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I am learning arabic, it's getting easier to recognize letters but it's impossible for me to guess how a word might sound when there are no diacritics Eg: I'd

I am learning arabic, it's getting easier to recognize letters but it's impossible for me to guess how a word might sound when there are no diacritics Eg: I'd have read the first word as alif+ba+noon = ABN

Cyph0n 9y ago
It's difficult even for native users, so don't worry too much! Great job reading the letters though! Learning a language that uses a different alphabet is a tough endeavor (I've tried!). When diacritics are not present, you need to guess what the word is based on context. Two examples: هناك علم على غصن الشجرة هناك علم في ذلك الكتاب Notice that the word "علم" is present in both sentences. But once you read the sentences, you'll end up realizing that the words are different. If diacritics were present, this would be immediately obvious! The two sentences, translated, are: There is a flag on the tree branch. There is knowledge in that book. The word "علم" means either "flag" or "knowledge/science" in these two sentences.
- tomcooks 9y ago
  Shukran I really appreciate the welcoming attitude and the explanation! Copying this in my todo.md file so I can keep it for future reference If it doesn't bother you, do you happen to know a good online arabic dictionary, possibly showing letters separatedly and pronounciation
  - Cyph0n 9y ago
    The best general online dictionary I know of in Arabic is https://www.almaany.com/ar/dict/ar-ar/ https://www.almaany.com/ar/dict/ar-ar/. They have an English-to-Arabic version here: https://www.almaany.com/en/dict/ar-en/ https://www.almaany.com/en/dict/ar-en/. Two good English-to-Arabic dictionaries: * https://en.bab.la/dictionary/english-arabic/ https://en.bab.la/dictionary/english-arabic/ * https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-arabic/ https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-arabic/ The best learner's dictionaries I could find: * http://arabic-dictionary.lingualism.com/ http://arabic-dictionary.lingualism.com/ Al Jazeera has an excellent Arabic learning website that uses clips from their shows and news programs to teach the language: http://learning.aljazeera.net/en/ http://learning.aljazeera.net/en/. One cool thing is that they include diacritics in all of the text to avoid the problem we were discussing above. Feel free to contact me (@aksiksi on Twitter) if you have any further questions. I would be glad to help you as much as I can :)

Cyph0n 9y ago

It's difficult even for native users, so don't worry too much! Great job reading the letters though! Learning a language that uses a different alphabet is a tough endeavor (I've tried!). When diacritics are not present, you need to guess what the word is based on context. Two examples: هناك علم على غصن الشجرة هناك علم في ذلك الكتاب Notice that the word "علم" is present in both sentences. But once you read the sentences, you'll end up realizing that the words are different. If diacritics were present, this would be immediately obvious! The two sentences, translated, are: There is a flag on the tree branch. There is knowledge in that book. The word "علم" means either "flag" or "knowledge/science" in these two sentences.

tomcooks 9y ago
Shukran I really appreciate the welcoming attitude and the explanation! Copying this in my todo.md file so I can keep it for future reference If it doesn't bother you, do you happen to know a good online arabic dictionary, possibly showing letters separatedly and pronounciation
- Cyph0n 9y ago
  The best general online dictionary I know of in Arabic is https://www.almaany.com/ar/dict/ar-ar/ https://www.almaany.com/ar/dict/ar-ar/. They have an English-to-Arabic version here: https://www.almaany.com/en/dict/ar-en/ https://www.almaany.com/en/dict/ar-en/. Two good English-to-Arabic dictionaries: * https://en.bab.la/dictionary/english-arabic/ https://en.bab.la/dictionary/english-arabic/ * https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-arabic/ https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-arabic/ The best learner's dictionaries I could find: * http://arabic-dictionary.lingualism.com/ http://arabic-dictionary.lingualism.com/ Al Jazeera has an excellent Arabic learning website that uses clips from their shows and news programs to teach the language: http://learning.aljazeera.net/en/ http://learning.aljazeera.net/en/. One cool thing is that they include diacritics in all of the text to avoid the problem we were discussing above. Feel free to contact me (@aksiksi on Twitter) if you have any further questions. I would be glad to help you as much as I can :)