I few months ago I saw a whole new language series of CDs and books, boxed in bright yellow boxes, at Borders and Barnes & Noble, our two major chain book stores. At the time, I already had a CD lesson for Arabic so I didn't get it. Now, I don't think the CD I bought is particularly helpful, so I went searching for those yellow boxed-programs. I can't remember the name of the publisher! Does anyone have a clue what I'm talking about?

I checked to stores where I live now and can't find the series at all, in any language. It looked so promising....

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Originally posted by Snoozin:
Thanks for the links! I was looking at the last one you posted just last night, and it has already confused me. It had some stuff that seemed contradictory, so I think I will stick with the basics for now and figure out the rest a bit later on.

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Assalamu alaykum Snoozin,

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Originally posted by Snoozin:
Not hate mail, but I think Arabic's important from a religious perspective at the very minimum, so shouldn't people be taught enough Arabic to understand the Qur'an?

Being a non-Arabic speaker who's trying to learn, all I can say is it seems very difficult. If I ever have a child, inshallah, he or she will grow up learning Arabic, even if he or she uses it only for religious purposes. Learning in childhood is so much easier...

As for scientific terminology, don't a lot of languages just adopt the term in the language of its discovery? I know computer folks do that a lot. Maybe not so practical for fields such as medicine.

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You are right about adopting terminology from other languages, providing you can do that.

That is how the English language established itself as a language of science.

Take medicine as an example, Latin and Greek terminology were adopted on a very large scale. The English language lends itself easily to this process.

The problem with Arabic is that it does not have the mechanism of building up a descriptive term or a new name or to adopt it from another language.

If in fact you do the later, which currently is the case, you are really mostly speaking English , just as you said this is the case in computer terminology.

Almost every one will call the actual machine a COMPUTER (with a funny accent sometimes), but very few would know let alone use the supposidly arabic name HASSOUB !!

This actaully illustrates the problem, because while the term computer does give an indication of its function, the word hassoub while is an attempt at that, fails miserably and is almost laughable.

Regarding religious reasons, I do not think this is a valid reason to learn any language.

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Originally posted by Medosa:
You are right about adopting terminology from other languages, providing you can do that.

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I had a french friend who worked in computers, and apparently in France there was a HUGE debate over what would be the proper term for *e-mail.* Most people there call it e-mail, apparently, but it was annoying the patriotic French who wanted a French word, corriel electronique. It apparently became a huge national debate. I think *e-mail* won out, though.
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Originally posted by newcomer:
Assalamu alaykum Snoozin,

I tried to check back to find which link I had posted that might have confuded you as I didn't remember doing so and couldn't find it. Which one were you referring to?

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Wa alaikum assalam, Newcomer.

It was one on the USC site. Dealing with fiqh.

I was reading a page on this site about when a woman is not allowed to perform salat, including menstruation. Well, further down, it talks about whether a woman can have sex during this time or not, and it seems to have contradictory rulings. *That's* what confused me, although I gotta admit it was like 3 in the morning when I was reading it, so it may just have been me who was confused.

This is not a critical issue for me at this time, so that's why I said I would worry about these particulars later, after I've learned the basics.
http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/law/fiqhussunnah/fus1_05.html

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Originally posted by Snoozin:
I had a french friend who worked in computers, and apparently in France there was a HUGE debate over what would be the proper term for *e-mail.* Most people there call it e-mail, apparently, but it was annoying the patriotic French who wanted a French word, corriel electronique. It apparently became a huge national debate. I think *e-mail* won out, though.
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Why don't you think religion is a valid reason for learning a particular language? Just curious. It seems especially important to me for Islam.

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Yes the French do have this tendency, they are very jealous of their language taking second place to the English language, but they end, just like the case for Arabic, being silly and loosing. Simplicity in use dictates itself, while the contrived always fails.

Regarding language and religion, I am sure most would agree that the message should be more important than the language it is delivered in.

Besides, any philosophy, religions included, should be clear and understood in any language, its understanding cannot be conditional upon reading it in a certain language or dialect.

If it loses any of its impact or meaning by translation then this is a weakness.

Why this is considered specially important in Islam, is because of the claim that the (miracle)of Quran is in its linguistic perfection (debatable).

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Originally posted by Snoozin:
Wa alaikum assalam, Newcomer.

It was one on the USC site. Dealing with fiqh.

I was reading a page on this site about when a woman is not allowed to perform salat, including menstruation. Well, further down, it talks about whether a woman can have sex during this time or not, and it seems to have contradictory rulings. *That's* what confused me, although I gotta admit it was like 3 in the morning when I was reading it, so it may just have been me who was confused.

This is not a critical issue for me at this time, so that's why I said I would worry about these particulars later, after I've learned the basics.
http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/law/fiqhussunnah/fus1_05.html

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Originally posted by Tigerlily:
You might have seen the Rosetta Stone Arabic sets. Check out Amazon.com - you will find a great variety of Arabic learning material on there - also for the Egyptian-Arabic dialect. Good luck with your studies!

[This message has been edited by Tigerlily (edited 20 August 2005).]

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Yes! that's exactly what I was talking about! Only I didn't know the Arabic version was $329. No *way* I can afford that....a class at the local community college is cheaper. But thanks for reminding me what it was...it's supposed to be excellent.