Think like an Arab

Several years back when I was starting to learn Arabic, my teacher would often say, the key to success in learning the Arabic language is to think like an Arab. He said you had to see sentences as arabs see the sentences and not as you normally see sentences. Why was that? Well he further explained that the English and Arabic differ so much that we can’t literally translate every sentence word by word. Also there are ways we express ourselves which will not translate to Arabic with simple vocabulary definitions. A simple example is the word ‘Cool’. We can use the literal definition to mean a lower temperature or we can use the definition to mean composed and collected. In Arabic the word is cool is literally translated into bard which can also mean cold. In Arabic conversation you’re not going to hear someone say they are cool when saying they are composed and collected (in case you’re wondering the translation is rabt aljash). Another example of think like an arab is the sentence Bob’s car. For any english speaker this is the way we would think of saying this sentence but to an Arab the sentence the car of Bob makes more sense.

With Darija although it is a mixture of Arabic, French and Berber, I have found that most of the grammar is derived from arabic and the rules are pretty much the same. I know I just started learning and I could be wrong and if I am wrong I will admit and let you know but as of now I see Darija following the standard grammar rules of Arabic. What this means is that advice I received years ago from my teacher will also apply in Darija as well. One of the exercises that I will start to practice is to think in literal meanings rather than the translations. What I mean is when I think of a sentence in English I will try to think of it as the literal way it would be said in Darija. I think I will also start writing more articles on grammar rules as well in the members section. This will give make it easier to dissect a sentence and understand every rule being applied.

Word list

 

If you are interesting in learning Arabic, there is a free 6 day course that will teach you everything you need to know to get started. Arabic has helped me a lot with my darija journey. If you’re serious about learning just click on the laptop and begin your journey.