Job Discussion Forums

[Super Modal]

I've got to start learning Gulf Arabic, but I'm having a hard time finding good books, DVDs, websites, etc for me to use by myself at home. I've started with the Arabic alphabet and script, but I don't want to speak MSA if I'm in a Gulf country. Any suggestions? What do you like to use?

Thanks

[veiledsentiments]

MSA is certainly fine. You will be one of the only teachers who even knows the difference. And there is the fact that each country has a different dialect.

VS

[scot47]

Uncle Sam has produceds huge amounts of material which is ow in the public domain

http://fsi-language-courses.org/Content.php?page=Arabic

I would say go for the Saudi version which is Hejazi Arabic

[Dedicated]

Try "Teach Yourself Gulf Arabic"

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Yourself-Arabic-Complete-Course

[Gulezar]

The Gulf now is a total mixed up salad of Arabic dialects, with a lot of Levantine zatar thrown in for good measure. The first word that you'll learn will probably be "seeda, seeda" ... "straight, straight", as you direct your taxi driver to your new abode; apparently, a word from the Indian subcontinent. Then again you will also hear English words thrown into the mix with abandon.

Once you get to know your students, you can ask about "Al Shehhi" language.

[veiledsentiments]

seeda is Urdu... since most of the taxi drivers are Pakistani.

VS

[desert]

I recommend the Formal Spoken Arabic 'Fast' course. It teaches something more formal than a dialect, but not completely formal to point of sounding Shakespearean. The 'Basic' course is also good, but it presupposes some knowledge of Modern Standard Arabic. The 'Fast' version is basic enough for the beginner and has both Arabic script and transliteration. I would also recommend the FSI Hijazi course that was already mentioned.

http://www.amazon.com/Georgetown-Classics-Languages-Linguistics-Edition/dp/1589011066/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360869941&sr=8-1&keywords=arabic+fast

[scot47]

Get the right register too, otherwise you will going around saying things like "Varlet, convey me forthwith to the nearest hostelry, whereat I may partake of swineflesh and fermented beverages !"

[desert]

The formality stuff makes it some kind of complicated, but the FSA course basically teaches Standard Arabic with the option to throw in a colloquial word whenever you feel like it. I think this is a good approach for foreigners to speak Arabic since the colloquial words are sufficient to offset the words like 'forthwith'.

[Richard62]

I recommend the following three books:

Colloquial Arabic of the Gulf: The Complete Course for Beginners

Ultimate Arabic

Gulf Arabic: The Dialects of Riyadh and Eastern Saudi Arabia: Grammar, Dialogues, and Lexicon

[sicklyman]

I've just come aross Wightwick and Gaafar's Mastering Arabic. They have an excellent writing book and a main course book. It's the best thing I've seen in all my research as I began studying Arabic.