Learn the dark side of Arabic-- or at least the dark sounds
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Natasha: Hello, it’s me Natasha. |
| Judith: Judith here, Absolute Beginner, Season 1, Lesson 3, “Making Arabic Speaking Friends.” |
| Natasha: Hi, my name is Natasha, and I’m joined here by Judith. |
| Judith: Hello, everyone. And welcome back to ArabicPod101.com. |
| Natasha: What are we learning today? |
| Judith: In this lesson, you will learn how to introduce yourself and other people. |
| Natasha: This conversation takes place at Muhammad’s birthday party. |
| Judith: The conversation is between Muhammad, Ahmed, Majah and Khalid. |
| Natasha: This lesson is informal Modern Standard Arabic. |
| Judith: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUES |
| Judith:مها، هذا أحمد. |
| Judith:أهلا مها، فرصة سعيدة. |
| Natasha:فرصة سعيدة، من أين أنت؟ |
| Judith:أنا من الأسكندرية، و لكني طالب في جامعة القاهرة. و أنت؟ |
| Natasha:أنا موسيقية، من سوريا. |
| Judith:من أين؟ |
| Natasha:أنا من دمشق . |
| Judith:و من هذا؟ |
| Natasha:هذا صديقي خالد. |
| Judith:أهلا خالد، أنا أحمد. |
| Judith:فرصة سعيدة، يا أحمد. |
| Judith:فرصة سعيدة. |
| Natasha: Now slowly. |
| Judith:مها، هذا أحمد. |
| Judith:أهلا مها، فرصة سعيدة. |
| Natasha:فرصة سعيدة، من أين أنت؟ |
| Judith:أنا من الأسكندرية، و لكني طالب في جامعة القاهرة. و أنت؟ |
| Natasha:أنا موسيقية، من سوريا. |
| Judith:من أين؟ |
| Natasha:أنا من دمشق . |
| Judith:و من هذا؟ |
| Natasha:هذا صديقي خالد. |
| Judith:أهلا خالد، أنا أحمد. |
| Judith:فرصة سعيدة، يا أحمد. |
| Judith:فرصة سعيدة. |
| Natasha: Now, with the translation. |
| Judith:مها، هذا أحمد. |
| Natasha: Majah, this is Ahmed. |
| Judith:أهلا مها، فرصة سعيدة. |
| Natasha: Hello, Majah, nice to meet you. |
| Natasha:فرصة سعيدة، من أين أنت؟ |
| Natasha: Nice to meet you too. Where are you from? |
| Judith:أنا من الأسكندرية، و لكني طالب في جامعة القاهرة. و أنت؟ |
| Natasha: I’m from Alexandria, but I’m a student at Cairo University and you? |
| Natasha:أنا موسيقية، من سوريا. |
| Natasha: I’m a musician, and I’m Syrian. |
| Judith:من أين؟ |
| Natasha: Where in Syria are you from? |
| Natasha:أنا من دمشق . |
| Natasha: I’m from Damascus. |
| Judith:و من هذا؟ |
| Natasha: And who is this? |
| Natasha:هذا صديقي خالد. |
| Natasha: This is my friend Khalid. |
| Judith:أهلا خالد، أنا أحمد. |
| Natasha: Hello, Khalid, I’m Ahmed. |
| Judith:فرصة سعيدة، يا أحمد. |
| Natasha: Nice to meet you Ahmed. |
| Judith:فرصة سعيدة. |
| Natasha: Nice to meet you too. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Judith: Okay. So maybe we should talk a bit about where Arabic is spoken. |
| Natasha: Arabic is spoken as a native language in all Arabic countries, Middle East and North Africa. |
| Judith: There are 530 million speakers in the world, 280 million speak Arabic as a first language, and 250 million speak it as a second language. |
| Natasha: Arabic is widely spoken in the Middle East. For example, in Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, The United Arab Emirates and Yemen. |
| Judith: It is also spoken in North Africa, in Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania and Western Sahara. |
| Natasha: Few people know that you can even find Arabic speakers as far as Iraq, Sudan, Somalia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Chad, Senegal and Mali. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Judith: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| Judith: The first word we shall see is. |
| Natasha: هذا |
| Judith: This, masculine. |
| Natasha: هذا |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: فـرصة |
| Judith: Chance, opportunity. |
| Natasha: فـرصة |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: سعيدة |
| Judith: Happy, as a woman saying it. |
| Natasha: سعيدة |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: مـن |
| Judith: From. |
| Natasha: مـن |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: أين |
| Judith: Where. |
| Natasha: أين |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: أنت |
| Judith: You, to a male. |
| Natasha: أنت |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: لكن |
| Judith: But, however. |
| Natasha:لكن |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: طالبة |
| Judith: The student. |
| Natasha: طالبة |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: في |
| Judith: In or at. |
| Natasha: في |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: جامـْـعة |
| Judith: University. |
| Natasha: جامـْـعة |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: أنت |
| Judith: You, to a female. |
| Natasha: أنت |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: موسيقية |
| Judith: Musician, Natasha musician. |
| Natasha: موسيقية |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: سوريا |
| Judith: Syria. |
| Natasha: سوريا |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: من |
| Judith: Who. |
| Natasha: من |
| Judith: Next. |
| Natasha: صديق |
| Judith: Friend. |
| Natasha: صديق |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Judith: Let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first words we look at are the Arabic names of countries and cities. |
| Natasha: "suuriya". |
| Judith: “Syria.” |
| Natasha: “Damascus” is "dimashq" and “Alexandria” is "al-iskandaria". The name of “Cairo” is completely different even. It’s "al-qaahira", "furSa sa´iida" literally means “happy opportunity”. |
| Judith: But in Arabic, it’s the equivalent of “nice to meet you” as in “it’s such a happy opportunity to meet you.” |
| Natasha: The word “my” doesn’t exists in Arabic, instead we simply add “E” to the end of the word. "Sadiiq" is “friend” and "Sadiiqii" is “my friend.” |
| Judith: Again, we will cover Arabic possessives in more detail later. |
| GRAMMAR POINT |
| Judith: The focus of this lesson is the pronunciation of dark consonants. |
| Natasha: Several Arabic consonants come into varieties, dark and non-dark. Sounds that are dark are pronounced further in the back. |
| Judith: In English, you can notice this difference when pronouncing “see” and “sew.” Your tongue naturally shifts back when you pronounced “sew” and the “S” sound changes a bit. You can hear it if you’re trying to say “see” from the position of “sew” just keep your tongue in this position. Say, “sew,” keep your tongue in this position and try to saw “see,” it comes out a bit weird like “see.” And it’s something we normally don’t pay attention to, but in Arabic, it makes a difference. |
| Natasha: Arabic has two “S” sounds, one that sounds like the “S” in “see” and one that sounds like the “S” in “sew.” The one like in “see” is “seen” and it’s used in the word سُوريا The dark “S,” the one that sounds like “S” in “sew” is ص ,and it’s used in the word صَديق . |
| Judith: Can you say both words again? |
| Natasha: سُوريا, صَديق |
| Judith: To make this distinction, we capitalize the dark “S” in transcription. They are more dark consonants and we capitalize all of them in transcription. |
| Natasha: For example, there is also a dark “D,” “dot” and a normal “D,” “doll.” There is a normal “T,” “ta” as in تـَـفَـضـَّل and there is a dark “T” “ta” as in طالبٌ . |
| Judith: Can you say these words again for comparison? |
| Natasha: تـَـفَـضـَّل, طالبٌ |
| Judith: Listen carefully for the difference. There is also a dark version of the “the” which we’ll encounter later. That’s just about that’s it for today. |
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| Judith:So, see you next week! |
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