Arabic-L:PEDA:Large Vocabulary response

[Dilworth Parkinson]

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Arabic-L: Wed 11 Dec 2002
Moderator: Dilworth Parkinson <dilworth_parkinson at byu.edu>
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1) Subject:Large Vocabulary response

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1)
Date:  11 Dec 2002
From: dwilmsen <dwilmsen at aucegypt.edu>
Subject:Large Vocabulary response

> Those who begin such language study
> typically do so during their college years, long after the window of
> opportunity for gaining native-like fluency has closed, so Arabic, for
> them, will always be a "foreign" language.

This  window of opportunity is a widely held misconception.  It should
be
noted that it takes
children fifteen years to acquire full proficiency in their native
languages.

Some say it takes adults a little less than that to acquire Arabic.
(And a
lot less for other
languages).

I began studying Arabic after the age of thirty, and  people around
here are
amazed at my
fluency.  Of course, I have the distinct advantage of living in an
environment
in which I am
surrounded by the language 24 hours a day.

It took about seven years for me to get fairly good at it, and I didn't
really
get  that way
until
I came to the Middle East.

It takes longer to learn Arabic than it does for other languages, but
it is
doable, and, as in
learning any language,  students should time in the target culture.

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End of Arabic-L:  11 Dec 2002