# Anyone Want to Chat? I Speak A Bit Of....Arabic!



## Gillian M (Mar 27, 2015)

Hello. Anyone free for a chat? If so please contact me. I speak some....*ARABIC*-an incredibly difficult, but a nice language, it seems.


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## Yvonne G (Mar 27, 2015)

Have you taken a look through our "Pretend Chat" thread? There are several middle eastern members on that thread.


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## Gillian M (Mar 27, 2015)

Yvonne G said:


> Have you taken a look through our "Pretend Chat" thread? There are several middle eastern members on that thread.


 Thanks very much Yvonne. I've been on that thread almost all day long. I'll check again, and many thanks your alert.


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## ZEROPILOT (Mar 27, 2015)

It's taken a life time to speak English...and I still stink at it.


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## Yvonne G (Mar 27, 2015)

ZEROPILOT said:


> It's taken a life time to speak English...and I still stink at it.



I took Latin (catholic school) and Spanish, but never could train my brain to actually think in those languages. Had to physically translate before I could speak the word/sentence.


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## Gillian M (Mar 27, 2015)

ZEROPILOT said:


> It's taken a life time to speak English...and I still stink at it.


 Oh no you don't! OK I haven't heard you speak the language but I can tell from your alerts your English is very good . You should hear my Arabic.....it would make you laugh, but I am doing my best at it.


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## Moozillion (Mar 27, 2015)

I "met" a friend on a poetry forum who is German (born and raised there) but as an adult, studied at Oxford. For the last 30 years she's been working in Japan, translating medical texts from Japanese to English (...or maybe it's the other way around...). Anyway, she recently posted that she had a dream about her family back in Germany, but they were all speaking Japanese!!!! The strange things our brains do!!!


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## ZEROPILOT (Mar 27, 2015)

It's just as well that I don't speak any other languages because it would be with a mild South Carolina accent.


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## Turtlepete (Mar 27, 2015)

Bi-lingual people amaze me. I learned Latin when I was young, but it really isn't a language that is taught or spoken these days. The kind of stuff you learn in textbooks isn't anything that would ever be used verbally. It has other uses though.

I'm doing ASL in college for my foreign language. I love it. Probably the funnest thing I've ever done in college, haha. Also way easier to learn then other languages.


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## Moozillion (Mar 27, 2015)

When I hear "South Carolina" I think of Shrimp and Grits!!!! Yum!!!


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## Moozillion (Mar 27, 2015)

Turtlepete said:


> Bi-lingual people amaze me. I learned Latin when I was young, but it really isn't a language that is taught or spoken these days. The kind of stuff you learn in textbooks isn't anything that would ever be used verbally. It has other uses though.
> 
> I'm doing ASL in college for my foreign language. I love it. Probably the funnest thing I've ever done in college, haha. Also way easier to learn then other languages.


Sign language is SOOOOO cool!!! Good for you!!!


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## Momof4 (Mar 27, 2015)

My brain just can't grasp it! I fail or have dropped out of classes! 

I think schools should teach a 2nd language when they are in 1st or 2nd grade because their brains are sponges! The time a kid gets into middle school-high school their brains have slowed and it's harder to learn.


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## DutchieAmanda (Mar 28, 2015)

In The Netherlands all kids speak Dutch (obviously) and in school they learn English and the basics of French and German. Languages such as Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Latin or ancient Greek are optional. This is so handy, especially when working in an international business environment!


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## Gillian M (Mar 28, 2015)

Moozillion said:


> Sign language is SOOOOO cool!!! Good for you!!!





Momof4 said:


> My brain just can't grasp it! I fail or have dropped out of classes!
> 
> I think schools should teach a 2nd language when they are in 1st or 2nd grade because their brains are sponges! The time a kid gets into middle school-high school their brains have slowed and it's harder to learn.


 
They've applied this in Jordan where English is taught just like Arabic-from 1st grade. French comes at a later stage and is not a compulsory subject.


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## Gillian M (Mar 28, 2015)

Turtlepete said:


> Bi-lingual people amaze me. I learned Latin when I was young, but it really isn't a language that is taught or spoken these days. The kind of stuff you learn in textbooks isn't anything that would ever be used verbally. It has other uses though.
> 
> I'm doing ASL in college for my foreign language. I love it. Probably the funnest thing I've ever done in college, haha. Also way easier to learn then other languages.


 Wonder if you know that there's the classical Arabic, and then there's the colloquial one (the spoken, slang one if so I may put it). And the classical is not only harder but also very different.


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## Gillian M (Mar 28, 2015)

Moozillion said:


> I "met" a friend on a poetry forum who is German (born and raised there) but as an adult, studied at Oxford. For the last 30 years she's been working in Japan, translating medical texts from Japanese to English (...or maybe it's the other way around...). Anyway, she recently posted that she had a dream about her family back in Germany, but they were all speaking Japanese!!!! The strange things our brains do!!!


 Amazing how the human brain works, is it not  ?


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## WithLisa (Mar 28, 2015)

I started to learn English in school at an early age, but I'm still so bad at it... 
But at least I can read and understand it quite well, that helps a lot in this day and age.
I also had lessons in Latin and Japanese, but I have no talent for languages, I guess I should stick with German.


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## Gillian M (Mar 28, 2015)

DutchieAmanda said:


> In The Netherlands all kids speak Dutch (obviously) and in school they learn English and the basics of French and German. Languages such as Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Latin or ancient Greek are optional. This is so handy, especially when working in an international business environment!


Don't you think that's a bit too much pressure on the child's brain? OK, their brains can grasp the language-or any subject for that matter- easily at the age but still too much pressure has its negative effects. (Please do not take this personal).


WithLisa said:


> I started to learn English in school at an early age, but I'm still so bad at it...
> But at least I can read and understand it quite well, that helps a lot in this day and age.
> I also had lessons in Latin and Japanese, but I have no talent for languages, I guess I should stick with German.


 
Oh no, your English is anything but bad.I really don't see why you said so in your alert . Had it been bad,you wouldn't have been able to send all those alerts. Personally, I think your English is very good, considering it's a second language.

Tell me please, what's...Japanese like? I heard it's one of the most difficult languages-like Chinese. Mind you, even....GERMAN is a diificult language, isn't it? (No offence to you or anyone else, ok). French is hard with...*spellings,* when a word is spelt one way and then pronounced in a totally different way


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## WithLisa (Mar 28, 2015)

Gillian Moore said:


> Personally, I think your English is very good, considering it's a second language.


Thank you! At my high-school exit exam I failed in English and my teacher tried to console me, he told me that I would surely pass in the next year. The examiner overheard it and answered, he would strongly advise against a second attempt since I would never ever be successful. 
Well, he was wrong... 



Gillian Moore said:


> Tell me please, what's...Japanese like?


I think the language is not very difficult, they don't have much grammar and not all those homophones of Chinese. But writing and reading is hard to learn. For example they have a character for "white" and one for "bird" and both together mean "swan", but the pronunciation of swan is toatally different from white or bird. 
I can only read books for kindergartners with syllabic writing.


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## Gillian M (Mar 28, 2015)

WithLisa said:


> Thank you! At my high-school exit exam I failed in English and my teacher tried to console me, he told me that I would surely pass in the next year. The examiner overheard it and answered, he would strongly advise against a second attempt since I would never ever be successful.
> Well, he was wrong...
> 
> 
> ...


 That's amazing....someone saying Japanese is not difficult.

As for failing an examination, well, I believe even the brightest people could fail if they suffer "exam nervousness." Know what I mean?


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## Moozillion (Mar 28, 2015)

Actually, I took an informal course in Japanese once, and I agree. What little I was taught was not so difficult. The big problem for me with Chinese is that it is a TONAL language; which is also what gives it a certain sing-song quality. Example using the word "ha." If you say it with a rising tone it means one thing, if you say it with a non-changing tone it means something totally different, and if you say it with a falling tone it means something different yet again. Also (again, if I understand correctly- which is a BIG if! ) Chinese is entirely a picture language with literally hundreds of characters to be memorized! <WHEW!>
Japanese, on the other hand, is NOT tonal at all. In fact, the words with multiple syllables don't even have greater emphasis on one syllable like we do in English. It's also highly phonetic- at least when written with the English characters. The alphabet is short enough to be memorized, unlike the seemingly never-ending Chinese character list! 
As an interesting side note: I lived briefly in New Zealand and took 2 courses in learning the language of the Maaori. There are some surprising similarities between Maaori and Japanese- at least when written with the English characters!


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## WithLisa (Mar 28, 2015)

Moozillion said:


> The alphabet is short enough to be memorized, unlike the seemingly never-ending Chinese character list!


Japanese also use Chinese characters, to read a newspaper you have to know at least 1000 characters. The alphabets are used for grammar and foreign words.


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## Gillian M (Mar 28, 2015)

WithLisa said:


> Japanese also use Chinese characters, to read a newspaper you have to know at least 1000 characters. The alphabets are used for grammar and foreign words.


 That really is a "different world of languages" isn't it?


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## Moozillion (Mar 28, 2015)

WithLisa said:


> Japanese also use Chinese characters, to read a newspaper you have to know at least 1000 characters. The alphabets are used for grammar and foreign words.


Thanks for clarifying that! I was not aware!


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## Tidgy's Dad (Mar 28, 2015)

I speak Arabic, Gillian! But Darija, which is Moroccan dialect and quite removed from your classical or Modern Arabic in your area.
I learned Latin at school and studied this and ancient Greek privately later on.
Now I have learned moderate French, Spanish some Thai, Polish, German and Berber as well as bits of others.
I can read most European books and newspapers and at least get the gist of them through my Latin and Greek. 
And I teach English as a foreign language here, a little and one of my new friends here is Korean, so we're teaching each other.


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## Gillian M (Mar 28, 2015)

Tidgy's Dad said:


> I speak Arabic, Gillian! But Darija, which is Moroccan dialect and quite removed from your classical or Modern Arabic in your area.
> I learned Latin at school and studied this and ancient Greek privately later on.
> Now I have learned moderate French, Spanish some Thai, Polish, German and Berber as well as bits of others.
> I can read most European books and newspapers and at least get the gist of them through my Latin and Greek.
> And I teach English as a foreign language here, a little and one of my new friends here is Korean, so we're teaching each other.


 That Arabic spoken in North African Arab countries is something totally different from the Arabic used here in Asia, i.e: Jordan, Syria and Lebanon. I personally have learnt to speak the language quite well, but when I listen to somebody from Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria or Morocco speaking......I don't understand a word! They have different accents, and dialects.


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## WithLisa (Mar 28, 2015)

Tidgy's Dad said:


> I speak Arabic, Gillian! But Darija, which is Moroccan dialect and quite removed from your classical or Modern Arabic in your area.
> I learned Latin at school and studied this and ancient Greek privately later on.
> Now I have learned moderate French, Spanish some Thai, Polish, German and Berber as well as bits of others.
> I can read most European books and newspapers and at least get the gist of them through my Latin and Greek.
> And I teach English as a foreign language here, a little and one of my new friends here is Korean, so we're teaching each other.


Wow, you must have a natural talent to learn languages!


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## Moozillion (Mar 28, 2015)

Tidgy's Dad said:


> I speak Arabic, Gillian! But Darija, which is Moroccan dialect and quite removed from your classical or Modern Arabic in your area.
> I learned Latin at school and studied this and ancient Greek privately later on.
> Now I have learned moderate French, Spanish some Thai, Polish, German and Berber as well as bits of others.
> I can read most European books and newspapers and at least get the gist of them through my Latin and Greek.
> And I teach English as a foreign language here, a little and one of my new friends here is Korean, so we're teaching each other.


A polyglot!!!! What fun!!!
I envy you!
I took French in high school and German at University, neither of which is any use to me now! If I'd learned SPANISH instead, I'd be using it bunches!


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## Tidgy's Dad (Mar 28, 2015)

WithLisa said:


> Wow, you must have a natural talent to learn languages!


Not really, it's seriously hard work, but I've lived in lots of different places and that helps.
It's a beautiful world and I love to travel it and learn from all it's diverse peoples.


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## TortsNTurtles (Mar 28, 2015)

Tidgy's Dad said:


> I speak Arabic, Gillian! But Darija, which is Moroccan dialect and quite removed from your classical or Modern Arabic in your area.
> I learned Latin at school and studied this and ancient Greek privately later on.
> Now I have learned moderate French, Spanish some Thai, Polish, German and Berber as well as bits of others.
> I can read most European books and newspapers and at least get the gist of them through my Latin and Greek.
> And I teach English as a foreign language here, a little and one of my new friends here is Korean, so we're teaching each other.



That is awesome!


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## Tidgy's Dad (Mar 28, 2015)

TortsNTurtles said:


> That is awesome!


Thanks, but apparently it's Mike Taylor who is awesome.


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## Gillian M (Mar 29, 2015)

Moozillion said:


> A polyglot!!!! What fun!!!
> I envy you!
> I took French in high school and German at University, neither of which is any use to me now! If I'd learned SPANISH instead, I'd be using it bunches!


 Just want to ask, if yiu don't mind: why would Spanish be of use to you?


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## Moozillion (Mar 29, 2015)

Gillian Moore said:


> Just want to ask, if yiu don't mind: why would Spanish be of use to you?


For many years there have been a lot of immigrants into the U.S. from Mexico, the Caribbean, Central and South America; a great many are illegal immigrants. In comparison to the U.S., those countries are somewhat impoverished, with limited opportunities for employment in many areas, so coming here has a lot to offer. A great many work here and send money back home to their families. This immigration has accelerated markedly in about the past 20 years or so. Especially in Florida, Texas, California and the American West the number of Spanish-speaking residents is becoming a significant percentage of the population.
They often take the hard laboring jobs that nobody else wants (the majority are uneducated, lower socio-economic level folks- many speak little or no English) and the ones who've worked for us (yard and garden-tending) have been VERY hard workers. In our area (in and around New Orleans) there are large areas of people specifically from Honduras and from Haiti. Almost any time you go into a city, you'll hear Spanish being spoken in the street.


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## stojanovski92113 (Mar 29, 2015)

Speaking another language is difficult for me, I cant grasp it. I took French for two yrs and I was awful. Now I've been around macedonian people since 1997 & I still can't get it!!! My husbands family is 100% Macedonians. I should be near fluent in macedonian lingo...but I know certain words like beer, pig, and appetizers lol


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## Turtlepete (Mar 29, 2015)

Moozillion said:


> MANY people (especially the Conservatives, who are in a political majority right now) are VIOLENTLY opposed to the immigrants. It is a VERY HOT political topic. Since America was founded ENTIRELY by immigrants, this seems pretty hypocritical to me.
> Just my 2 bits.



I know none who are "violently" opposed to it. Rather we believe in the definition that a country is defined by its borders, which our country doesn't seems to have these days.


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## Tidgy's Dad (Mar 29, 2015)

stojanovski92113 said:


> Speaking another language is difficult for me, I cant grasp it. I took French for two yrs and I was awful. Now I've been around macedonian people since 1997 & I still can't get it!!! My husbands family is 100% Macedonians. I should be near fluent in macedonian lingo...but I know certain words like beer, pig, and appetizers lol


Just the important stuff then? What else do you need ?


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## stojanovski92113 (Mar 29, 2015)

Tidgy's Dad said:


> Just the important stuff then? What else do you need ?


Yup that's what I said


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## Moozillion (Mar 29, 2015)

Turtlepete said:


> I know none who are "violently" opposed to it. Rather we believe in the definition that a country is defined by its borders, which our country doesn't seems to have these days.


Unfortunately, the area I live in has some political extremists. The Klu Klux Klan is still active in parts of the state, and there are other groups I consider extremist. The things I've heard said have no place on this forum.
In looking at my previous post, I should not have mentioned the Conservatives- the people who are espousing "violence" as a means of dealing with the immigration problem belong to other groups. My apologies to any Conservative forum members I may have offended.


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## BeeBee*BeeLeaves (Mar 29, 2015)

No prob Moozillion. Still love ya anyhow. I for one, know what you meant. I agree, my immigrant friends and neighbors are awesome.
I so enjoy having culture and cultural come to me. While traveling and visiting is great, there is no place like home.
The foods, the celebrations, the new things to eat at the new stores that are coming in ... with things from other places.
When I grew up in old school, lotsa farm land Orange County, it was English and German that was spoken.
We were the whitest of the white. Ultra conservative. And in some ways, still are. Not as ultra though.
So much has changed, and once we got past that transitional stage, it's been quite fun to not be so boring white bread, white bred.
And like I said, I love my neighbors from other places. Our area is better because of our vibrant rainbow of people!
Variety-variety-variety is not just good policy for tortoise food, but for people too! : )


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## Turtlepete (Mar 29, 2015)

Moozillion said:


> Unfortunately, the area I live in has some political extremists. The Klu Klux Klan is still active in parts of the state, and there are other groups I consider extremist. The things I've heard said have no place on this forum.
> In looking at my previous post, I should not have mentioned the Conservatives- the people who are espousing "violence" as a means of dealing with the immigration problem belong to other groups. My apologies to any Conservative forum members I may have offended.



No offense taken.


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## Abdulla6169 (May 3, 2015)

*raises hand*
I can speak *Arabic* and *English! *Also, I want to learn *German**. * 

I'm too busy, so maybe in the summer?

I can speak the Gulf Arabic and Modern Arabic.

BTW, sorry for the large text, this is the first time I use the site (not the mobile) and I got a little carried away.


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## Tidgy's Dad (May 3, 2015)

AbdullaAli said:


> *raises hand*
> I can speak *Arabic* and *English! *Also, I want to learn *German**. *
> 
> I'm too busy, so maybe in the summer?
> ...


You always get carried away.


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## Gillian M (May 3, 2015)

AbdullaAli said:


> *raises hand*
> I can speak *Arabic* and *English! *Also, I want to learn *German**. *
> 
> I'm too busy, so maybe in the summer?
> ...


Hi there. I too would like to learn *GERMAN*, although it's an extremely difficult language-like Arabic-and at this point I don't really think it would be of any use to me particularly in The Middle East.


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