Arabic @ MindSay 
ishbeena- godmother
daughter- bint
son- ibn
world- dunya
tall- tawil
restaurant- mataam
tea- shay
sugar- sokkar
and- wa
in- fi
every- koll
any- ayy/ ayya
when- mata
rich- ghani
good- hasan
pride- kebriya
except- ella
mosque- gamea
how much does this room cost?- bekam el oda?
lunch- ghada
anger- ghadab
happiness- soroor
ugly- wihesh
car- sayyara
bus- auto beas
airplane- tayyara
open- maftuh
close- maskuk
plate- tabaq
salad- salata
juice- assir
grapees- enab
worker- amel
far- baeed
vegetable- khorfa
airport- mattar
driver- sawwaq
glass- bas
money- follus
bathroom- hammam
come on- ta fadal
fish- samak
bellboy/waiter- jarson
many-kathir
small- saghir
bank- ban
chair- korsii
grandfather- jad
grandmother- jadda
also- eydan
foreigner- khawaga
do u speak arabic?- takalameem arabi?
bread- aish
lawyer- mohumi
happy- mabsut
city- madina
shop- souk
look-shouf
for you -(male) leak
for you -( female) leaki
perhaps- yemken
possible- mumken
not possible- mesh mumken
how old are u? - kam omrak?
wait- intazir
i love u- ana bahebak
how much- bekam
beautiful- jamila
house- bait
school- almadraza
hospital- mostasfa
please- men fadlak
why- lemaza
what- ma
yes- naam, aywa
no- la
good morning- sabah al kheir
good evening- masah al kheir
good night- tosbeh al kheir
train- intar
station- mahatta
ticket- tazkara
arrive- wussul
i dont know- la adri
hotel- fundoq
room- ghorfa
dinner- asha
water- mayya
sleeping- nayem
welcome- marhaba
how are u?- ezzayek
enginner- mohandes
physician- tabib, tabiba
do you have wife?- hal anta motazaweg?
do you have husband? hal anta motazawega?
picture- sora
thanks God- Allamdillah
God willing- Insha allah
thank you- shokran
bridge- kubri
airconditioner- takeef
here- hona
i, me- ana
you- anta
tip- baksheesh
what is your name?- ma esmi?
my name is?- esmi____
sorry- assif
i can not understand- ana mesh fahem
do you understand- anta enfaham
thhe air conditioner is not working- ella takeef la taamal
do u have work?- enta yaamal?
today- en narha da
tomorrow- bokra
expensive- ghali
cheap- rhakas
cheaper- arkhas
finish- khalas
bag- haqiba
student- talib
clerk- katib
ayeez- i want
After spending 12 days on board a container ship, the start of my two-year stint at learning the Arabic language is almost at hand. On the 21st of this month I will be taking "Modern Standard Arabic 100" at the Arabic Language Institute in Fes (ALIF). I know almost no Arabic bar the alphabet, counting, and a few phrases, but at least I can find some solace in knowing something beforehand. I can also find some solace in my polyglot background, as I speak Dutch very well and "puedo defenderme" in Spanish. The difference in learning Arabic, of course, is that it is not a Romance language. Nor is it a Germanic one. It isn't even in the same language family. It is in fact part of the Afro-Asiatic family, which includes such groups as Berber (an ancient language that has remained mostly unchanged over the past 200 years), Chadic (which includes Hausa, spoken across a wide swath of west Africa), Cushitic and Omotic (two fairly similar groups which include many of the languages spoken in the Horn of Africa), Egyptian (the defunct language of those fabled pyramid-builders), and of course the Semitic group. The Semitic group includes Arabic, Hebrew, and Hebrew. This all basically means that Arabic is going to be very difficult. On a scale of 1 to 4, with 4 being the hardest, Arabic is part of "Group IV", along with Chinese, Japanese, and Korean. And while I can breath a sigh of relief that Arabic has a manageable 28-letter alphabet- as opposed to the thousands of Chinese characters- the learning process should still prove to be a rather daunting task. But, having a mind that is wired for learning language should help considerably. In other words, the 2,100 hours that it typically takes for an average learner to speak Arabic at an advanced (almost fluent) level- which is my goal- should not apply to me. Perhaps it will take "only" 1,600 hours for me. That is more or less 2 years and I have alloted myself this much time to study.
I am going to start my language training in Morocco primarily because it seems to have the most well-organized program for intensive Arabic in the Arabic-speaking world (minus AU-Cairo, which is prohibitively expensive). It won't be the most useful place to learn the language because the colloquial Arabic spoken here is far removed from classical Arabic. From what I have read, Levantine Arabic is most closely related to the classical form and thus the Levant would certainly be the more immersive environment for Arabic learning. After 6 months in Morocco I will therefore continue my studies somewhere in the Levant (most likely Jordan).
But Morocco should be an immersive environment in so far as newspapers and television is concerned. News broadcasts, some television shows, newspapers, and literature all use MSA. It is a literary language and spoken as a medium of communication between Arab diplomats, businessmen, etc. It would probably sound like Elizabethan English would to an average citizen of America or England, and so probably would therefore
not make much sense to the average citizen of any Arab country. But anyone with any kind of secondary education should be able to understand most of what I am saying. Needless to say, in much of the Arab world this is but a very small minority. But hopefully I'll be able to pick up some Moroccan Arabic and then, more likely, Levantine Arabic in the future. I will arrive in Fes on the morning of the 9th on a ferry from Spain after a 28-hour bus ride from the Netherlands. Fortunately, I will maintain some semblance of sanity by spending a night at a hostel in Granada to break up the trip. End of my first blog!!...
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