I don’t think they are too old since I had a relative use them only once during a conversation (it was for sewing something for another relative) but even though the Middle East only uses the metric system, does anybody still bring it up?

A tip and question in one, apologies if covered off elsewhere.

I found some shows on Disney+ have Arabic audio (eg Lion King) and recommend it’s worth a watch for those trying to find alternative ways of taking in the language.

If you have come across any other shows on other platforms do share (my current focus is MSA)….

Found this on the desk I’m sitting at, is it even Arabic? Urdu? Farsi? Does it even mean anything or is it a doodle? Super curious

Thanks!

I spent (wasted?) almost a year trying to learn Masri and didn't get very far. The single greatest hurdle is that there is not one way to spell all the words used in Masri, or any other languages derived from Fusha (Shaami, Darija, etc).

Sometimes I would see the same word written with qaaf, sometimes with 2a. In future tense I would see some people use haa (the circle), others use 7. Some words that originally had jiim were instead written with the Persian Ch.

This makes it extremely difficult to look words up online / in a dictionary because the spellings keep changing without rhyme or reason.

I get it, a lot of these words are from different languages with phonology that is much different from Fusha. I myself am Mexican; Mexican Spanish has a lot of words that were derived from Nahuatl (examples: Tianguis for market, Chamaco for kid, also the names of a bunch of fruits and animals) but a *long time ago* we figured out one single standardized spelling for everything which we then put in our dictionaries.

On that note, other countries have government-funded programs dedicated to promoting their language / teaching their language and culture and making learning materials / proficiency exams. Germany has the Goethe Institute, China has the Confucius Institute, etc. Why don't the Arabs make one of those?