Comments on: Survival Phrases #8 - Can You Speak English?

by: Timothy

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 02:50:37 +0000

John, that’s a good observation.

Arabic verbs have slightly different forms depending on the grammatical mode (mood) of the verb. What you are seeing is the how the Arabic language has evolved differently over time with different groups of people. Some groups preferred to use the subjunctive form as the normal present tense form (as heard in the Newbie series) and other groups favored the indicative form (as heard in the Beginner Series).

I haven’t been able to figure out the regional variations, but I believe it may be a personal decision, highly influenced by region. I found this article on wikipedia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varieties_of_Arabic

I think it suggests that my observations (and subsequent inability to define regional variations) is based on the patterns of settlement and re-settlement of groups of Arabs in the Levant (where most of my Arabic experience comes from).

So everyone, tell us which forms you hear the most. Have you noticed any patterns?

by: John

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 23:10:38 +0000

There seems to be a difference in speak (feminine) in the Beginner 7 versus the Survival 8 lessons. Beginner 7 teaches speak (feminine) as tatakallamiina while the Survival 8 lesson teaches speak (feminine) as tatakallami. Is the difference because the survival lessons teach the Morrocan way of speaking?

by: Timothy

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 11:04:13 +0000

Sudanese, Lebanese, Egyptian, Jordanian, Iraqi, Syrian, Moroccan…all the Arabic speaking people I’ve met speak great English. Of course, I wouldn’t expect otherwise since I’m in the U.S. So far only one has spoken another language fluently and هي تتكلم الفرنسية - hiya tatakallam al-faransiya.

By the way, did you notice the difference between how Mounia says al-enjleziya and how Danya and May say al-’ingliiziya? That’s a regional difference that I just noticed.

Geographically speaking, I wonder where the shift from the hard ‘g’ to soft ‘j’ happens for this word, since it doesn’t seem to follow the Egypt/everywhere-else model.

by: ArabicPod101.com

Mon, 23 Jun 2008 07:30:03 +0000

As mentioned in the podcast, many Arabic speakers speak English. The French influence on North Africa means that many Arabic speakers also speak French. Arabic speakers in Iran and Turkey mean that many Arabic speakers speak Farsi or Turkish as a second language. So many Arabic speakers will answer na^cam not only to English, but also to many other languages as well! Do you know any bilingual Arabic speakers? What are the other languages that they speak?