How Far Back in Time Could You Go and Still Understand Arabic

Often languages that are perceived as being difficult are just misunderstood by westerners and Arabic is no exception. Modern Standard Arabic is in high demand, but you may have hesitated to learn it because it has a reputation for being inaccessible to foreigners. We're here to dispel that myth and reassure language learners that with the right approach and a quality language learning program from Rosetta Stone, you can build your confidence and begin speaking Arabic.

Here are just a few reasons Arabic, the language of Islam, shouldn't intimidate you.

ARABIC SHARES MANY SOUNDS WITH ENGLISH

While we've said there are some quirks of pronunciation, to be fair there are really just two or three unique Arabic sounds that you'll have to learn. Everything else is just a variation on sounds from the English language you already know and make in your everyday conversations. Arabic has both voiced and voiceless consonants which means that in some consonants, the pronunciation of the sound uses vibration from the voice box while others, which are voiceless, do not.

ARABIC VERB CONJUGATION IS EASY TO LEARN

There aren't many irregular verbs in Arabic which makes them easy to learn and conjugate. In general, Arabic verbs are conjugated into different tenses related to the person taking action, the number of people, when the action occurred, gender, mood, and voice. Because the rules are so consistent, some websites have even developed engines to make conjugating Modern Standard Arabic verbs easier.

BEING A SEMITIC LANGUAGE HAS ADVANTAGES

Semitic languages are a group of 77 different languages that share a similar origin. Because Arabic is a Semitic language, once you learn the roots and radicals, you can expand your vocabulary quickly with related words and may even find similarities between Arabic words and those in Hebrew and Amharic, the language of Ethiopia.

WORD ORDER ISN'T AS CRUCIAL IN ARABIC

Similar to languages like Russian, you can switch around Arabic words in the sentence and still trust you are getting your meaning across. Arabic is considered a VSO language (verb, subject, object) in which the verb typically comes first in the sentence structure. For instance, instead of saying "He ate bread," in Arabic one would say كان يأكل الخبز (Ate he bread).

ARABIC PAYS OFF

Less than 1% of US college students study Arabic , despite it being considered a high demand language by both the government, business, and other non-profits doing work in the region. Because Modern Standard Arabic has extensive usage as the official language in 25 countries, you'll get plenty of mileage out of your language learning and gain critical cultural insights.

Surround yourself with Arabic whenever, wherever with the Rosetta Stone app .

Download a unit and knock it out on the train or a flight. Select a 5-10 minute lesson and sneak it in while you wait in line or for your ride to show up. And explore dynamic features, like Seek and Speak, where you can point at an object in the real world and get a translation .

The best part? You don't have to choose between app or desktop. Both come with your subscription and sync, so you can switch between devices seamlessly.

How Far Back in Time Could You Go and Still Understand Arabic

Source: https://www.rosettastone.com/languages/learn-arabic/

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