The arabic language

Stephentlig

is it a difficult language to learn?

Jaafa

It can be yes. Harder than say french and german because with them you at least have some point of reference with the characters being so similar. Obviously arabic has no point of reference to english. Dont let that discourage you though. There are plenty of online course that you can take and I know someone who learnt arabic that way. Or maybe if you know anyone who speaks it maybe you could get them to teach you a little to get started. By no means am I fluent in arabic myself but I hope that helps.

Stephentlig

Jaafa wrote: »

It can be yes. Harder than say french and german because with them you at least have some point of reference with the characters being so similar. Obviously arabic has no point of reference to english. Dont let that discourage you though. There are plenty of online course that you can take and I know someone who learnt arabic that way. Or maybe if you know anyone who speaks it maybe you could get them to teach you a little to get started. By no means am I fluent in arabic myself but I hope that helps.

is it still possible also to learn the syriac language? which was the language of Jesus Christ when he was on earth.

I was told that the there used to be an ancient arabic language that Jesus spoke and then it formed into the arabic we hear today.

anyhow I'd probably be better off learning the arabic language of today and then going backwards? *confused* lol

I have a Catholic friend from lebanon but she is too busy to teach me. I'll go to my local libary and see what they can do for me. does your friend who learned from the internet hold a good conversation in arabic?

thanks for your help and advice.

Stephen

Jaafa

Im afraid I dont know much about syriac but I thought that Jesus was jewish so he probaly would have spoken ancient hebrew. In any case I think finding anywhere that you can learn syriac may pose a problem. May I ask why you want to learn syriac? Oh and yes my friend that learned arabic from the internet can speak it very well better than myself and I would like to think I can still hold a conversation. ;-) It does take time though depending on the course it can take anywhere between 3 months to a year. Still its well worth it. In fact I hope to take a course this summer. Im sorry I cant recommend any sites for this. Anyway Im going on holidays today so I wont be able to reply to you for some time. Best of luck.

Zaynzma

There is an arabic language learning website, don't have the link but google "before you know it arabic" and hopefully it should come up.

AFAIK the language which it is believed Jesus (pbuh) spoke is Aramaic. There is a scripture in the New Testament (matt 27:46) which is not translated into english it gives the Aramaic "El-i, El-i, lama sabach thani?" which means in that language "my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" I think Aramaic is related to both Arabic and Hebrew.

Arabic isn't an easy language to learn, the look and sound of it is unusual for English speakers. There is some similarity with Gaelic though - to give you some examples the fadda mark above the vowel sounds in Gaelic is similar to the fat-ha which is a vowel sound that goes above letters in Arabic. And when addressing people in gaelic you would say "a" before their name, eg "a dhaidi" when you are talking to your father; the same in arabic you say "ya ummi" (talking to your mam) or "ya Stephen" etc. etc. And of course there is the throaty sound like in gaelic "loch", there is a similar sound in Arabic.

Another interesting similarity with Gaelic and Arabic (sorry I'm probably boring you now!), the name of Jesus pbuh in the arabic is Eesa and the same in Gaelic although usually spelt Iosa with a fadda on the I.

If you are a convert to Islam I know of some subsidised courses in the north of England, residential for 5 days for £40 all inclusive of accommodation and food. It is mainly quranic arabic and focuses on learning to read quran which is why it is suitable for converts.

Stephentlig

Zaynzma wrote: »

There is an arabic language learning website, don't have the link but google "before you know it arabic" and hopefully it should come up.

AFAIK the language which it is believed Jesus (pbuh) spoke is Aramaic. There is a scripture in the New Testament (matt 27:46) which is not translated into english it gives the Aramaic "El-i, El-i, lama sabach thani?" which means in that language "my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" I think Aramaic is related to both Arabic and Hebrew.

Arabic isn't an easy language to learn, the look and sound of it is unusual for English speakers. There is some similarity with Gaelic though - to give you some examples the fadda mark above the vowel sounds in Gaelic is similar to the fat-ha which is a vowel sound that goes above letters in Arabic. And when addressing people in gaelic you would say "a" before their name, eg "a dhaidi" when you are talking to your father; the same in arabic you say "ya ummi" (talking to your mam) or "ya Stephen" etc. etc. And of course there is the throaty sound like in gaelic "loch", there is a similar sound in Arabic.

Another interesting similarity with Gaelic and Arabic (sorry I'm probably boring you now!), the name of Jesus pbuh in the arabic is Eesa and the same in Gaelic although usually spelt Iosa with a fadda on the I.

If you are a convert to Islam I know of some subsidised courses in the north of England, residential for 5 days for £40 all inclusive of accommodation and food. It is mainly quranic arabic and focuses on learning to read quran which is why it is suitable for converts.

Thank you for your reply, I'm interested in the ancient language ''aramaic'' because I'd love to pray in it. I know that my eastern orthodox brothers often to the liturgy of the mass in aramaic and would love to just learn this language that my Lord used all those years ago. One german girl who spoke arabic said that ''aboon'' in arabic today is ''aboona'' so some of it is still the same.

population

This is interesting stuff. I actually might be moving to the UAE in August for a couple of years and though people have said that because of the high numbers of ex-pats there that learning Arabic is not neccessary, I really feel it is an opportunity to learn a language. Also I think it shows some level of respect to at least attempt to converse with locals in their own tongue.

Lee91

Hi. I recieved a text message in arabic. The person who sent it to me was abbreviating the correct spelling so I am having alot of trouble translating it. I was wondering if you could help me out please. The message read, "Rahou talifounah ta7 charge..7keli 3la kol chay w houwa yebki..taw y7el l face booak w e7ki enti w yeh rafna lik w lik rakom dhaba3touni lol" As you can see this person used numbers in the spelling of certain words as we would do in texting also (eg: Gr8, c u l8r.) Any help you could give me in finding out the english translation of this message would be greatly appreciated. It is of great importance that I know what it says. Please help. Thank you, Lee.

Iwasfrozen

Lee91 wrote: »

Hi. I recieved a text message in arabic. The person who sent it to me was abbreviating the correct spelling so I am having alot of trouble translating it. I was wondering if you could help me out please. The message read, "Rahou talifounah ta7 charge..7keli 3la kol chay w houwa yebki..taw y7el l face booak w e7ki enti w yeh rafna lik w lik rakom dhaba3touni lol" As you can see this person used numbers in the spelling of certain words as we would do in texting also (eg: Gr8, c u l8r.) Any help you could give me in finding out the english translation of this message would be greatly appreciated. It is of great importance that I know what it says. Please help. Thank you, Lee.

If it's of great importance then why don't you text him back and tell him to type out his damm words ?

Lee91

It's complicated. Have you any idea what it says no?

basbari

I agree with Iwasfrozen, it would be much easier if you could ask him to type the words in full or use arabic script to write the words. However I'll attempt to translate it as is, but there are many words which aren't clear.

Rahou talifounah ta7 charge

Not very clear but it's something to do with his friends telephone.

7keli 3la kol chay w houwa yebki

Translates to: He told me about everything while he was crying.

taw y7el l face booak w e7ki enti w yeh rafna lik w lik rakom dhaba3touni lol

The last part makes very little sense to me, but is something to do with going on Facebook and talking to him/her.

Could be wrong though but maybe someone else might be able to improve on it.