Arabic vs. English: Which is easier to...?

[GacanSareeye]

Dawwa this arabic course i was taking once the teacher was just explaining every detail in grammatical format and non of the americans knew what he was talking about because no one has ever learned how english is written or its grammatical errors. so while learning arabic, students unintentionally learned their own language in turn, it was easier to understand the English parts more than the arabic part since the ARabic one went well beyond the english one. i guess that is why we worked with selected re-written simple stories that couldnt get us across Cairo market.

i think whatever language you learn first prepares you for the second language. like if someone shoots straight from somalia and comes here, it would still be difficult for that person to understand immediately, because he is not rooted or well phrased in his own language, to learn the second one. we assume arabic is easier because we hear phrases here and there, and also the quran, but the thing is very difficult once you reach down, but who wants to go there anyways unless its your speciality

[dawwa9]

Language courses suck, the only way you will ever learn a foreign language is by practicing it every day (reading the news, chatting, listening to the music, watching videos etc)

I learned English mainly from watching American movies with Arabic subtitles

[GacanSareeye]

impressive

but also the UAE is basically an american city. i was surprised first time i visited there, the clerk spoke first in english, so did the cashiers, the agents. all the signs, notes, and warnings all written in English. UAE is the best place man, just wished they had manual jobs

[dawwa9]

Yeah, English is essential here. You wouldn't even be hired as a cleaner if you don’t speak English.

[GacanSareeye]

dawwa, how is the economy in UAE. last time i left everyone was holding their bearth and alot of people were leaving the place. Burj was in a bad shape with empty occupance, the islands were deserted, have things change by any chance. any light or a glimper. did alot of the somalis doing businesses over there come back to even a weaker economy in the US

[dawwa9]

dawwa, how is the economy in UAE. last time i left everyone was holding their bearth and alot of people were leaving the place. Burj was in a bad shape with empty occupance, the islands were deserted, have things change by any chance. any light or a glimper. did alot of the somalis doing businesses over there come back to even a weaker economy in the US

The global financial crisis of 2008-2009 was turning point for most of these Arab sheikhs, they quit their reckless spending and became more financially aware of things. I would say the economy is healthy/good shape, the crisis mainly affected low skilled jobs (due to the fact that a lot of construction projects were put on hold).

Dubai is the Las Vegas/El Dorado of the Middle East, it will always remain a boom town.

[manarab]

Those of you who know Soomaali but don't know Arabic, watch this video for a few minutes and measure the percentage of your speech comprehension/recognition:

[Murax]

English is pretty much my native language and I learned Arabic through private schools in the US and some time in a Arab Country. If You're talking about street slang, Arabic is easy to learn but to learn the proper, Arabiyyah Fusxah it takes time, and dedication. I'm still working on it to this day. Also writing in Arabic is 100x harder then English. The letters change from the beginning, middle and the end of a world. However for Somalis Arabic is relatively easy to learn but Somalis are lazy. I remember seeing Bengelis who after living in a Arab Country for 30 years, I blew them out of the water after a few months. The most important thing in learning any language is having a zeal to learn it, and a mind that can remember. Fyi for any other students of Arabic stay far away from the Egyptian Cammiya dialect that is popular. It is not Arabic and many of the words do not have any base in the Arabic Language. The lahjad of the people of the Khaleej is the closest You'll find to classical Arabic.



Somali, I couldn't imagine how a outsider can learn it.

[Murax]

Those of you who know Soomaali but don't know Arabic, watch this video for a few minutes and measure the percentage of your speech comprehension/recognition:

Starts off giving the tafseer of two ayaat and talks about evolution and How one group is saying Humans came from monkey's, and have one origination, then it looks like He wanted to have a question/answer with Qardhaawi.

[manarab]

Starts off giving the tafseer of two ayaat and talks about evolution and How one group is saying Humans came from monkey's, and have one origination, then it looks like He wanted to have a question/answer with Qardhaawi.

You obviously wrote the comment while emotional.