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! |
Comments
HideHello dear listeners!
Do you have Arabic-speaking friends?
Hi lemi Aliyi,
Thank you for your message.
Have you checked our My Teacher feature?
You can find more information here:
https://www.arabicpod101.com/myteacher
Have a great day!😄
Cheers,
Lena
Team ArabicPod101.com
Please can I get Some one to try Arabic With?
Hi Kamlesh,
lakinnanee is bascially lakin+ana. So all in all it means "but I", as opposed to just "but".
Nora
Team ArabicPod101.com
I want to know when we use lakinanee and when to use lakin .I understand meaning of lakin is but . In contrast lakinanee seems to be used for different meaning .
And also when to ananee I place of ana . Does ananee means mine (personal pronoun)
Please guide me
Hi Tom,
Thank you very much for your kind feedback! We try our best :)!
Nora
Team ArabicPod101.com
This is an awesome fully integrated solution to learning Arabic. You are the only language instruction online format which offers the vowels and background notes such as the dark sounds after the lesson. This approach is so helpful and logical for new students of the Arabic language. Tom Brady UC Berkeley Middle Eastern Studies 1984
Hi Hidar Abugalal,
هذا رائع!
Nora
Team ArabicPod101.com
السلام عليكم ، نعم لدي أصدقاء يتحدثون العربية
Hi Robert,
It can be used in the middle of a conversation and also in the end of a conversation, just like the English "Nice to meet you."
Nora
ArabicPod101.com
Thanks for this helpful lesson. I'm learning Egyptian Arabic and I was told not to say:
فرصة سعيدة
unless you want to end the conversation.
Hi Merie,
It is a very common Arabic name! :)
Nora
Team ArabicPod101.com
Lool! Why would you name one of the characters “Maha”?! A bit confusing!
Hi Abubakar,
عفواً!
Nora
Team ArabicPod101.com
أنا ممتن شكرا
Hi Jubilee,
That's amazing!
Nora
Team ArabicPod101.com
I have about 15 friends in Iraq. Some are Kurdish and others are Arab. They taught me a little Arabic 😜.
Hi Max,
Thank you for posting.
Please check out the [Dialogue] section which has the dialogue in Arabic, romanization and English.
It can also be found in the [Lesson Notes] PDF.
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Hope this helps! In case of any questions, please don't hesitate to contact us.
Sincerely,
Cristiane
Team ArabicPod101.com
In the premium upgrade, are transcriptions available using English letters? I'm unable to read the arabic script on this page's transcription. Thank you!
Hi Sameer,
I'm guessing you mean "wein"? That is "where" in gulf dialects and Levantine dialects, not in Modern Standard Arabic.
Nora
Team ArabicPod101.com
People I know say wan instead of ayna so which do I use