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Show HN: Parallel Arabic – Arabic reading and writing practice

parallel-arabic.com

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Show HN: Parallel Arabic – Arabic reading and writing practice

#1

Post by selmetwa »

I have made a website called Parallel Arabic which enables users to read arabic texts alongside the same text in English.

Each story features a dictionary of key words, transliteration of the text, and full native audio recordings, creating a fully self-contained learning environment without the need for outside resources. https://parallel-arabic.com/stories

There is also a section for writing where you can practice writing over 4000 words, with realtime spellchecking. The tool contains a fully featured Arabic virtual keyboard, built for english speaker

Show HN: Parallel Arabic – Arabic reading and writing practice
parallel-arabic.com

Re: Show HN: Parallel Arabic – Arabic reading and writing practice

#2

Post by pseingatl »

How about using Arabizi as an option for beginners? If oral fluency is sought, being able to read--while nice--isn't absolutely necessary. Arabizi is widely recognized-people who didn't already know the Roman alphabet learned it to text on their phones before smartphones became a thing.

Re: Show HN: Parallel Arabic – Arabic reading and writing practice

#3

Post by selmetwa »

pseingatl wrote: post #2

How about using Arabizi as an option for beginners? If oral fluency is sought, being able to read--while nice--isn't absolutely necessary. Arabizi is widely recognized-people who didn't already know the Roman alphabet learned it to text on their phones before smartphones became a thing.

There is an option to view the transliteration next to the arabic and english text as well, you just have to toggle "Sentence view"

Re: Show HN: Parallel Arabic – Arabic reading and writing practice

#4

Post by kaycebasques »

I never touched a line of source code until after college. In college I studied history, focusing on the "Middle East" [1]. I took 3 years of Arabic in a (failed) attempt to use Arabic texts as primary sources in my thesis. Short story long, something about the highly structured and patterned nature of Arabic primed my mind for programming and made me more likely to enjoy programming. If you're looking for a pure intellectual pursuit, akin to how people recommend studying math just for the new ways of thinking that it provides, I heartily recommend studying Arabic

[1] Historians often call attention to that phrase because it has controversial history and connotations

Re: Show HN: Parallel Arabic – Arabic reading and writing practice

#5

Post by bluish29 »

pseingatl wrote: post #2

How about using Arabizi as an option for beginners? If oral fluency is sought, being able to read--while nice--isn't absolutely necessary. Arabizi is widely recognized-people who didn't already know the Roman alphabet learned it to text on their phones before smartphones became a thing.

I think the purpose of this tool is the opposite. It is aimed at a person who know English and want to learn Arabic. So that people used franco arabic because of lack of Arabic support is another matter. Those were people who already know arabic and how to form words and sentences following its general structure. Also franco is not widely used anymore as before. I would suggest not to start the learning journey using it as a bridge.

Also while therr are dialects in arab world. Most of the people will read and write in formal Arabic which sometime will differ from how you speak. It is rare to speak formal arabic but the norm for reading and writing.

On a personal level, I find it much easier if someone either used English or Arabic to communicate with me. Franco feels like searching for meanings because there is no standard and people will write it differently and in many times you can't know if this was a typo or the problem is that you are old now and cannot keep up with how teenagers use it.

Re: Show HN: Parallel Arabic – Arabic reading and writing practice

#6

Post by BWStearns »

Wicked cool! I like this format of practice. Just found a small bug though. The click-to-translate for a given word seems to miss the target of click somewhere. It's translating عُمَر and سَارة as listen (and in the latter case the click gets `وسَارة` instead of just سَارة.)

Re: Show HN: Parallel Arabic – Arabic reading and writing practice

#7

Post by selmetwa »

bluish29 wrote: post #5
pseingatl wrote: post #2

How about using Arabizi as an option for beginners? If oral fluency is sought, being able to read--while nice--isn't absolutely necessary. Arabizi is widely recognized-people who didn't already know the Roman alphabet learned it to text on their phones before smartphones became a thing.

I think the purpose of this tool is the opposite. It is aimed at a person who know English and want to learn Arabic. So that people used franco arabic because of lack of Arabic support is another matter. Those were people who already know arabic and how to form words and sentences following its general structure. Also franco is not widely used anymore as before. I would suggest not to start the learning journey using…

That is correct, this tool assumes a basic understanding of the Arabic alphabet, and I think in the long run being able to read the arabic script will accelerate your learning progress much faster than just using franco.

Re: Show HN: Parallel Arabic – Arabic reading and writing practice

#8

Post by hannofcart »

pseingatl wrote: post #2

How about using Arabizi as an option for beginners? If oral fluency is sought, being able to read--while nice--isn't absolutely necessary. Arabizi is widely recognized-people who didn't already know the Roman alphabet learned it to text on their phones before smartphones became a thing.

Arabizi has utilitarian value but if you're learning languages with more than just pratical considerations, I really recommend learning the original Arabic alphabet.

I might be a bit of a romantic here but I think it's amongst the most beautiful I've seen. I am not a native Arab nor am I a Muslim.

Re: Show HN: Parallel Arabic – Arabic reading and writing practice

#9

Post by selmetwa »

BWStearns wrote: post #6

Wicked cool! I like this format of practice. Just found a small bug though. The click-to-translate for a given word seems to miss the target of click somewhere. It's translating عُمَر and سَارة as listen (and in the latter case the click gets `وسَارة` instead of just سَارة.)

Ah, "Listen" is actually a button you can click to hear the audio. Only keywords (those highlighted) actually have the translation included.
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