tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22261571.post604092499476673627..comments2024-03-20T01:06:12.181-04:00Comments on MEI Editor's Blog: Is Arabic Hard? The Latest Silly ControversyUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22261571.post-31218909431533141072010-09-12T17:01:36.240-04:002010-09-12T17:01:36.240-04:00I found Arabic difficult to learn, but not becaus...I found Arabic difficult to learn, but not because of the alphabet or because is is written right to left. That was the easy part. The hard part was the internal plurals. <br />Let us recall the famous words of James Moose, a State Department Arabist of a bygone era: "Arabic is a language that opens a door to an empty room."--Tom LippmanAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22261571.post-43965258908507709332010-09-09T15:18:00.286-04:002010-09-09T15:18:00.286-04:00Imagine how hard it was before Saint Hans Wehr pub...Imagine how hard it was before Saint Hans Wehr published his matchless dictionary. Fortunately for me, when I started in 1962, it had just been translated into English. Before that, knowledge of German was virtually a necessity for studying modern standard. That did not keep the director of Arabic studies at Harvard for insisting that we use a French grammar, a bit of a hurdle for a virtual mono-lingual American like me! All that said, at the end of day, it was accumulating vocabulary with no English cognates that was the hardest part -- not the writing system or the unfamiliar grammar. Two graduates of Hebrew School in my class had the big edge over the rest of us. It was noteworthy that in 1962, no American Arab or Muslim students would cross their parents by studying Arabic! How times have changed, for the better, with MEI offering "heritage classes" in Arabic and Farsi.David Macknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22261571.post-91125099662411961152010-09-08T14:37:10.607-04:002010-09-08T14:37:10.607-04:00After studying Mandarin, I found learning Arabic (...After studying Mandarin, I found learning Arabic (as an adult) pretty straightforward and that Israeli students (living in US) who already knew Hebrew, had a big advantage over us native English speakers because of similarities between Arabic and Hebrew.Sharon Colemanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15542375734622302644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22261571.post-73768647833533295332010-09-08T14:29:50.019-04:002010-09-08T14:29:50.019-04:00Wayne White could not agree more with Michael Dunn...Wayne White could not agree more with Michael Dunne in that there has been quite enough said about this "silly" argument that should not have seen the light of day in the first place. For one thing, it is irrelevant as to whether Arabic is hard. Whether "hard" or not, it is an immensely important world language that many more people must master if non-Arab speakers and the nations from which they hail are to maximize their understanding of Islam as well as the many countries & cultures dominated by that powerful language.Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10831646633443837048noreply@blogger.com