vijayjohn - (Levantine?) Arabic

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vijayjohn - (Levantine?) Arabic

Postby vijayjohn » 2017-03-03, 20:57

Hi everyone! I've been thinking about trying to improve my Arabic for a while and have finally decided to start posting in Arabic in addition to the other languages I've been posting in or about on UniLang so far. I'm mainly familiar with Damascene Arabic and MSA because I have a copy of Mastering Arabic (which teaches MSA) right here in my room and the last time I was seriously studying any Arabic was when I was taking a seminar (in grad school) with a few non-native speakers of Damascene Arabic who spoke it with each other every day. They had used Syrian Colloquial Arabic, a Functional Course as their textbook for learning it, so I accessed what little I could of it (the first three chapters used to be available online for free along with the audio for each one, but they gradually got rid of this free offer). I know a tiny bit of Egyptian Arabic, have read a bit about Darija (Moroccan Arabic), and have heard bits of Hassaniya (from Mauritania), Chadian, Najdi, Hejazi (both from Saudi Arabia; I once posted a bilingual video with phrases in Najdi and Hejazi accompanied by a written translation into English), Yemeni, and maybe some Gulf varieties and even Tajiki Arabic, as well as Maltese if that counts.

I learned how to make pharyngeals (the only two sounds I couldn't pronounce in Arabic until then, i.e. ح and ع) from my Syrian Arabic-speaking classmates, then wanted to try them out and see whether I was pronouncing them correctly. So one of my classmates suggested that when another one of their group walked in, she'd ask her to ask me how I was, and then I could say الحمدلله بخير. Then she'd get her to ask me whether she could borrow my pen, and I'd hand it over and say تكرم عينك, which literally means something like "may your eye be blessed" but is apparently a common expression to use in certain situations such as when handing something over.

At that time, I also discovered Al-Hudoud (1987), particularly this clip from it. It used to be on YouTube (where I had found it back then), but they removed it:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2qc60y

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Re: vijayjohn - (Levantine?) Arabic

Postby voron » 2017-03-03, 23:04

vijayjohn wrote:They had used Syrian Colloquial Arabic, a Functional Course as their textbook for learning it, so I accessed what little I could of it (the first three chapters used to be available online for free along with the audio for each one, but they gradually got rid of this free offer).

The offer is still (or again) there, check on their website:
http://www.syrianarabic.com

What materials are you going to use?

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Re: vijayjohn - (Levantine?) Arabic

Postby vijayjohn » 2017-03-04, 8:17

Oops, I wrote a reply a while earlier but apparently forgot to send it and lost it. Oh well, I'll just try to write it all over again. :P
voron wrote:
vijayjohn wrote:They had used Syrian Colloquial Arabic, a Functional Course as their textbook for learning it, so I accessed what little I could of it (the first three chapters used to be available online for free along with the audio for each one, but they gradually got rid of this free offer).

The offer is still (or again) there, check on their website:
http://www.syrianarabic.com

Yeah, that's a bit different; they used to have everything right there on the website. They had a link on the main page itself to a PDF and the audio files for the first three chapters. Then they gradually removed all of this. Now I guess this is what we have instead: subscribing(?) to them so you can get the first three chapters for free. Better than when they removed it all, though!
What materials are you going to use?

Now that part of this is available, I'll use it! :D I also intend to use GLOSS, LangMedia, and this, which hasn't been updated in a few years but has some useful resources IMO, especially for Levantine Arabic. (This was also where I found out about GLOSS and LangMedia from, and I found it through the Egyptian Arabic blog). I think I'll also try to review the last few chapters of Mastering Arabic (for MSA) or go through them more carefully because I have it right here in my room and I've pretty much already read it anyway but have forgotten a lot.

EDIT: Oh, and I forgot to add onto that story about learning how to produce pharyngeals because the next day, my classmates got me to repeat this exercise with a third classmate. So I went through the same exercise with him, too (how are you, I'm fine, borrow your pen, sure), then while I was rummaging through my pencil bag for a pen, he said, "!يالله...يالله" which was pretty funny. That was how I learned that word, too.

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Re: vijayjohn - (Levantine?) Arabic

Postby eskandar » 2017-03-04, 8:59

vijayjohn wrote: تكرم عينك, which literally means something like "may your eye be blessed" but is apparently a common expression to use in certain situations such as when handing something over.

You actually hear it said in your clip at 8:20, to which Abdel Wadud gives the response: الله يكرمك . (NB: Tons of other formulaic Arabic pleasantries follow this pattern, cf. سلملي علی فلان with the response الله يسلمك , or نعيماً with the response الله ينعم عليك ).

At that time, I also discovered Al-Hudoud (1987), particularly this clip from it. It used to be on YouTube (where I had found it back then), but they removed it

I loved this! Let me know if you find the full movie online. Funny, satirical, and people seem to speak fairly slowly and clearly - perfect for learning from!
Please correct my mistakes in any language.

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Re: vijayjohn - (Levantine?) Arabic

Postby vijayjohn » 2017-03-04, 9:41

eskandar wrote:You actually hear it said in your clip at 8:20

Yep :)
to which Abdel Wadud gives the response: الله يكرمك . (NB: Tons of other formulaic Arabic pleasantries follow this pattern, cf. سلملي علی فلان with the response الله يسلمك , or نعيماً with the response الله ينعم عليك ).

Oh OK, good to know. Shukran! :)
I loved this! Let me know if you find the full movie online. Funny, satirical, and people seem to speak fairly slowly and clearly - perfect for learning from!

Well, finding the full movie online is no problem in and of itself. All you have to do is look for الحدود on YouTube. The problem is finding the full movie with subtitles. :P

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Re: vijayjohn - (Levantine?) Arabic

Postby vijayjohn » 2017-03-05, 5:42

There's a dialogue on GLOSS that I remember I had started working through back when I started seriously studying Levantine Arabic. It's a Level 1 dialogue called "A Hotel in the Levant" with a series of conversations about getting a room at a hotel. It's in Jordanian Arabic IIRC. I guess I might as well review some of the vocabulary I learned there (since I've probably forgotten them by now anyway) and try to pick up some new words.

Also, I found the first LangMedia video I had ever found in Syrian Arabic: the one called "Loyalty to Ones (sic) Homeland" here.

Finally, I realized earlier today that I kinda lied about Mastering Arabic. There's so many words I've forgotten by now even from the earlier chapters. :P Well, maybe not really, but I kind of forgot even the word for 'newspaper', which is one of the first few words they ever cover in that book.

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Re: vijayjohn - (Levantine?) Arabic

Postby vijayjohn » 2017-03-07, 1:59

(Note on Damascene Arabic)

بيت الشخص (ولا البيت تبع الشخص) بعيد، مو *البيت الشخص بعيدة

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Re: vijayjohn - (Levantine?) Arabic

Postby iamblu » 2017-04-24, 12:50

I'm also interested on Levantine Arabic, and I'm using Arabic Syrian Course by Defense Language Institute. A great material by the way.

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Re: vijayjohn - (Levantine?) Arabic

Postby Saim » 2017-10-30, 17:49

vijayjohn wrote:At that time, I also discovered Al-Hudoud (1987), particularly this clip from it. It used to be on YouTube (where I had found it back then), but they removed it:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x2qc60y


This is a really fun clip, thanks!

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Re: vijayjohn - (Levantine?) Arabic

Postby vijayjohn » 2018-01-31, 19:04

I'm glad you liked it! :D
iamblu wrote:I'm also interested on Levantine Arabic, and I'm using Arabic Syrian Course by Defense Language Institute. A great material by the way.

Good luck and thanks for the recommendation!

سمع الموسيقى، مو *سمع للموسيقى

بفطر باللهجة الشاميه، مو *بالوقت الغدا

الشخص اللي تحتي بيحب باللهجة الشاميه، مو يحب

تاكل (بالشاميه؟)، مو ؟تأكل

دايما بالشاميه، مو دائما

بأوروبا، مو بالأوروبا(؟)


And in Fusha:

بوقت الغدا، مو *بالوقت


And here's some new vocabulary (Syrian Arabic from LangMedia and also Fusha(?) from الف ليلة وليلة!):

in the past = فيما مضى
to be over, be past, come before, precede, antecede = سلف
being over(?) = سالف
period of time = عصر
time, season (from Persian!) = أوان
crisis, dearth, scarcity = أزمة
economy = اقتصاد
goes with the proverb = ينطبق عليها المثل
dead = ميت
foundation, basis, base = أساس

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Re: vijayjohn - (Levantine?) Arabic

Postby eskandar » 2018-04-22, 23:43

vijayjohn wrote:time, season (from Persian!) = أوان

:shock: I always thought this was simply an Arabic loanword in Persian! But I looked it up and you're right, the Arabic word ultimately derives from Middle Persian. So cool!
Please correct my mistakes in any language.

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Re: vijayjohn - (Levantine?) Arabic

Postby vijayjohn » 2019-09-01, 6:42

Yeah. :)

بحب غني ومو *بحب بغني

الشخص اللي تحتي مرضان اليوم :?: ومو *حاسة حاله مريضة

بيحكي باللهجة الشامية ومو *يحكي


I tried to review a bit of Levantine Arabic (I figure I'm kind of doing the same for MSA as part of our study group anyway...) and then also listen to some of the phrases on LangMedia that are provided in several varieties of Arabic (basically just 'hello' and 'goodbye', but there are apparently at least 48 ways to say 'goodbye' in Libyan Arabic, so... :P). Now I'm finding some more words to list in this thread from the same resources as last time:

army (another Persian loanword!) = جند, pl. جنود or أجناد
assistance, aid = عون, pl. أعوان
servant = خادم for men and women and خادمة for women, collective خدم, pl. خادمون, خُدَّام, or خَدمة
servants, entourage = حشم
hero, protagonist = بطل
according to us = عنّا
How would that affect it? = شو بدو يأثّر؟
broke = مُفلس‎
How would I be affected? شو بدي اتأثر؟
if it isn't remaining = اذا ما بقي

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Re: vijayjohn - (Levantine?) Arabic

Postby vijayjohn » 2022-02-22, 23:48

Two words in Moroccan Arabic I learned from the title of a song n8an posted here once :P

come! = !أجي
now = دابا

From الف ليلة وليلة:

horse = فَرَس
already reigned = قد مَلَكَ
he was appointed governor = حُكِّمَ ḥukkima
the notary, the judge, the honest witness = العَادِل
Plural forms of عبد 'slave' include:
عَبِيد
عِبَاد‎
عُبْدَان
أَعْبُد‎
Feminine form: أَمَة‎

From the LangMedia dialogue in Syrian Arabic called "Syrian Daily Life":

according to us = عنا
basically, essentially = بالأساس
basically, our economy was already dead = نحنا بالأساس إقتصاد عنا ميت
in order that (Southern Levantine only) = مشان
talk, speech, conversation, recent events, fresh news, story, tale (as well as hadith) = حديث

From a GLOSS Levantine Arabic dialogue called "At the Eyewear Store":

to check, examine, test, experiment = فحص
to improve, get better, ameliorate, reform = تَحَسَّنَ
to give sincere advice, counsel, admonish, exhort = نصح
lens, magnifying glass = عدسة (pl. عدسات)
(eye)glasses (Southern Levantine only) = نَضَّارات

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Re: vijayjohn - (Levantine?) Arabic

Postby vijayjohn » 2022-03-04, 1:48

تاريخ الجزيرة، لا *التاريخ الجزيرة

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Re: vijayjohn - (Levantine?) Arabic

Postby vijayjohn » 2022-03-11, 20:26

غني ب، لا *غني من

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Re: vijayjohn - (Levantine?) Arabic

Postby n8an » 2022-05-24, 12:23

How's all this going Vijay?

vijayjohn wrote:Two words in Moroccan Arabic I learned from the title of a song n8an posted here once :P

come! = !أجي
now = دابا


I feel so honoured :P

Is اجي "come!" in Moroccan Darija? I interpreted it as "I come" in the dialects I know, but I know nothing of Darija so my opinion isn't very important.

"Daba" is such a signature word. Almost as much as "bzzaf" :P


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