Learn Arabic the ChinesePod Way!
jennyzhu
June 20, 2012 at 10:29 AM posted in General DiscussionFor the past a few months, I've been busy helping launch Arabic Anywhere on ChinesePod's sister site OpenLanguage. I've had such a great time working with the wonderful team in Amman, Jordan. Intrigued and interested? Read my blog post.
pretzellogic
June 24, 2012 at 12:32 PM
sfrr, Note this announcement from Cpod discussing the BigFoot Ventures acquisition.
http://chinesepod.com/community/conversations/post/12618
note New Concept Mandarin as BigFoot Ventures portfolio company.
http://bigfootventures.com/portfolio_ncm.html
Interestingly, a casual review of the New Concept Mandarin website now doesn't refer at all to Chinesepod.
bababardwan
June 22, 2012 at 10:14 PM
sorry, I should have been clearer. Wiktionary does have Arabic, but just not for jiayou.
bababardwan
June 22, 2012 at 09:45 PM
hmm, unfortunately wiktionary doesn't seem to have arabic, and so tried from Chinese to French which just gave encourager ...translating that to arabic gave تشجيع which just means encourage...so it's more of an explanation of the term than an equivalent word in usage. ..haha, thus the need for teachers....but in this case chinese-arabic. I wonder if Jenny knows or can figure it out.
bababardwan
June 22, 2012 at 09:24 PM
hey sfrrr, you'll be interested in this. I just found translations for للصوت
in a few languages and guess which gave the most translations? ....French of course....obviously because of the French presence in the Maghreb [and thus the long association between the two languages there]. So knowing some French may help with learning Arabic. But yeah the definition there that came closest was voix or possibly voter [but that's a stretch]. I mean jiayou means literally add oil...which means make an extra effort...used when cheering someone on. One of the first words I learnt because I joined around the time of the Beijing Olympics and I still recall the crowds chanting 加油加油！So if your cheering in a crowd, you're kinda all voicing your support, all in unison perhaps. But this is a case where we particularly need the equivalent of a dictionary like nciku which gives example sentences.
bababardwan
June 22, 2012 at 09:04 PM
hey, I wonder if this is it:
للصوت
...which means "for voice" ...that's sounding close to the mark, but I'd have to find out how it's used.
I got this directly from Chinese, on babylon:
http://translation.babylon.com/chinese%20%28s%29/to-arabic/
bababardwan
June 22, 2012 at 09:02 PM
hey sfrrr, thanks for reminding me...I meant to but forgot. I just tried on google translate, and you'll love the answer I got: نفط which just means oil...haha, obviously wrong [just literal from 油 ] but ironic. I'll have to look into this further. The first task should be to find a good Arabic online dictionary. Of course, generally I'll be looking for an English/Arabic..Arabic/English...whereas in this case I was trying to go straight from Chinese to Arabic. Maybe I'll have to go via English,but you feel you might lose the best translation that way.
bababardwan
June 22, 2012 at 11:17 AM
Similar to the old SpanishPod site, the new site on openlanguage has a discussion section. I'm just wondering, because naturally studying the lessons raises lots of questions...will there be any teachers monitoring the romancepod sites and answering questions? Not much point me asking questions if there's no-one monitoring or likely to respond. While I'm at it, with this Arabic anywhere, are their teachers going to be monitoring the discussion sections and answering any questions that may arise.
Finally, in response to your comment Jenny:
"Currently, we don't have an equivalent to Praxis Pass. We'll listen to the market
...I can't speak for anyone else, and I don't know how many were on a Praxis Pass previously, but from my point of view, as much as one may love something like Arabic anywhere, unless there were such a pass, it would be difficult to justify paying another full subscription. The reason being that in studying more than one language your time is divided...you aren't making the most of each individual subscription. Yes, you should pay more for access to more than one language learning website, but I think the Praxis Pass was about right. Without something like that in place, I think one would be forced to choose so you were getting value for money. I'm pretty dedicated to this language learning, but while I've been on Praxis Pass there have been long periods where I've studied nothing but the Chinese, or brief periods where I've had a bit of a stab at the others in the pass. But even if you could get everything well balanced, it's very hard to do much of each at the same time. So one would end up feeling like one was wasting a subscription. Anyhow, that's just the way I see it fwiw. So please consider setting up something like a Praxis Pass. I find it hard to imagine many [if any] paying a full subscription for more than one.
bababardwan
June 27, 2012 at 02:49 AM
Jenny, I think some questions raised here in this thread got burried at the start of the weekend.
chris
June 21, 2012 at 07:30 AM
Hey, congratulations on the launch Jenny and Hank. I remember talking with you about this at the Cpod meet-up a few months ago. Great to have it off the ground now! I'll have to take a look.
bababardwan
June 20, 2012 at 11:21 AM
While I'm excited about what OpenLanguage may bring to learning these other languages, my most pressing concern is about the migration process. I'm hoping that I can be reassured that all the old Praxis lessons esp French and Spanish will not be lost including all the comments/discussions and non lesson discussion threads. I was in the process of working through all the FrenchPod lessons and the discussions were great there, esp Amaury's tireless and patient corrections and input there. The SpanishPod had an even more active community. Please reassure me...I'm gonna lose sleep over this.
bababardwan
June 21, 2012 at 11:29 AM
oh, I nearly forgot this:
"What's Arabic for 加油! ?? "
...no idea mate, but I'll try and find out. And I love it that you're going to a 3rd language to ask for a translation of your 2nd language.
bababardwan
June 21, 2012 at 09:43 AM
yeah, fun all right. whooa alright, hehe. btw, the only thing with Arabic script is it's making me feel old [blind]....I need to enlarge my screen to see it clearly, hehe. hey yeah, while you're there, Norwegian would be fun. Gotta have a crack at whatever is the local language.
bodawei
June 21, 2012 at 09:21 AM
Yes, when I get time I will check it out. I am attempting to learn a bit of Norwegian at present - again it is the listening that that is the most challenging. How does that collection of letters and words come out sounding like that ??
And I see all the problems I had with learning Chinese .. I learn a few words, try them out and of course I am met with a torrent of Norwegian. Whooa, there. At least here there is no problem switching to English.
Fun, isn't it?
bababardwan
June 21, 2012 at 09:16 AM
haha, come on guys...it's all very nice of you...but Im glad I haven't signed any contract or anything, hehe. Yeah, I'm very interested, but whether I'll find the time to keep it up is a whole other question. You seem to be giving me way to much credit just based in the fact that I'm interested. But yeah, the timing is impeccable, I'll grant that, because though I knew openlanguage was coming [for the romance languages] I didn't realise Arabic was on the menu, and it just so happened I learnt the Arabic alphabet on the weekend, and sorted out the typing etc. Mate, if you are attracted because of the script then you should check it out...after Chinese characters, Arabic script is a breeze....Chinese character learning takes like forever, and Arabic characters takes like 10 minutes. ...it's phonetic based, like our alphabet, and one of the interesting things is that the letters can change their appearance somewhat based on where they are placed in a word. There's some pretty out there sounds in some of the letters...sounds that aren't heard in English...I already have my favourite, hehe. If you want any pointers on how to get started there just give me a shout mate. I really recommend you at least listen to this fellow Aussie who hosts the culture show. What can 15 minutes hurt?
bodawei
June 21, 2012 at 08:50 AM
Baba
This Arabic development seems to be just in time for you! I could see you needed more than Chinese, French and Spanish. .. :)
All the best with your studies, I'm sure you will put that famous energy into the Arabic, just like the others.
I envy you really, I am very attracted to Arabic because of the script, the history, the culture - all of that. I had an Arabic speaking friend when I did a semester of French - he got me interested. I will check it out sometime even though I barely manage to meet my modest goals with Chinese.
What's Arabic for 加油! ??
bababardwan
June 21, 2012 at 08:02 AM
haha, very kind of you chris, if only it were true. Plenty of interest, very little success. In fact, mathematically speaking, I'd say there's an inverse correlation between the two, hehe. But, boring to repeat it, but it's all about enjoying the journey, and this Arabic sounds fascinating to me. What has particularly helped is that I'm really impressed with the culture show there. A great host I can recommend is worth listening to. This leads in to sparking an interest in the language...so I think they've got it so right there...the culture show is free and there at the start..so it's like the bait that gets you hooked, hehe. Yeah, if only there were time to really sink teeth into all these interests, hehe. I feel like an unsuccessful juggler who'd like to have several balls in the air, but really only manages to catch one at a time while the rest fall back to the ground, hehe. [or a kid in a candy shop trying to shove more than one gobstopper in [with Chinese in there first ..a massive 8cm gobstopper, french is probably a 2cm one, what's arabic going to be....?5cm] and then trying to speak a foreign language...hehe, not too successful as you can imagine] Anyhow, as always, thanks for your encouragement, nide zhichi [heck, you see, is that the right pinyin?]
chris
June 21, 2012 at 07:29 AM
mate, you're a linguistic over-achiever ;-) I struggle just learning mandarin as one extra language - you're gunning for quite a few there!
pretzellogic
June 20, 2012 at 11:15 AM
I know that Frenchpod and Spanishpod are supposed to become assets of OpenLanguage. The press release on the Spanishpod website implied that there would be no connection between OpenLanguage and ChinesePod. But here, you're referring to OpenLanguage as a sister site. What's the relationship between Frenchpod and Spanishpod then to Chinesepod?
pretzellogic
June 20, 2012 at 12:39 PM
Then does BigFoot Ventures still own Chinesepod? Not that there were that many video lessons coming down the pipe, but does this mean that Bigfoot owns all 5 language ventures or do you and Hank own them? Will the video lessons continue only for Cpod, or be broadened across Arabic Anywhere, Spanishpod or the others? Is video being discontinued?
jennyzhu
June 20, 2012 at 11:48 AM
OpenLanguage is a sister site of ChinesePod because Hank and I co-founded OpenLanguage and purchased back all the RomancePods rights. Currently, we don't have an equivalent to Praxis Pass. We'll listen to the market.
bababardwan
June 20, 2012 at 11:22 AM
Great questions Pretz. I also particulary want to know if there will be a Praxis Pass equivalent. I'll be over the moon if there will be a similar arrangement to currently with the ability to get CPod and the other languages under one subscription.
pretzellogic
June 20, 2012 at 11:19 AM
And for that matter, what's the relationship between Chinesepod and Arabic Anywhere? Will all 5 sites (including Italianpod) be available under a "Praxis pass" type of arrangement? Will 1 login work across all 5 sites?
bababardwan
June 21, 2012 at 11:40 AM
Actually, I was getting a little excited with the Arabic so on reflection I'm not sure if my joke was as obvious as I thought it was. I was trying to say, " Yeah, I like 'im" in an Arabian accent with one of my new words "alaykum"..."upon you". Ok, lame I know, but I enjoyed it, hehe.
sfrrr
June 22, 2012 at 08:35 PMI'm with Bababardwan. I just signed up for a free course and month to month sub for FrenchPod, with the idea that if I didn't start using it within the next month, I'd cancel. The fact that there is, relatively speaking, only a few FPod lessons doesn't bother me, because I want to keep up with my Chinese. I actually have a need for French, but I wanted to study Arabic (especially the script and what the English transliterations represent--I like to be able to pronounce words correctly from whatever language.). If there were a Praxis RomancePod plus Arabic Pass, I'd jump in with both feet, even if it meant subscribing by the year instead of the month.
What's happening to the current CPod Praxis Pass, which covers all the other OpenLanguage languages as well as Chinese?
And, Baba, did you ever look up jia you in Arabic?
And, pretzellogic, what's BigFoot Ventures?