch TV for instance where you get that visual feedback aswell. "Put the pen on the table" "ok" *puts the pen on the table* etc.

[Jalex]

	Originally Posted by Doctor H To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Hey, So I've been studying Arabic for the past 2 years and I've made significant progress. I'm reading at a collegiate level with about 70% comprehension, depending on the the vocabulary. However, my listening and speaking skills are far behind my writing and reading skills. Any suggestions?

Uh, 70% with two years? o_O

I have been studying english since I was 4 years old and after living for 3 years in an english speaking country I can say I have more or less a 70% of comprehension. I have written scietific articles, read tons of books and lived english on a daily basis... the more you know the more you realize the needed level of english for accomplishing those percentages needs a complete inmersion.

Anyway... advise... consume media. Movies, television, magazines, books, etc. If, e.g. your passion is cooking buy a cooking book in arabic.

I remember when I made the transition from watching movies with subtitles to subtitless I watched for a year movies with english subtitles, therefore I was aware of how many words I was not catching and forcing myself into the language.

Simple and stupid things like that make a huge difference.

[Doctor H]

Originally Posted by Jalex To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Uh, 70% with two years? o_O I have been studying english since I was 4 years old and after living for 3 years in an english speaking country I can say I have more or less a 70% of comprehension. I have written scietific articles, read tons of books and lived english on a daily basis... the more you know the more you realize the needed level of english for accomplishing those percentages needs a complete inmersion. Anyway... advise... consume media. Movies, television, magazines, books, etc. If, e.g. your passion is cooking buy a cooking book in arabic. I remember when I made the transition from watching movies with subtitles to subtitless I watched for a year movies with english subtitles, therefore I was aware of how many words I was not catching and forcing myself into the language. Simple and stupid things like that make a huge difference.

I was actually introduced to Arabic in elementary school but only the letters, vowels, and sounds. For two years, I've been serious as far as studying the rules of grammar and morphology. I actually live in an Arab country, but the dialect is different from my studies. The locals speak a colloquial Arabic that distinctive to the region while I study classical Arabic that very few speak. I watch cartoons and the news programs that use that classical Arabic and I can follow along, but I'm not satisfied.

I'll try to submerse myself even more, I'm listening to a lecture as I type.

[Malkavia]

Originally Posted by Doctor H To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Hey, So I've been studying Arabic for the past 2 years and I've made significant progress. I'm reading at a collegiate level with about 70% comprehension, depending on the the vocabulary. However, my listening and speaking skills are far behind my writing and reading skills. Any suggestions? I know I can produce the language(writing) but my speech is lagging behind, likewise my listening skill is weaker than my reading skill. What can I do? Also, I have difficulty memorizing new vocabulary. I find myself reading the same thing over and over again in attempt to make the new words stick. Any suggestions.

The only way I was able to learn Arabic efficiently was to take intensive Arabic courses in an Arabic speaking country.

If you're in an Arabic speaking country than you the know the importance of learning the Amiyya if you're going to be living there long term. Ditch the Fusha if you have a good working knowledge of it and work on the local dialect. It will come much more in handy.

PS - If you plan on travelling throughout the Middle East learn Egyptian Arabic. Its the most widely known.

[Americano]

I speak Spanish pretty well. Classes are nice as an introduction to the language--but that's about it. My Spanish stagnated horribly until I studied in Argentina for a year and dated an Argentine that doesn't speak English. Immersion is key! Try to find Arabic equivalents of media that interests like Jalex recommended.

One great way to learn vocabulary is to play one of your favorite video games in the version of your target language. I love RPG games so I installed a Gameboy Advance emulator on my computer and downloaded Golden Sun in Spanish. I also downloaded the Spanish language pack for World of Warcraft, etc.

As far as listening and speaking, that must be done with native material. Luckily, all you have to do is step outside your front door due to your location.

[Zsych]

	Originally Posted by Doctor H To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Also, I have difficulty memorizing new vocabulary. I find myself reading the same thing over and over again in attempt to make the new words stick. Any suggestions.

My only suggestion is to work with your Ni and Te. I'm not too sure about training the Ni part but for Te - work back from results and everything useful. Work back from what you want to say and what words and forms get you what you want.

[Haumea]

Heh. I learned English by watching reruns of sitcoms like "Happy Days." (true story.)
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My conclusion is that learning a foreign language through books alone, word by word, is just damn hard. I think what you do is watch TV, which gives you cultural context, idioms, etc., with English closed captioning if available. In addition to that you use books, dictionaries.

[Still Standing]

^Agreed. Sesame Street did it for me, in addition to living in an English-only environment from 5 to 7 years of age. My greatest leaps in learning Spanish were also made when I spent 3 weeks in the heart of Mexico, having to figure out how to get food and get around in a city where most inhabitants were unilingual. Although I had 5 hours of Spanish per day at a language school, I learned a whole lot more with my host family and during visits of the city and other tourist sites than with my teacher.

And to the OP: move to the safest Arabic-speaking country you can find for a couple of years. Full immersion, i.e. not having any other option but to speak the local language, is the most efficient way to learn.

[demaugustus]

I'm studying Mandarin in North East China right now because the local dialect is almost exactly the same as the text book. I would suggest moving to a region that uses the dialect you're studying, if this region even exists, as I know nothing about Arabic.

---------- Post added 08-14-2011 at 02:30 PM ----------

Also, living in an area that has the same dialect as your book makes dealing with culture shock a lot better because you use the words from the book for daily tasks and don't have to learn a second language while you're studying one language.

[Sphinx]

Mandarin Chinese & English - fluent.

Currently studying Japanese at school and in my own free time.

[envirodude]

I had much the same experience as the OP when I was learning Spanish. I found reading/writing much easier than speaking/listening (I was 30 when I started). Anyway, the two things that immensely helped my oral skills were

1. getting a Spanish speaking girlfriend who didn't speak any English
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and

2. teaching. I was teaching environmental engineering, so I had to prepare and deliver a full hour lecture in Spanish. You cannot speak for that long in another language and be translating in your head, that is, you must actually start thinking in the foreign language, and that is the key to oral fluency (IMO - no need for humility on INTJf).

[Haumea]

	And to the OP: move to the safest Arabic-speaking country you can find for a couple of years.

Haha. Well, good luck with that one...
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[Sphinx]

	Originally Posted by Haumea To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	Haha. Well, good luck with that one... To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

It is not wise to apply the typical socio-political stigma you see on TV to all Arabs.

Specifically, the more wealthy countries typically have very well-developed infrastructures and an educated population, not unlike the North America or Europe.

[Bluecrux]

Originally Posted by Americano To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

I speak Spanish pretty well. Classes are nice as an introduction to the language--but that's about it. My Spanish stagnated horribly until I studied in Argentina for a year and dated an Argentine that doesn't speak English. Immersion is key! Try to find Arabic equivalents of media that interests like Jalex recommended. One great way to learn vocabulary is to play one of your favorite video games in the version of your target language. I love RPG games so I installed a Gameboy Advance emulator on my computer and downloaded Golden Sun in Spanish. I also downloaded the Spanish language pack for World of Warcraft, etc. As far as listening and speaking, that must be done with native material. Luckily, all you have to do is step outside your front door due to your location.

A bit off-topic, did you finish Golden Sun?
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I stumbled somewhere in the very last.

[peppersasen]

Bilingual (English is first language, learned second language at age 9). Tried to learn both variations of Belgian as an adult. Didn't work out. Oh well.

---------- Post added 08-14-2011 at 11:08 AM ----------

I actually had suicidal thoughts about this once. I thought I wasn't worth staying alive because my French sucks. Also, I dream in French a lot of the time. And I'm very shy about my linguistic [dis]abilities that when people try to talk to me in Dutch/French, my brain actually freezes entirely (like I can't think) and I can't understand a single word they're saying. But when I'm alone, it's a little better. I'd rather pretend I don't speak or understand French/Dutch at all. It's giving me a complex.
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[Ytterbium]

	Originally Posted by peppersasen To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	I'd rather pretend I don't speak or understand French/Dutch at all. It's giving me a complex. To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

Dutch/Flemish is extremely easy.
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is a different story though.
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[N0c7urn3]

I grew up bilingual (English + Bahasa, fluent in both). My 'first language' is English while the other is my 'mother tongue' although my mum is Indian and she speaks in mixed Hindi/English at home. So I kind of picked up Hindi (no formal training, just conversational). Where I live, majority of the people around me are Chinese, so learnt some Mandarin from the environment as well. I don't really speak it, but I can understand normal conversation quite well. Sometimes, when my friends are speaking in Mandarin to each other, and I just join in the conversation because I understand the topic already, and get the "weren't we speaking in Mandarin just now?" response.

I also learnt a bit of Arabic when I was young, but stopped before I learnt anything, really. In university, I also began to study French, although I put it on hold for now. I did survive a month in France without uttering a single word of English though (except for when tourists asked me for directions).

I also studied a bit of linguistics as part of my undergrad psych course, but to be honest, I don't have an interest in specific languages themselves.

[Malkavia]

	Originally Posted by Sphinx To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	It is not wise to apply the typical socio-political stigma you see on TV to all Arabs. Specifically, the more wealthy countries typically have very well-developed infrastructures and an educated population, not unlike the North America or Europe.

1) Haumea was just making a joke.
2) He was actually correct.


The wealthy Arab gulf states do not offer many Arabic courses because English has become so popular. It is impossible to immerse yourself in the languages there because everyone knows English. I would never suggest going there to learn Arabic.

[mastermind23]

The way I learned English was by watching American movies and cartoons, some with subtitles, some without. I would suggest, if you can, to find movies in which Arabic is spoken, and watch as many of them as you can. I bet it will help immensely. Also try listening to music in the said language, but this is secondary.

[Still Standing]

	Originally Posted by Malkavia To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	The wealthy Arab gulf states do not offer many Arabic courses because English has become so popular. It is impossible to immerse yourself in the languages there because everyone knows English. I would never suggest going there to learn Arabic.

So Abu Dhabi and Dubai would be out of the question then? Both seem to have lots of language schools.

[Malkavia]

	Originally Posted by Still Standing To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	So Abu Dhabi and Dubai would be out of the question then? Both seem to have lots of language schools.

There are language schools but in many ways (coming from an intensive language stand point) it would be like going to a language school in the US. Most of the Arabs there would much rather just speak English than see you try and stumble through Arabic. Other countries have Arabs who speak broken English or not at all. Those are the best choices.

The best way to learn Arabic (like any language) is when your brain switches into ultra learning mode because you HAVE to learn it in order to buy food, get transportation, etc... You would be amazed how quick your brain learns the language for survival purposes.

Also why go to the UAE? Its expensive and gawdy. Other countries have so much more history and are way cheaper.

[Zsych]

Considering this 'communicate' idea, the first stop might be arabic forums.
Watching arab tv also sounds like a good idea.

How much difference in dialect is there between the arab countries?

[Still Standing]

	Originally Posted by Malkavia To view links or images in this forum your post count must be 2 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
	The best way to learn Arabic (like any language) is when your brain switches into ultra learning mode because you HAVE to learn it in order to buy food, get transportation, etc... You would be amazed how quick your brain learns the language for survival purposes.

Yeah, that's what I've been saying.

	Also why go to the UAE? Its expensive and gawdy. Other countries have so much more history and are way cheaper.

As discussed above, there's also the issue of security and political stability. Are there any "cheap" countries that are reasonably safe, where little English is spoken and where the local dialect can be understood by a foreigner?