Dear anyone,
Your duolingo forum registration isn't automaticaly transferred to duome forum so in order to join duome forums you need to register with your existing or any other username and email; in any case it's advised that you choose a new password for the forum.
~ Duome Team

What type of Arabic is it what Duolingo teaches us?

Moderators: The_lost, Jacko079

User avatar
pawndemic
Germany

What type of Arabic is it what Duolingo teaches us?

Post by pawndemic »

Marhaba!
Arabic is a sort of sideproject for me. Spanish is still my main project. But every once in a while I look at Arabic, therefore I still struggle with the writing system. I noticed that sometimes Duolingo gives a translation of word in the "Letters"-Units. But when I put it in the Google Translator sometimes the Arabic word is unknown, differently spelled or means something else.

So, what are they teaching ? Standard Arabic?

And bonus question: How close is the levantine Arabic from Syria to, lets say, the lebanese Arabic, what they speak in Beirut?

(and yes, I have no clue what I am talking about concerning the Arabic Language.)

native: 🇩🇪, B2 - C1: 🇬🇧 🇪🇸, A1: 🇫🇷 🇮🇹

User avatar
Jacko079
United States of America

Re: What type of Arabic is it what Duolingo teaches us?

Post by Jacko079 »

Duolingo gives a translation of word in the "Letters"-Units. But when I put it in the Google Translator sometimes the Arabic word is unknown, differently spelled or means something else.

Many of the first words you learn in the Arabic course are not words at all. Most of those first words are just collections of letters, so you will learn how to read the Arabic script.

So, what are they teaching ? Standard Arabic?

Yes, Duolingo teaches Modern Standard Arabic.

A few of them are words, most are just sounds though.

As you get deeper into the course, you will learn more actual words, and their definition should be given to you right then.

How close is the levantine Arabic from Syria to, lets say, the lebanese Arabic, what they speak in Beirut?

I also didn’t know the answer to this question.

Wikipedia says: “Lebanese Arabic is most closely related to Syrian Arabic and shares many innovations with Palestinian and Jordanian Arabic.”

Learning: Italian and Arabic.

User avatar
pawndemic
Germany

Re: What type of Arabic is it what Duolingo teaches us?

Post by pawndemic »

Jacko079 wrote: Wed Dec 21, 2022 1:41 am

Many of the first words you learn in the Arabic course are not words at all. Most of those first words are just collections of letters, so you will learn how to read the Arabic script.

Thank you for you answer, I am aware of that. But sometimes you can see a translation. So I would guess that in these cases it should be real words. Maybe next time when I see one I give you all an example here, especially when the translation not is the same as dictionaries say.

My question above comes from my experience from all the Spanish courses where all the different accents are mixed up.

native: 🇩🇪, B2 - C1: 🇬🇧 🇪🇸, A1: 🇫🇷 🇮🇹

User avatar
pawndemic
Germany

Re: What type of Arabic is it what Duolingo teaches us?

Post by pawndemic »

As promised, here some examples from today

هَبوب Duolingo says strong wind, but Google translator says Foolishness, and no entry in pons dictionary
سَرير It is bed, but google translator spelled it differently سرير
هَرّاس Duolingo says steamroller, GT says harras

native: 🇩🇪, B2 - C1: 🇬🇧 🇪🇸, A1: 🇫🇷 🇮🇹

User avatar
FurbyZeKat
Switzerland

Re: What type of Arabic is it what Duolingo teaches us?

Post by FurbyZeKat »

pawndemic wrote: Thu Dec 22, 2022 1:50 am

هَبوب Duolingo says strong wind, but Google translator says Foolishness, and no entry in pons dictionary
سَرير It is bed, but google translator spelled it differently سرير
هَرّاس Duolingo says steamroller, GT says harras

Google translator is evolving :
هَبوب is now "gusts", and no mention of foolishness
سَرير is سرير without the short vowel, which is correct
هَرّاس this one has many definitions, and one is "steam boiler", which is not very far from "steam roller".

N French C1 English B2 German B1 Esperanto L Turkish

Joumy110
Lebanon

Re: What type of Arabic is it what Duolingo teaches us?

Post by Joumy110 »

Duolingo teaches Modern Standard Arabic.

Sama

Re: What type of Arabic is it what Duolingo teaches us?

Post by Sama »

You can learn Arabic dialects by natives, in addition to Moder Standard Arabic, Grammar and Comprehension here https://kaleela.com/

Last edited by dakanga on Thu Sep 07, 2023 9:47 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: corrected link to standardize it
User avatar
dakanga

Re: What type of Arabic is it what Duolingo teaches us?

Post by dakanga »

Thanks for sharing this @Sama
Can you also share more information, especially with information such as

  1. How long does the free trial offer go for ?
  2. How much does it cost - is it a subscription system, etc ?
  3. Suggestions for reviews of this resource. And for you to do a personal review of this app. What do you like / dislike about it ? How does it compare to other resources that are free for learning languages ?

edited : due to what is now becoming frequent where you are recommending this site - that does cost money to use, a special discussion has been opened to cover talking about resources such as this.

Please see : viewtopic.php?t=18280

Sama

Re: What type of Arabic is it what Duolingo teaches us?

Post by Sama »

Sure, here you go

dakanga wrote: Thu Sep 07, 2023 9:02 am

Thanks for sharing this @Sama
Can you also share more information, especially with information such as

  1. How long does the free trial offer go for? The free trial allows you full access to all material with up to 3 topics for a maximum of 1 week.

  2. How much does it cost - is it a subscription system, etc? Yes, it's a subscription system. It's around 15$/month, and around 40$/3months ( you can check the website or app for more accurate numbers)

  3. Suggestions for reviews of this resource. And for you to do a personal review of this app. What do you like / dislike about it ? How does it compare to other resources that are free for learning languages ? honestly, it has a really huge library, and what makes it extra special for me is that it teaches the dialects by natives, so you'll actually learn what natives say and use in their day-to-day life. It also has great grammar courses and presents information in a great way. You'll actually have Alot to learn with them, not just the basic marhaba and shukran.

Post Reply

Return to “Language”