Learn to read and write foreign languages

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It's a lot of language courses online, but all of them seems to focus on speech an listening lessons. I want to learn to read and write. I can perhaps learn to speak, but listening.. LOL. Speaking does not matter much, and can ask later if I know how to write and read.

Do you know if it exist online courses that are accessible to deaf people? I am mostly looking into arabic and spanish. Or do I have to rely to dictionaries and DIY techniques if I don't want to show up at a university?
 
Could you not just do an on-line course and not bother with the sound end of it?
Interesting...think I will look into it myself!
 
I've studied many foreign languages including Arabic (I'm a hearing linguistics student) and it is extremely difficult. The alphabet is probably the easiest part of the whole language, lol.

The main problem is that Arabic does not write vowels, so it is very hard to remember what word means what, and speaking and hearing the word over and over is how people remember it. (mgne wrtng lke ths ll th tm) So if you read the letters dg, it could mean dog, dig, dug, adage, or anything else.

However, with that being said, I encourage you to learn any language you feel like learning and one of the great things about being a human being is that you are able to learn any language you want. The easiest way to learn it would be to buy a text book and teach yourself (We used "Al-Kitaab fii ta'allum al-Arabiyya," but a lot of it was based on a DVD) If you end up learning Arabic, any language after that will be a breeze.
 
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Thanks for input. The alphabet looked easy yeah. The lack of good online courses have made me sign up for a university course while I look for online courses.

Still trying to make up my mind between spanish and arabic.

Is it other advantages learning arabic over spanish, than arabic is "harder"?
 
I wouldn't necessarily say Arabic is more "useful." Spanish is more widely used (al least in North America) than Arabic is, but I feel Arabic is prettier to look at... Ultimately, the decision is up to you.
 
Hard choice.. In europe arabic is very common, while I know it's pretty common in the states and americas. Looks like I'll go for both.
 
Arabic isn't very common outside of New York and other major cities in North America... and it especially isn't written since we Americans tend to be fearful of things we cannot understand. But Spanish is everywhere!
 
ajk said:
Arabic isn't very common outside of New York and other major cities in North America... and it especially isn't written since we Americans tend to be fearful of things we cannot understand. But Spanish is everywhere!
Click to expand...

He has lived in both Europe and the States-- think he's currently in Europe at the moment.
 
A friend of mine, while a soldier stationed in Japan learned to read enough Japanese to understand the newspaper. He was hearing but he said he never learned to speak over 5 words of Japanese.
 
Berry said:
A friend of mine, while a soldier stationed in Japan learned to read enough Japanese to understand the newspaper. He was hearing but he said he never learned to speak over 5 words of Japanese.
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All you need is to read and write :)
 
ajk said:
Arabic isn't very common outside of New York and other major cities in North America... and it especially isn't written since we Americans tend to be fearful of things we cannot understand. But Spanish is everywhere!
Click to expand...

Islamophobia is present in europe, too. It's a waste of energy, IMO.
 
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