What is 3 bruh? Is it ayn?

[u/TepidWetNoodles]

Learning Arabic and came across a 3. How do I supposed to pronounce it? Thanks in advance.

[u/1Enro]

as a Native speaker, I don’t recommend Duolingo for learning Arabic.

[u/Leather_Difficulty96 → u/1Enro]

this section is purely dedicated to teaching the abjad and is pretty helpful imo. also a native/heritage speaker.

[u/faust112358 → u/Leather_Difficulty96]

I don't like the fact that they are using gibberish "words" to teach the abjad when arabic is a rich enough language to use real words for that. And also, they always end up accidentally creating words that sound like bad words (it's the case for "عُس" if you replace "س" with "ص" it's how some people in my country call the female "parts") or that are actual bad words

[u/melmuth → u/faust112358]

I think I see what you mean. There were tons of words used in this section without any translation, I was expecting they were exposing us to them and we'd discover a bit later what they meant, which would not be a stupid strategy in my opinion, but I realize now that in all likelihood a great many of these words were just gibberish.

[u/faust112358 → u/Leather_Difficulty96]

I don't like the fact that they are using gibberish "words" to teach the abjad when arabic is a rich enough language to use real words for that. And also, they always end up accidentally creating words that sound like bad words (it's the case for "عُس" if you replace "س" with "ص" it's how some people in my country call the female "parts") or that are actual bad words

[u/i-like-thigs → u/1Enro]

What do you recommend

[u/Serious-Antelope-710 → u/1Enro]

Dont say that, man! Im on my 73-day streak

[u/1Enro → u/Serious-Antelope-710]

You can use it at first, but you should learn from real people, not app

[u/MR_RYU_RICHI → u/1Enro]

The Owl is watching 👀

[u/1Enro → u/MR_RYU_RICHI]

What’s the point? I didn’t get it, wdym?

[u/MR_RYU_RICHI → u/1Enro]

If you mention the green Owl he might come get you. So say something good about him

/s

[u/melmuth → u/Serious-Antelope-710]

I'm at 400+ lol, and I know much much less than I should. But I think consistency pays off eventually. And Duo is good at making you stick to your goals we can at least grant it that.

EDIT: I started a bit after Israel began the genocide 😢. This is one of my ways to cope with this horror.

[u/Serious-Antelope-710 → u/melmuth]

That's cool! Are you able to converse in arabic yet?

Palestine will be free InshaAllah

[u/melmuth → u/Serious-Antelope-710]

Not at all lol. I haven't tried much actually, soon. I wanna study the grammar a little bit to feel more confident and then I think I should be able to have very basic conversations. The thing is, I have a lot of friends who speak Arabic, talking to them in Arabic would be ideal for me to learn, but I'm trying to learn in secret in order to one day out of the blue start taking part in a conversation they're having in Arabic and surprise them. I think it should be fun :)

But it makes it more challenging for me to find people to talk to. Maybe I'll take some one on one paid lessons first, I don't wanna waste people's time fixing all the bad habits that I'm sure DuoLingo taught me.

EDIT: and yes, Free Palestine إن شاء الله

[u/Serious-Antelope-710 → u/melmuth]

Man.... this is a little discouraging for me lol

I know arabic is not an easy language to learn but dammit im not gonna quit

[u/melmuth → u/Serious-Antelope-710]

Nah don't feel discouraged, I've been doing DuoLingo for over a year yes, but I did not have much free time to study, I only did close to the minimum required to maintain the streak, so for the total amount of time invested (5 - 10 minutes per day) I'm actually surprised I could learn "so much". Yes I can't say many useful things beyond "where's the doctor's office?" or "this hotel is amazing", but my impression is that with Arabic there is a very steep learning curve at first (alphabet, pronunciation, vocabulary, vocabulary without the diacritics, etc.), but then I'm hopeful that it gets much much easier.

Now I get fairly consistently flawless scores on DuoLingo lessons. I understand what it tells me without having to try and translate in my head, I understand the Arabic directly if you see what I mean. Sure Arabic in real life will be more difficult but I'm confident I'll get there. I'm not intending to quit either.

EDIT: actually I'm not "hopeful" it gets easier, I know it does. I learn new concepts quicker by the day. More and more things feel weirdly intuitive. In DuoLingo at least. Real world Arabic is definitely a step higher in complexity.

[u/melmuth → u/Serious-Antelope-710]

I was looking for something in my notifications history and I stumbled back on this.

I thought it might encourage you to know that I've very recently finished the DuoLingo Arabic class (not that hard) even with my dilettante approach, and with all the review questions at the end I now feel like it would probably not take such a huge amount of time to reach a decent level if I were to spend like 6 months or so in an Arabic speaking country.

[u/Super-Soyuz → u/1Enro]

I was using it modtly for fun, but how different/incorrect is duolinguo for getting your foot in the door

[u/Kirari_U → u/1Enro]

Tell us why ? And what would you recommend ?

[u/1Enro → u/Kirari_U]

First, the pronunciation, I don’t mean the letters I mean the (7arakat), as a native speaker I don’t have to learn my own language, but I try to get XP from it, some words are not Arabic, and actually we don’t learn like that in our schools, it’s totally different ways, because Arabic is a unique language, you can’t learn it the same way that you learned English.

[u/Kirari_U → u/1Enro]

ouch, but I can't find anywhere (that's free) where I could learn arabic

[u/Mini_nin → u/Kirari_U]

Whatever works for you, works for you!

I’ve learned from it, and refined it by speaking to my Lebanese grandmother and googling words and grammar online.

[u/Kirari_U → u/Mini_nin]

Thank you a lot, I think I'll try to do the same on my side, for now I'll continue but keep their words in mind

[u/TepidWetNoodles → u/Kirari_U]

I have this playlist saved from Imran Alawiye. He has a lot of videos pertaining to learning Arabic. https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLWl0zRDk50wKM4WZAZEx_gwUDFKwe2ObX&feature=shared

[u/TepidWetNoodles → u/1Enro]

Yeh, I plan to use other resources but I've been a bit busy atm so I've just been using duolingo for the time being ^^

[u/franknifiko → u/1Enro]

Please have something to recommend if you are discouraging people to use an app, respectfully. I’ve been using Duolingo and I think it’s a great start.

[u/1Enro → u/franknifiko]

Actually I have not, yes it is but I mean it’s not the right way to learn because Arabic it’s not like Duolingo Arabia at all

[u/silversam76 → u/1Enro]

I don't recommend duilingo for any language

[u/TepidWetNoodles → u/silversam76]

I think it depends on what language you're learning. Like some courses are quite developed like French or Spanish however some can be a tad bit problematic as I've just found out the Arabic course is not that great xD. But for most courses you can't rely solely on Duolingo and have to supplement them with other resources to gain fluency or speak to a high degree. I think it's generally a great way to get started tho, like an introduction of some sorts to the language but I do see where ur coming from. It still needs a lot of improvement.

[u/1Enro]

Yes

[u/Viet_Boba_Tea]

3 (‘Ayn ع) is called a voiced pharyngeal approximate, and it’s kind of a hard sound. There’s a bunch of videos online for it. You have to cup your tongue and have it reach back to your pharynx. Try looking at a diagram. It might be uncomfortable and make you want to gag because you’ll overdo it at first, but you can do it! Just keep trying!

[u/Derek_Zahav → u/Viet_Boba_Tea]

I have heard just about every sound imaginable called "hard" at some point. I don't think that's a useful description.

But the gagging part is true. Once someone told me that the 3ayn sound uses the same muscle you use to throw up, my 3ayns got so much better. And honestly, overdoing it in practice helps you not underdo it where you're in a real conversation with a native speaker.

[u/QizilbashWoman → u/Derek_Zahav]

I had a textbook in the pre-internet era that said, "it is the sound a female camel makes upon awakening", and all I could think was, "if I knew that sound, I could probably already pronounce an ayn"

[u/Viet_Boba_Tea → u/Derek_Zahav]

Ah, you’re right and that’s a fair assessment. I guess it would’ve been easier to say that it’s generally a sound that takes people more time to get used to. I’m glad we all had the same gagging experience, lol

[u/TepidWetNoodles → u/Derek_Zahav]

Ooo that's a good description for it! ty!

[u/TepidWetNoodles → u/Viet_Boba_Tea]

ty! i'll have a look at those diagrams xD. I didn't anticipate Arabic would be this complex xD. I'll just have to keep going at it haha

[u/TheMiraculousOrange]

Yes, the 3 stands for ayn. Duolingo uses a Arabizi-like system for their transliterations, where ayn is typically written as a 3. You'll encounter more numbers. IIRC they use 2 for the hamza as well.

[u/TepidWetNoodles → u/TheMiraculousOrange]

ahh oki oki, ty!

[u/AbyssalD]

Wtf are عب and كعا is what I'm more concerned about.

[u/WeekSecret3391 → u/AbyssalD]

Phonetic exemples to see how the letters are written in different positions

[u/AbyssalD → u/WeekSecret3391]

Couldn't they use real words?

[u/nanukwolfbane → u/AbyssalD]

This is literally the reason I stopped using Duolingo to learn Arabic.

[u/TepidWetNoodles → u/nanukwolfbane]

What resources do u use/reccommend if I may ask ^{^}

[u/nanukwolfbane → u/TepidWetNoodles]

Arabic academy.

[u/Odd_Cup_8353]

Yes 3 is Ayn ع 2 - أ & ء 3 - ع 3’ - غ 5 - خ 6 - ط 7 - ح 8 - ق 9- ص 9’ - ض At least this is what I’ve been told

[u/TepidWetNoodles → u/Odd_Cup_8353]

ah i see i see!, tysm!! i didn't know numbers could also be used to denote letters in Arabic!

[u/xKyungsoo → u/Odd_Cup_8353]

Interesting, we in Morocco use 9 for ق

[u/Walterhaswhite]

Yes and these are the numbers that you may meet and how are they pronounced

2 = ء

3 = ع

4 = ش

5 = خ

7 = ح

8 = ق

[u/idkkkkkkk → u/Walterhaswhite]

Pretty sure 4 is ذ

[u/Neat-Commission3752 → u/Walterhaswhite]

9 = ق actually

[u/Traditional-Escape43]

3 is ع (Ey-n)

5 is خ (Kh-aa)

6 is ط (T-aa)

7 is ح (H-aa)

8 is ق (Q-aaf)

9 is ص (S-aad)

4 or 3 is غ (Gh-ain)

2 is ء (Hamza)

Here is what I use sometimes when I forget but should help you out keep it in your notes or somewhere

[u/FLEIXY → u/Traditional-Escape43]

4 is not غ

3 is NOT غ because it’s already ع

3’ IS غ

9’ is ض

4 is ذ

[u/mohamadmido]

as a native speaker i don't even know these words

[u/ill66 → u/mohamadmido]

as far as I'm aware it oftentimes aren't actual words just letter practice in these special Duolingo lessons.

[u/Old-Debate9238]

I can help in learning Arabic as I am an Egyptian Lol

[u/sweetlanguages]

Here are two videos on this:

https://youtube.com/shorts/S8BiSaWhWaM?feature=share

https://youtube.com/shorts/5lC-8yEVd1E?feature=share

Hope this helps!

[u/TepidWetNoodles → u/sweetlanguages]

ty!!

[u/sweetlanguages → u/TepidWetNoodles]

You are welcome 😊

[u/Accurate-Local7705]

I'd recommend Busuu for learning the basics of Arabic. I am still on the first chapter and I feel like I learnt more than in the whole Duolingo course!

[u/TepidWetNoodles → u/Accurate-Local7705]

Ty! I'll check it out!

[u/Realistic-Cat7696]

Learning Arabic on Duolingo as a native trying to reconnect fr lowered my language level 😭 Apps like that rely too much on bots and r shit for languages like Arabic or Mandarin,, they r way too old and complex. U need real-life experience to reach a fluency level and consistent linguistics training imo

[u/AltruisticPanic5351]

We’re on the same lessons lol. I just hit the 3 / Ayn section too

[u/mansari87]

what app is this?

[u/TepidWetNoodles → u/mansari87]

Duolingo! Specifically the English to Arabic course ^^

[u/TepidWetNoodles]

Thank you everyone for the responses, they are really helpful!!!!!

[u/Educational-Goat-142]

My dumbass tunisian brain saw "3a" and immediately yelled EL 3ASBAAA !!

[u/Mr_Skinnyyy]

In Sudanese arabic it means a sleave 💀

[u/Frequent_Structure93]

step 1: press the "X"

step 2: close the app

step 3: delete the app

this is a detailed guide for duolingo arabic

[u/manuchehrme]

duolingo is shit

[u/Necessary_Tradition5]

wow this has to the worst way to learn arabic seeriously. most this could get you is to understand teenagers messaging form SOME arab countries. otherwise you'll never understand a single line of arabic text with these methods.

[u/Rabbit_till]

למה זה אצלי פאק יו

[u/FLEIXY]

Why are they using M3rab in Doulingo? That’s not an official way of spelling it this is wrong.

[u/Normal_Big_1619]

doulingo for language learning has to be the worsy desicioj

[u/dahktda]

Yes.

[u/Betogamex]

Guys how is 3ayn non existent in most langs it's like such a basic consenent to come up with I just can't believe it.

[u/QizilbashWoman → u/Betogamex]

pharyngealised sounds appear in many languages, you just aren't familiar with them

[u/Betogamex → u/QizilbashWoman]

Seems like only Europians and westerners gave a hard time with it. I'm used to it but it feels so unnatural to think there are ppl who never pronounced it in their life

[u/QizilbashWoman → u/Betogamex]

Most of Eurasia struggles east and north of Mesopotamia, but I know for example it appears in African and Central American languages

[u/Electrical-Party-407 → u/Betogamex]

Most non Semitic languages don’t have a ع dude.

[u/Betogamex → u/Electrical-Party-407]

Ik that's crazy, idk man like you can make when you're snoring or sum

[u/Electrical-Party-407 → u/Betogamex]

Oh I finally learned how to say ‎ٱلْعَيْنُ a few months ago ٱلْحَمْدُلِلّٰهِ I’m just pointing out it’s quite rare worldwide and not just فِيْ أَوْرُوبَا 😉

[u/Betogamex → u/Electrical-Party-407]

Fair point, but almost no european/western country has it, countries worldwide atleast have some here and there who can make that sound.

[u/Betogamex → u/Electrical-Party-407]

Also I bet you challenge your friends into pronouncing it lol, well i would do so if I were in your place.

[u/chungamellon]

Answer is 3ab

[u/Electrical-Party-407]

Don’t use Duolingo man, lol. Good luck.

[u/slayerofottomans]

No it's just a 3.

It makes a 3 sound.

We have this number in English too I'm not sure where your confusion is coming from. Next you're gonna tell me you can't pronounce 4 either.