Arabic resources

[Gulliver]

Hello,

My latest language I want to learn for a week then abandon is Arabic. All the resources I can find for free are, well, too religious for my heathen heart as they are geared towards English speakers converting to Islam, which I am not.

Can anyone direct me towards any free learning resources?

谢谢

[masako]

http://studylangs.17.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=25

A fairly dead forum, but a decent list none-the-less.

[Shm Jay]

What's the ligature that looks like a backwards 2 with two dots at the bottom? Is it mim-ya or ya-min?

[masako]

What's the ligature that looks like a backwards 2 with two dots at the bottom? Is it mim-ya or ya-min?

Do you have an image?

I don't know that I've seen any ya-mim / mim-ya ligature.

[hwhatting]

http://studylangs.17.forumer.com/viewtopic.php?t=25

A fairly dead forum, but a decent list none-the-less.

I don't know how long the info will be kept accessible - it's already impossible to post there any more, because no admin has logged in for some time, so new posts are disabled by the system. Maybe time to move the list to L&L on this board?

[masako]

Maybe time to move the list to L&L on this board?

Perhaps.

[Khvaragh]

http://arabic.tripod.com/

I use this website quite frequently, especially when I'm doing creative writing, to check my grammar. It's not entirely complete, but there's still a massive amount of information there. The author apparently has some knowledge of comparative Semitic linguistics to, since he'll sometimes speculate on the possible origin of certain term in comparison to Hebrew, etc.
And I don't know of any ligature that looks like a backwards 2 with two dots. There are two primary ligatures in Arabic: ta:' marbuTah (feminine marker combining the shape of ha:' with the two dots of ta:') and la:m-alif ligatures. There are also the "seats" of hamza, the "Allah" glyph," and some optional others, like combinations of la:m-mi:m, and some others more typical of handwriting. Perhaps in a non-Arabic lang that uses the Arabic abjad?

[Shm Jay]

No, it's definitely Arabic. When I get back to work I'll try to post a copy.

[tezcatlip0ca]

It's yaa'-miim.

[masako]

It's yaa'-miim.

Nit-pick much?

No, it's definitely Arabic. When I get back to work I'll try to post a copy.

Is it this?

[Shm Jay]

It's the top one, only with the dots under the line rather than over. That's why I thought it was ya-mim.

[tezcatlip0ca]

It's yaa'-miim.

Nit-pick much?

It's not nitpicking, nobody had said it before in the thread...

[masako]

It's not nitpicking, nobody had said it before in the thread...

riiiiiiight...

It's the top one, only with the dots under the line rather than over. That's why I thought it was ya-mim.

It looks to me that you're seeing Farsi / Nastaʿlīq calligraphy.

http://farsiyad.blogspot.com/2008/01/irannastaliq.html

[Davoush]

It is yaa-miim, most people write it like that when handwriting too (with the two dots becoming a line, of course). It's not just nastaliq...

[masako]

It is yaa-miim, most people write it like that when handwriting too (with the two dots becoming a line, of course). It's not just nastaliq...

Yeah, I guess that makes sense...I just don't remember seeing it...

[Ser]

It is yaa'-miim. You don't see it much in printed Arabic but it's all over the place in handwritten and calligraphic styles... I'd say it's almost standard to write this combination of consonants (as well as others) using these particular ligatures.

On topic, here's another list of resources:
http://www.unilang.org/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=29808
The verbal conjugator at qutrub.arabeyes.org you can find by the end of the page is particularly outstanding.

[Shm Jay]

Is there a good source with the handwritten ligatures? I want to make sure I've transcribed them properly.

[masako]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ISnCVW-XHw

@ 3:42 you can see him making the yaa-miim

Pretty awesome.

[Ser]

Although in that case it's a final yaa'-miim, while he was talking about the initial one.