Also, I was highly amused today when someone commented on my French having a Spanish accent rather than an English one. I'm picking up the practice again, after years when it was subordinated to Spanish. Arabic, I probably won't be conversant in by year's end - but I *would* like to be a much sharper reader of its prose, at least, in the coming months.
#Languages! What fun. :)
@MLClark I'm learning Arabic too! I love languages. :)
@JeniRizio Wonderful! I'm past Duolingo and working on building my own "course" materials for the next phase - listening, reading, writing, and eventually conversational production. How are you diving in?
@MLClark The letters are beautiful and the sounds are fascinating. Some of it I understand because I know some Hebrew. The word for house, for example, is the same
@JeniRizio Yes! Hebrew overlaps are fascinating, too.
I don't know if you dabble in the bird (awful site though it is), but there was a lovely recent thread of words and expressions in Arabic to convey love. Maybe you'll enjoy these, too!
(I still can't get over how beautiful ليبيا looks when written out. It's lovely to realize how aesthetically pleasing so many Arabic terms are in their original context!)
@MLClark I'll have a look -- thanks! I love the alliterations (I think I have that term right), the repeated sounds.
@JeniRizio Jen, I'm so glad you reached out to share your joy in studying languages. I really do look forward to touching base now, over the coming months, to keep cheering each other on. May your studies reward and delight you immensely! ❤️
@MLClark Diolch yn fawr! (Thank you very much in Welsh). This means a lot to me! The feeling is mutual!
@JeniRizio It's beautiful. I live in a Spanish context, so the Arabic is a boon to my translation work, because there are so many wonderful intersections in the history of these two tongues.
Learning Spanish messed with my familial French, though, so I've been actively reclaiming it with film and radio, along with Latin from grad studies, & I'd love to reclaim the Japanese I studied as a teen too.
So it's a period of "return". Arabic writing is tricky but rewarding; BEAUTIFUL letter forms, no?