I am learning the Syrian/Lebanese dialact of Arabic. My motivation comes in part from family ties, but also, I love the language and the warm social culture of my friends and family who speak it. I am lucky in that I am around people that speak Arabic and have willing tutors. My initial strategy for the spoken language was to use the Pimsleur course, which I found extremely helpful; people are often impressed with my accent, and I can carry on a very superficial conversation with what I learned from it. I also listen constantly to Arabic vocal music (like Rayess Bek, Tania Saleh, Fairuz.) When I hear people talking in Arabic on the phone, I try to figure out what they are saying. Now I’m buying a personal voice recorder so that I can record conversations (with permission) and break them down and imitate them later on. Within the next few years, I hope to take a summer program in Arabic.
I also used a book by Nicolas Awde to learn Arabic writing, which is a weakness for me since I can’t email people in Arabic text. I have made flash cards to help my vocabulary and reading. I’m in the process of labeling household items in arabic.
When I started I was crazy and thought I could push myself to fluency in 6 months. Now it’s been about a year, and I’ve got years left. But it’s been worth it so far. I love learning Arabic.
