Firstly, Arabic contains too many sounds which unless you develop vocal cords for in childhood you will not manage to fully vocalize.
Vocal chords only produce a tiny buzzing signal which is amplified by the vocal tract acting as an acoustical transformer, like a horn.
This is further amplified and modified by pharynx, sinuses and mouth.
Linguistic utterence is formed by tongue and pharyngial muscles.
The problem adult learners of foreign languages have learning to speak foreign languages is lack of familiarity with sounds not made by their known languages. (Children have less difficulty because they are better imitators than adults). The problem is hearing, that is, distinguishing the new sounds from those they already know. Once they can distinguish the difference, learning pronunciation is relatively easy if instruction is competent.
Add to this, the fact that when you learn Arabic, you are learning the proper form of it. But proper Arabic is so difficult that although highly desired, nobody not even the best Arab leaders, can speak it properly. Even if you could, the street dialect is very different.
Fortunately, humans are adaptable and within a language can deal with linguistic difference over geography and can usually understand strangers. It sometimes takes a little time. I'm sure if you had visited Cornwall or Black Country thirty years ago, you would have had enormous difficulty understanding a damn thing the first few days. The more rube-ish of the locals would no doubt have mocked you a bit - they do everywhere.
Learning to speak Arabic might be difficult for monolingual adult Americans but it certainly is possible. You vastly overplay the difficulties. |
