Learn about the dark letters
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| Hala: "good day!"(IN ARABIC) "I AM HALA." (IN ARABIC) |
| Mutsu: Mutsu here! Arabic Pronunciation Series Lesson 1 – the Arabic Alphabet. |
| Mutsu: Hello, and welcome to ArabicPod101.com, the fastest, easiest, and most fun way to learn Arabic! |
| Hala: I''m Hala, and thanks for being here with us for this Pronunciation lesson. |
| Mutsu: What is our focus today, Hala? |
| Hala: In this lesson we will talk about some tips and tricks to pronounce Arabic letters just like a native! |
| Hala: We will also cover some basic sounds. How to pronounce them, and what mistakes not to make. |
| Mustu: So, Hala, with what are we starting? |
| Hala: First, I would like to make a short introduction to the Arabic alphabet. |
| Mustu: Go ahead, we are all ears! |
| Hala: The Arabic alphabet consists of 28 letters, among them there are 3 long vowels, and 4 letters called the “dark letters”, because the sound produced by them, is very similar to other 4 letters, but with a deeper or darker tone. |
| Mustu: So basically, we have 4 letters that are pronounced softly, and 4 other, that resemble them, but have a deeper tone. |
| Hala: Exactly, today, we will cover 2 pairs of them. |
| Mustu: Great, what are they Hala? |
| Hala: “sīn, ṣād“ |
| Mustu: Well, it might be just me, but I don’t hear the similarity as much as I was hoping for! |
| Hala: Because we are using the name of the letter, now going for the sound, which is “sa, ṣa” |
| Mustu: “sa, ṣa”, Hala, that’s very tricky, and not easy! |
| Hala: Focus on soft, dark, or soft and deep, “sa, ṣa”, it has to come from deep of your throat, and don’t stress it. |
| Mustu: Ok, best way to practice it, is by having words! |
| Hala: Lets start with the following two “sayf, ṣayf.” |
| Mustu: Let me try that “sayf, ṣayf.” |
| Hala: Very close, but try again, this time, focus more on the deep sound of the second word, “sayf, ṣayf.” |
| Mustu: Here I go one more time “sayf, ṣayf” |
| Hala: Much better this time! |
| Mustu: Okay then, how about two more words? |
| Hala: Hmm, lets try “sallaḥa, ṣallaḥa.” |
| Mustu: “sallaḥa, ṣallaḥa.” |
| Hala: Great work Mustu, got it the first time “sallaḥa, ṣallaḥa.” |
| Mustu: How about two more words and then we can move to the next point. |
| Hala: “sabaʾ, ṣabaʾ” |
| Mustu: “sabaʾ, ṣabaʾ” |
| Hala: As you might have noticed, even though we have only changed one letter in the word, even the sound of the rest of the word changes. It’s affected by the dark letter. Always keep that in mind, it wont be a perfect matching sound as a change is bound to happen! |
| Mustu: Great Hala, what about the second pair? |
| Hala: dāl, and ḍād |
| Mustu: From what I hear now, I can’t understand the difference very clearly. |
| Hala: Yes, because I’m saying the name of the letter, but the sounds are the following da and ḍa. |
| Mustu: Can you give us some examples please? To make it more clear? |
| Hala: For sure, “dām, ḍām.” |
| Mustu: dām, ḍām |
| Hala: Very good Mustu, lets try these 2 new words “wada ʿ , waḍaʿ.” |
| Mustu: “ wada ʿ , waḍaʿ.” |
| Hala: The trick is, to not stress, but try to pronounce the first softly, like a normal “D” in English, and the second sound, it is deeper. |
| Mustu: Well, so far so good, how about another example? |
| Hala: Let me think , hmmm, let's make it more tricky this time “diʿh , ḍiʿh.” |
| Mustu: That is tricky, let me try “diʿh , ḍiʿh”. |
| Hala: Well done Mustu, you’re getting the hang of it! |
| Mustu: Thanks, that was helpful, hearing the words and repeating them out loud! |
| Hala: That is the best way, and you did a great job! |
| Mutsu: That just about does it for today. |
| Hala: Don't forget that you can leave us a comment on this lesson. |
| Mutsu: So if you have a question, or some feedback, please leave us a comment! |
| Hala: It's very easy to do. Just stop by ArabicPod101.com, |
| Mutsu: Click on comments, |
| Hala: Enter your comment and name, |
| Mutsu: And that's it. |
| Hala: No excuses. We're looking forward to hearing from you! |
| Mutsu: Bye! |
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