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| INTRODUCTION |
| Becky: Hi everyone, and welcome back to ArabicPod101.com. This is Lower Intermediate Season 1 Lesson 9 - Asking for a Restaurant Recommendation in Arabic. Becky Here. |
| Nora: السلام عليكم. I'm Nora. |
| Becky: In this lesson, you’ll learn how to ask for a recommendation. This conversation takes place at a hotel. |
| Nora: It's between Saleem, Noor, and the concierge. Saleem and Noor are checking in at their hotel in Sharm el-Sheikh. |
| Becky: The speakers are an employee and a customer, so they will be using formal Egyptian Arabic. Okay, let's listen to the conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| الشيال : اهلاً بيكم في شرم الشيخ . اقدر اساعدكو في حاجة ؟ |
| سليم : اهلاً , احنا لسة واصلين وعندنا كام سؤال كدة . اولا, ايه المطاعم القريبة اللي تقترحها علينا ؟ |
| الشيال : ايه نوع الأكل اللي تفضلوه ؟ |
| نور: ممكن سي فود |
| الشيال : في مطعم حلو جدا بيقدم سمك أدام الفندق علي طول. في علامة زرقة كبيرة أدامه . |
| نور: جميل . ميرسي جدا . اه كمان منين ممكن اشتري صن سكرين (كريم ضد الشمس) اصل انا نسيت اجيبه معايا . |
| الشيال : ممكن تشتري صن سكرين من محل الهدايا اللي في الفندق. |
| سليم : ممتاز , آخر حاجة بقي ازاي نروح البحر ؟ |
| الشيال: البحر بره علي طول علي الشمال . استمتعوا بأجازتكو ! |
| سليم : شكرا علي مساعدتك لينا ! |
| Becky: Listen to the conversation one time slowly. |
| الشيال : اهلاً بيكم في شرم الشبخ . اقدر اساعدكو في حاجة ؟ |
| سليم : اهلاً , احنا لسة واصلين وعندنا كام سؤال كدة . اولا, ايه المطاعم القريبة اللي تقترحها علينا ؟ |
| الشيال : ايه نوع الأكل اللي تفضلوه ؟ |
| نور: ممكن سي فود |
| الشيال : في مطعم حلو جدا بيقدم سمك أدام الفندق علي طول. في علامة زرقة كبيرة أدامه . |
| نور: جميل . ميرسي جدا . اه كمان منين ممكن اشتري صن سكرين (كريم ضد الشمس) اصل انا نسيت اجيبه معايا . |
| الشيال : ممكن تشتري صن سكرين من محل الهدايا اللي في الفندق. |
| سليم : ممتاز , آخر حاجة بقي ازاي نروح البحر ؟ |
| الشيال: البحر بره علي طول علي الشمال . استمتعوا بأجازتكو ! |
| سليم : شكرا علي مساعدتك لينا ! |
| Becky: Listen to the conversation with the English translation. |
| Concierge: Welcome to Sharm el-Sheikh. How can I help you? |
| Saleem: Hi, we just arrived and we have a few questions. First, what restaurants do you recommend nearby? |
| Concierge: What type of food do you like? |
| Noor: Seafood, maybe? |
| Concierge: There is a great restaurant that serves fish right across the street from the hotel. It has a big blue sign in front. |
| Noor: Great, thank you. Also, where can I buy sunscreen? I forgot to bring it with me. |
| Concierge: You can buy sunscreen in the hotel gift shop. |
| Saleem: Excellent. Finally, which way to the beach? |
| Concierge: The beach is out the door to your left. Enjoy your vacation! |
| Saleem: Thank you for your help! |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Becky: Nora, can you tell us something about tourist accommodation in Egypt? Are there many options? |
| Nora: There are many varieties of accommodation, from luxurious hotels to affordable hostels. You will be sure to find accommodations that fit your travel style! |
| Becky: I’ve heard that everywhere you go, it’s easy to find great hospitality. |
| Nora: Right, even at the most basic hotels and hostels, it is likely that you will experience incredible hospitality. In Egypt, any hotel staff member or friendly local can act as your concierge. |
| Becky: That sounds great. Do you have advice about visiting Egypt? |
| Nora: I think to get the most out of your experiences in the region, you should ask the locals for recommendations. And don’t be surprised if you ask for a restaurant recommendation and end up with an invitation to a local’s house for dinner! Egyptians and Arabs in general are extremely welcoming and generous! |
| Becky: That’s great! |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Becky: Let’s take a look at the vocabulary from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Nora: اهلاً بيكم [natural native speed] |
| Becky: welcome |
| Nora: اهلاً بيكم[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: اهلاً بيكم [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Nora: واصلين [natural native speed] |
| Becky: (We) arrived |
| Nora: واصلين[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: واصلين [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Nora: سؤال [natural native speed] |
| Becky: question |
| Nora: سؤال[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: سؤال [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Nora: المطاعم [natural native speed] |
| Becky: restaurants |
| Nora: المطاعم[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: المطاعم [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Nora: تقترح [natural native speed] |
| Becky: you suggest/you recommend |
| Nora: تقترح[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: تقترح [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Nora: الأكل [natural native speed] |
| Becky: food |
| Nora: الأكل[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: الأكل [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Nora: سمك [natural native speed] |
| Becky: fish |
| Nora: سمك[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: سمك [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Nora: صن سكرين [natural native speed] |
| Becky: sun screen |
| Nora: صن سكرين[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: صن سكرين [natural native speed] |
| Becky: Next we have.. |
| Nora: محل هدايا [natural native speed] |
| Becky: gift shop |
| Nora: محل هدايا[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: محل هدايا [natural native speed] |
| Becky: And last.. |
| Nora: الشمال [natural native speed] |
| Becky: left (direction) |
| Nora: الشمال[slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Nora: الشمال [natural native speed] |
| KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
| Becky: Let's have a closer look at the usage of some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word is.. |
| Nora: الشمال |
| Becky: meaning "the left (direction)" |
| Nora: The word شمال alone means "left", but when you add an el to it, it can be used as an adjective. |
| Becky: For example, you can say... |
| Nora: الرجل الشمال, meaning "the left leg". |
| Becky: This adjective is used as slang that indicates that a person is bad or has a bad reputation. |
| Nora: It is, but you can’t say “yemeen” or “right” to refer to a good person though, so be careful! |
| Becky: Oh, okay. Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Nora: Sure. For example, you can say.. هتلاقي المطعم على الشمال. |
| Becky: ..which means "You will find the restaurant on your left." Okay, what's the next word? |
| Nora: تقترح |
| Becky: meaning " you suggest " |
| Nora: It’s a conjugated form. This is a perfect word to use to ask someone for their suggestion. In Egyptian Arabic, we usually pronounce the ق as a glottal stop “ءء”, but in some words, such as this one, it's pronounced just like standard Arabic - “قق”. |
| Becky: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Nora: Sure. For example, you can say.. ايه الأسواق القريبة اللي تقترحها علينا ؟ |
| Becky: .. which means "Which markets nearby do you recommend (to us)?" |
| Becky: Okay, what's the next word? |
| Nora: صن سكرين |
| Becky: meaning "sun screen". This word sounds similar to the English word, so be sure to listen carefully to the Arabic pronunciation. |
| Nora: Some people say, سن بلوك, the Arabic for sunblock, and some say sunscreen, but in Egypt, they're both the same, so you can use either. |
| Becky: Can you give us an example using this word? |
| Nora: For example, you can say.. محتاج صن سكرين. الشمس قوية أوي النهاردة. |
| Becky: .. which means "I need sun screen. Today is very sunny." |
| Becky: Okay, now onto the grammar. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Becky: In this lesson, you'll learn how to ask the concierge for information and recommendations. |
| Nora: In order to navigate a new place and culture like a local, you should know how to ask people around you for recommendations. |
| Becky: In Arabic, you can use the same basic phrase to ask about food, sightseeing, movies, accommodation, and much more. The basic phrase in English would be "What ______ do you recommend?" |
| Nora: In Egyptian Arabic that would be ايه ______ اللي تقترحها علينا؟ (when directed to a male) |
| Becky: It literally means what ____ do you recommend (to me/ to us)? |
| Nora: If you are speaking to a woman, you have to say ايه ______ اللي تقترحيها علينا؟ |
| Becky: Which also means “what ____ do you recommend (to me/ to us)?” but directed to a woman. |
| Nora: The only difference between the two phrases is the conjugation of the verb "to recommend", which changes depending on the gender of the person you are talking to. The verb is تقترح if you are asking a male for his recommendation and تقترحي if you are asking a female. |
| Becky: Let’s consider a practical example by taking a quick look at the phrase "Which restaurants do you recommend?" Imagine a male is being asked this question. |
| Nora: The Egyptian Arabic phrase would be ايه المطاعم اللي تقترحها عليا |
| Becky: meaning “Which restaurants do you recommend to us?” |
| Nora: Let's break down this phrase because it includes two very important pieces of grammar. |
| ايه is the question word for "what" in the Egyptian dialect. Then we have المطاعم |
| Becky: which is the plural form of “restaurant” |
| Nora: Then we have اللي |
| Becky: Which is a relative pronoun that is necessary in a sentence to refer back to a noun, which in this case is "restaurants". |
| Nora: The good news about this relative pronoun is that in Egyptian Arabic, the same word اللي is used for all nouns, regardless of gender or number. No conjugation necessary! |
| Becky: Let’s remember instead that In Modern Standard Arabic, there are many different variations of the word. What comes next? |
| Nora: The next word, تقترحها, has two pieces. First is the verb "to recommend" conjugated to become "you recommend in the masculine form” تقترح and it’s followed by the feminine suffix ها- that refers to the word "restaurants." |
| Becky:What about the last word? |
| Nora: The last word, عليا, also has two parts. First is the word على which means "to" and is attached to the suffix ا- which means "me." You might remember that in the dialogue, the word here was علينا, which has the suffix نا- for "us" because the man was with his wife. |
| Becky: The literal translation, word for word, would be, "What restaurants (that) you recommend (them) to me?" This literal translation sounds a bit awkward in English, but it’s helpful because it makes two grammatical structures that are unique to Arabic, very evident. |
| Nora: To use this structure in other contexts, we just need to substitute the word “restaurants” with any other noun. Remember, the word اللي stays the same for any noun but the suffix attached to the verb تقترح changes depending on if the object is a masculine or a feminine noun. تقترحها refers to a feminine and/or plural noun, and تقترحه refers to a masculine noun. You can also leave out the word “me” or “us” in the end if it’s obvious. |
| Becky: Can you give us some examples? |
| Nora: اية اللون اللي تقترحه؟ |
| Becky: “What color do you recommend?” |
| Nora: In this case we used the masculine noun loon meaning “color”. Let’s consider the word leʿba which means “game” or “toy,” and is a feminine noun. We will have |
| ايه اللعبة اللي تقترحها؟ |
| Becky: Meaning “Which game do you recommend?” |
| Nora: Another, more simple way you can ask for recommendations is by putting the verb first and adding the present tense prefix ب to the conjugated verb: |
| بتقترح اي _____؟ (for a male) or بتقترحي اي _____؟ (for a female) |
| Becky: Meaning “Do you recommend any ___?” |
| Nora: Just insert a singular noun in the blank space. An example using this structure would be: |
| بتقترح اي مطعم؟ |
| Becky: This literally translates to "Is there any restaurant that you would like to recommend?" |
| Nora: Wrapping up, it may be interesting to give a list of Egyptian Arabic words. |
| Becky: That sounds good. Listeners, Nora will give the Egyptian Arabic word and I will give the translation. |
| Nora: fein |
| Becky: “where” |
| Nora: ('ala) fein |
| Becky: “to where” |
| Nora: imta |
| Becky: “when.” Nora, to finish the lesson, please give us a couple of examples |
| Nora: Sure ايه المكان اللي تقترحه عليا؟ |
| Becky: "What place do you recommend?" |
| Nora: عندك أي إقتراحات؟ |
| Becky: "Do you have any suggestions?" |
Outro |
| Becky: Okay, that’s all for this lesson. Thank you for listening, everyone, and we’ll see you next time! Bye! |
| Nora: مع السلامة |
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