Homework

With the help of a superb private teacher, I am doing my best to learn Arabic while living in Gaza. I love the language but it is pretty challenging.

Learning the different sounds was fun. Gaza is actually pronounced with a gargling sound at the beginning. One sound, represented in Latin script by a 9, is a sort of constricted 'ah' sound that is made around by creating resonance around the larynx. Another sound requires you to tense the muscles around your tonsils and uvula and loudly whisper a 'h', producing a dry hissing sound, as if blowing on a mirror or glass to make it steam up. That one is quite tough.

I'm making myself a personal dictionary of all the words I've learned so far, which is surprisingly quite a lot. A pity I can't actually form them into sentences yet . . .