Thread: How many Arabian dialects are there?

I am seriously setting my mind into learning Arabic. I've heard that there are several dialects of the language so I wonder which is best to learn. (A more universal one so that largest portion of arabs would understand me when I speak it) Thank you in advance.

The second question is whether I could get proper education in Arabic in Moscow/Russia.

I don't know about the latter, but I can answer the first one.

There a consistent pattern amongst Arabic learners to start off with Egyptian arabic. I speak the Saudi dialect of Arabic, since I'm Saudi, but I would advise you to learn Egyptian Arabic. Why? Because:

1) It's the Arabic dialect with the least corrupted GRAMMAR.
2) It's one of the most unique and recognised dialects.
3) It's one of the most widely recognised dialects in the Middle East. The influence of the Egyptian cinema was so great that most Arabs grew up watching Egyptian movies or dramas on TV, and thus become familiar with the dialect and can understand it perfectly.

If I were you, though, I would opt for Classical Arabic. It's far better and it's the language used by Middle Eastern media outlets (Al-Jazeera included).

Isnt there also something called MSA ? Modern Standard Arabic?

Its what the military teaches to linguists. After than they go on the specialize in a certain countries dialect.

Originally Posted by Dogboy182

Isnt there also something called MSA ? Modern Standard Arabic?

Its what the military teaches to linguists. After than they go on the specialize in a certain countries dialect.

MSA is the same as Classical Arabic. I like to use the latter term more.

I know there are Magribian dialects, which are spoken, in Morocco, Tunis and Algir.

I'm surprised Yazeed...I thought the gulf dialects (eg, Saudi) were the least corrupted, grammatically.

Egyptian IS indeed the most widely known, as you say.

But Levantine (dialect of Syria, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan) is probably a close second.

It'd be a mistake to go with Maghreby dialect, as it's mostly unintelligible across the Arab world. Iraqi might be like this, too -- but it ultimately comes down to your aims/interests.

It's best to start off with MSA. Get a foothold in the grammar before moving on to the dialects. Dialect teaching, at least in my experience, tends to assume some understanding of MSA grammar fundamentals. And any such knowledge, at any rate, makes dialect learning a snap.

MSA is *not exactly* Fusha (classical). I think the grammar and word usage are a bit different/simplified on the whole.

Arabic is an easy language grammatically. The cases should pose no challenge (only 3), nor should the genders (2). Some people scratch their head when they learn of Arabic's "dual" number, but it's really quite a simple thing.

The hard part is wrapping your mouth around the infamous 'Ayn and the emphatics.

Do that and you've got half the language conquered.

A truly beautiful language. Let me direct you here (Levantine/Palestinian dialect):

http://youtube.com/watch?v=FAmviaQQ5FA

http://www.youtube.com/v/zAO1oelk-_M

I like this song very much.

Word.

I really advise you to study Al Fus

[quote=a true arab]I really advise you to study Al Fus