16 Comments
13
Does the speaker have a particular accent? I thought these vowels were pronounced "aa" but it sounds like "e" here.
- 392
I'm hearing a long 'a', then a short 'a' (in that order). It goes by so quickly, it is hard to pin down the vowel sounds.
- 33
In these lessons so far, I've heard "alif" pronounced "a" like in "hat", "ah" like in "father, and now "ai" like in "bait and "eh" like in "bet". I've noticed that the preceding letter seems to affect the pronunciation but I wonder if vowel marking on "alif", which we haven't learned yet, also change the pronunciation. I also wonder if Arabic, like English, has more than one (or two) pronunciations for vowels and consonants "just because" it does without a set pronunciation for all the vowels and consonants.
I think it's pronounced differently depending on the word, like in English, not sure though
- 45
Arabic is not spoken there, but the most widely spoken language in Senegal is Wolof which can be written in Arabic script.
Senegal people speak arabic and french, but most signs and such are written in French, i think
They never told us Arabic is read left to right. I knew that, just from prior knowledge, but duo never told us.
- 392
The little lightbulb icon on each new section has a wealth of information that will help the lesson make sense. If you are using a desktop, click on the lightbulb for Alphabet1 and you'll see the first tip and note states: "Reading back to front ... Did you know that Arabic is written right to left? (See? Right to left! How cool is that?) This means that when you pick up a book or magazine written in Arabic, you should start reading from the back cover — which, of course, is the front!" Under the Beta stage, I don't think this tip feature has been built into the iPad/iPhone software.
- 392
Once Arabic has hatched out of its Beta stage, I look forward to having linked sounds to the examples in the "lightbulb" tips and notes sections for each lesson. It would be very helpful on vowel sounds. :-)
