UniLang

These people are inspiring:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8-lfL63ocko
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRgas4Tr39E

vijayjohn wrote:That seems kind of odd to me given that LangMedia is as open to everybody as YouTube is. It's not like you have to be a member of a closed community to use it.

As they state, they simply do not have the permission. They'd have to ask everyone now if they're fine with that. Not everyone might be, especially since Youtube is so much more well known than LangMedia. Not everyone wants to be on THE video streaming platform, comments disabled or not. It's not just copyright, but personal rights.

Ok I will steal the idea from ksiezycowy and try to set up weekly goals for some time. Let's see how it will work.

Week 6 March-10 March (I have a trip to Ukraine on the weekend so I won't be able to study)

[flag=]ar-sy[/flag] Syrian Arabic
- Work through the lyrics of this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIhSLu_GGls (Ismail Tamr - Suriya janna)
- Subtitle and work through the transcript of this video: http://langmedia.fivecolleges.edu/cultu ... s%2C-Syria (Damascus and its history)
- Revise chapters 3,4 of Syrian Colloquial Arabic
- Try to finish audios 28-30 from Pimsleur Syrian Arabic 1

[flag=]ku[/flag] Kurmanji Kurdish
- Revise the lyrics of this song (it has subtitles): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OFtYFc8Ft4 (Rêzan - Bajarê Min)
- Subtitle and revise the lyrics: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x-uUh64X0zo (Rêzan - Havîn hat)

[flag=]tr[/flag] Turkish
Watch the film "Takva" https://youtube.com/watch?v=AuinVXDC5x8

I'm happy to be of inspiration. Steal away!

księżycowy wrote:I'm happy to be of inspiration. Steal away!

Thanks. I am afraid I am trying to push too much into one week (I have already edited my plan twice as you can see)... but then it won't be a crime to just move the unfinished tasks into the week after next!

That's what I typically do.
Half the battle is figuring out how much you can reasonably do in a week.

Dang, before I know it everybody will be doing księżycowy's weekly goals approach! I don't even bother making weekly goals with, like, anything. I know how my attempts at weekly goals end.

Here is the expression vijay described in his thread in the Arabic subforum in this post: viewtopic.php?p=1070053#p1070053.

تِكرَم / تِكرَمي [P] may you be honored (often said when responding to a request to mean “absolutely, I'll do it”) (male and female forms shown); {tikrɑm / tikrɑmy}
تِكْرَم عَيْنَك [V] either 1. you are most welcome, or 2. most willing to oblige;
تِكْرَم عَيْنك [L] expression of courtesy, literally means “may your eye be honored”. It is used to mean either 1. thank you, or 2. I am happy to oblige, as in:
بَدِّي طاوْلِة لَشَخْصَين، حَدّ الشِبّاك إذا مُمْكِن --- تِكْرَم عَيْنَك، تْفَضَّلُوا [L] I would like a table for two, near the window if possible --- I am happy to oblige, right this way;

(copy pasted from http://www.livingarabic.com/levantine-a ... ionary.php)
Abbrevations: P - Palestinian, L - Lebanese, V - General Levantine

Summary of chapter 3 of Syrian Colloquial

ANOTHER ONE The word غير means "apart from ..." or "except...". When used with an attached pronoun it means "something else" or "another one", for example
maa fii gheero? don't you have anything else? ما في غيره

DOES IT HAVE..? (USING FII)
êl-fêndoq fiih markez rêjjaal a3maal. The hotel has a business centre. الفنق فيه مركز رجّال أعمال

DOES IT HAVE..? (USING ÊL-)
êl-fêndoq êlo jneene. The hotel has a garden. الفندق إله جنينة

The general rule for using êl- is that there must be some integral relationship between the two items: a room and its view, a window and its curtain, or a television and its remote control.

WHERE DO YOU LIVE?
ween saaken? where are you living? وين ساكن؟

QUESTION WORD "WHICH"
b-'ayy Taabe'? on which floor? ّبأيّ طابق؟

HOW OLD ARE YOU?
'addesh 3êmrak? قديش عمرك؟
3êmri ... sene. عمري ... سنة

DO YOU HAVE BROTHERS AND SISTERS? Generally, êl- is the preposition used to talk about one's relatives (except children), for example
êlak êkhwaat? إلك أخوات؟

What is the actual IPA symbol that stands for the é letter that the Syrian Colloquial book uses in its transcription?
(I have replaced it with ê in my summary as it's easier to type for me from my Turkish layout).

In élo, I hear it as [i]
but in 3émrak, I hear [a]
(in the recordings for Chapter 3).

Another note:
The dual is constructed with the -een ending
The masculine plural is often the -iin ending
But they coincide in the Arabic script!
صحن - صحنين
1 plate - 2 plates

معلم - معلمين
teacher - teachers

معلمين can also mean '2 teachers', right?

Summary of chapter 4 of Syrian Colloquial

COUNTING
1) The plural noun is used only following numbers 3-10. For counting objects numbering 11 or more, you use the singular noun.
2) -ar is added to the end of numbers 11-19. This means that if you are counting you would say ida3sh إيدعش , but when you want to say "11 plates" you must say ida3shar sa7n إيدعشر صحن .

WHAT DO YOU THINK? A very useful expression is shu ra'yak? شو رأيك؟ which literally means "what's your opinion" but is commonly used to mean "So, what do you think?"

IT'S DELICIOUS The adjective tayyeb طيّب (good, kind) is also used to mean "delicious ".

EACH, EVERY AND ALL
kêll yoom كل يوم - every day
kêll êl-yoom كل اليوم - all day
kêllna (bêddna) كلنا بدنا - all of us (want)
kêll waa7ed mênna (bêddo) كل واحد مننا بده - each of us (wants)

PLEASE
من فضلك "from your grace"
لو سمحت "if you permit"
إذا بتريد "if you want"

WHAT'S THE MATTER The most common way to ask someone "what's up?" or "what's the matter?" is
shêbak? شبك؟ - what's the matter with you (m)?
maa fii shii ما في شي - nothing

When you have real concern for someone you might say
kheer shêbak? خير شبك؟ - are you alright?

voron wrote: معلمين can also mean '2 teachers', right?

Yep. The same ambiguity exists in unvocalized MSA texts.

Thanks for explaining تكرم عيْنَك, voron!

voron wrote:What is the actual IPA symbol that stands for the é letter that the Syrian Colloquial book uses in its transcription?
(I have replaced it with ê in my summary as it's easier to type for me from my Turkish layout).

In élo, I hear it as [i]
but in 3émrak, I hear [a]
(in the recordings for Chapter 3).

I have a similar problem with that transcription. I think when I first started using this book, I learned to ignore the annoying transcription system and focus on how it sounds.

eskandar wrote:

voron wrote: معلمين can also mean '2 teachers', right?

Yep. The same ambiguity exists in unvocalized MSA texts.

Only in the genitive/accusative, right?

In nominative, IIRC:
معلمون - teachers
معلمان - two teachers

vijayjohn wrote:Thanks for explaining تكرم عيْنَك, voron!

I don't really know what I'm supposed to reply to "tekram" (does the Syrian Colloquial teach it?), so عفوا !

It's cool that we now have a small Arabic-centric community here on Unilang.

voron wrote:

eskandar wrote:

voron wrote: معلمين can also mean '2 teachers', right?

Yep. The same ambiguity exists in unvocalized MSA texts.

Only in the genitive/accusative, right?

In nominative, IIRC:
معلمون - teachers
معلمان - two teachers

I don't really know what I'm supposed to reply to "tekram"

If I'm not mistaken "tekram" alone is used for "you're welcome" (in response to shukran/merci/etc).

Voron, I'm not sure whether this was clear, but I was trying to thank you for explaining the expression, not actually saying it.

vijayjohn wrote:Voron, I'm not sure whether this was clear

Yes it was clear vijay.

Time to review my progress for this week as I won't study on the weekend. Well, I did little.

Syrian Arabic:
Reviewed chapters 3-4 of Syrian Colloquial
Instead of the songs I planned to study I only did this song: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vB_ytAqsmhM

Kurdish:
nothing

Turkish:
Instead of the film I planned to watch I watched the 1st episode of these series: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m26PmJTynSU

Apparently I like changing my plans halfway. I 'll do the planning for the next week anyway, and try to stick to it.

I returned from Ukraine on Tuesday and was busy with some errands this week, so I didn't have much time for the languages.

[flag=]tr[/flag]
Yesterday was the day of commemoration of Çanakkale battle in Turkey, and I watched the film "Son Umut" (the English name "The Water Diviner") co-produced by Australia, the USA and Turkey, whose events revolve around the battle.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Water_Diviner

I keep forgetting the demonstratives in Syrian so I'll put them here for the reference:

haad(a)	this(m)	هدا
hayy	this(f)	هي
hadool	these	هدول
hadaak	that(m)	هداك
hadiik	that(f)	هديك
hadoliik	those	هدوليك

Plans for this week:
[flag=]ar-sy[/flag]
- Chapters 5-6 of Syrian Colloquial Arabic
- Audios 28-30 of Pimsleur Eastern Arabic 1

Summary of Chapter 5 of Syrian Colloquial

BETTER THAN
There are two ways of saying "better than ..."
ahsan mên - أحسن من
afDal mên - أفضل من

QUESTION WORD "WHICH"
Other words used before nouns to mean "which" are
anu - which (m, f and pl) - أنو
ani - which (f only) - أني

ONE OF THE MOST
One of the most = mên + comparative adjective + definite plural noun
7alab mên akbar êl-mêdon b-suuriyya. - Aleppo is one of the biggest cities in Syria.
حلب من أكبر المدن بسوريا

Fêyruuz mên aşşhar êl-mghanniyiin b-êş-şarq êl-awsat. - Feyruz is one of the most famous singers in the Middle East.
فيروز من أشهر المغنّيين بالشرق الأوسط

I WANT TO BUY
bêddi êştêri - بدي اشتري

IMPERATIVES
roo7 روح "go"
leek ليك "look"
ta3aal / ta3a (la-hoon) تعال/تعى لهون "come (here)"
haat هات "bring here"
jiib جيب "bring here"
khud خذ "take"
3aaTi(-ni) عطيني "give (me)"
warji(-ni) / farji(-ni) ورجيني/فرجيني "show (me)"
stanna استنّى "wait"
êmşi امشي "go away!"

OPEN AND CLOSED
maftuu7 مفتوح "open"
msakker مسكّر "closed"

I'M WEARING
laabes لابس "I am wearing" (participle) - used for all items except accessories such as scarves, hats, glasses, contact lenses, perfume and makeup. For these items you use:
7aaTeT حاطط