INTRODUCTION |
Natasha: Hello, t’s me Natasha. |
Judith: Absolute Beginner Season 1, Lesson 7, “Learning English at an Arabic School.” |
Natasha: Hello, everyone. I’m Natasha. And welcome to ArabicPod101.com. |
Judith: With us, you’ll learn to speak Arabic with fun and effective lessons. |
Natasha: We also provide you with cultural insights. |
Judith: And tips you won’t find in the textbook. In this lesson, you will learn how to talk about language learning. |
Natasha: This conversation takes place at Muhammad’s birthday party. |
Judith: The conversation is between Julia, Muhammad and Ahmed. |
Natasha: This dialogue is an informal Modern Standard Arabic. |
Judith: Let’s listen to the conversation. |
DIALOGUES |
Natasha:هل تعلمتم جميعكم الإنجليزية في المدرسة. |
Judith:نعم، تعلمنا جميعا الإنجليزية ولكن المعلمين لم يكونوا جيدين. |
Judith: احمد:أنا لا أتكلم الإنجليزية فقد نسيتها |
Judith:نحن جميعا نسيناها. خالد وحده تعلمها جيدا لأنه سافر وعمل في الخارج. |
Natasha: جوليا:نفس الشيء في أمريكا. تعلمت الإسبانية في المدرسة إلا أنني لم أستخدمها فنسيتها. |
Natasha: Now, slowly. |
Natasha: جوليا :هل تعلمتم جميعكم الإنجليزية في المدرسة. |
Judith:نعم، تعلمنا جميعا الإنجليزية ولكن المعلمين لم يكونوا جيدين. |
Judith: احمد:أنا لا أتكلم الإنجليزية فقد نسيتها |
Judith:نحن جميعا نسيناها. خالد وحده تعلمها جيدا لأنه سافر وعمل في الخارج. |
Natasha: جوليا:نفس الشيء في أمريكا. تعلمت الإسبانية في المدرسة إلا أنني لم أستخدمها فنسيتها. |
Natasha: Now, with the translation. |
Natasha: جوليا :هل تعلمتم جميعكم الإنجليزية في المدرسة. |
Natasha: Have you all learned English at school? |
Judith:نعم، تعلمنا جميعا الإنجليزية ولكن المعلمين لم يكونوا جيدين. |
Natasha: Yes, we have all learned English. But the teachers weren’t good. |
Judith: احمد:أنا لا أتكلم الإنجليزية فقد نسيتها . |
Natasha: I don’t speak English. I forgot it. |
Judith:نحن جميعا نسيناها. خالد وحده تعلمها جيدا لأنه سافر وعمل في الخارج. |
Natasha: We all forgot it. Khalid only learned English well because he travelled and he worked abroad. |
Natasha: جوليا:نفس الشيء في أمريكا. تعلمت الإسبانية في المدرسة إلا أنني لم أستخدمها فنسيتها. |
Natasha: It’s the same in America, I learned Spanish at school but I didn’t use it, and I forgot it. |
POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
Judith: Okay, so let’s talk a bit about Arabs abroad. Is it very common to find Arabs in different countries, I mean, outside the Middle East? |
Natasha: Yeah, well, the Arabs have long been engaging in internal trade and it’s rare to find anywhere, which does not have a long founded Arab community. However, in recent years, immigration has increased from the Arab states, leading to the newer and larger preferences in many countries. Perhaps surprising the largest Arab community is in Brazil, followed by France and the USA. |
Judith: How about movement within the Arab world? |
Natasha: Well, a lot of Arabs move in within the Arab world from rural areas, to cities and from the poorer nations to the gulf states. |
Judith: Is this possibly easily, I mean, don’t they all speak different dialects? |
Natasha: It’s actually easier for Arabs because they all learn standard Arabic at school. So they have no communication problem. |
VOCAB LIST |
Judith: Okay. Let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. The first word we shall see is... |
Natasha: جمیعکم |
Judith: You all. |
Natasha: معلم |
Judith: Teacher. |
Natasha: معلم |
Judith: Next. |
Natasha: كونلم يوا |
Judith: They are not. |
Natasha: كونلم يوا |
Judith: Next. |
Natasha: أتكلم |
Judith: I speak. |
Natasha: أتكلم |
Judith: Next. |
Natasha: نسي |
Judith: Forget. |
Natasha: نسي |
Judith: Next. |
Natasha: وحده |
Judith: Alone or only. |
Natasha: وحده |
Judith: Next. |
Natasha: الخارج |
Judith: Abroad. |
Natasha: الخارج |
Judith: Next. |
Natasha: نفس الشيء |
Judith: The same thing. |
Natasha: نفس الشيء |
Judith: Next. |
Natasha: إسبانيّة |
Judith: Spanish. |
Natasha: إسبانيّة |
Judith: Next. |
Natasha: إستخدم |
Judith: Use. |
Natasha: إستخدم |
KEY VOCAB AND PHRASES |
Natasha: Okay. Now, let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
Judith: The first thing we’ll look at is the “fa-” Some of the verbs in this dialogue ended in -ha rather than the expected verb ending. |
Natasha: The -ha means... |
Judith: It. |
Natasha: So "nasitu" means... |
Judith: I forgot. |
Natasha: But "nasituha" means... |
Judith: I forgot it. We’ll cover this in more detail in the next lesson. |
Natasha: The prefix fa- can be used to mean then or so. We saw this at the end of a dialogue when Julia says that she didn’t use Spanish. |
Judith: "fanasituhaa" So I forgot it. The fa- makes this part of the story. Without the fa-, "nasituhaa" simply means... |
Natasha: I forgot it. |
GRAMMAR POINT |
Judith: The focus of this lesson is the regular past tense part two. In the previous lesson, we learned the singular forms of the regular past tense. They are. |
Natasha: daras-t(u) |
Judith: I learned. |
Natasha: daras-t(a) |
Judith: You learned, talking to a man. |
Natasha: daras-ti |
Judith: You learned, talking to a woman. |
Natasha: daras-(a) |
Judith: He learned. |
Natasha: daras-at |
Judith: She learned. Now, let’s look at the plural forms. |
Natasha: daras-na |
Judith: We learned. |
Natasha: daras-tum |
Judith: You learned, talking to several men. |
Natasha: daras-tunna |
Judith: You learned, talking to several women. |
Natasha: daras-u |
Judith: They learned, a group of men. |
Natasha: daras-na |
Judith: They learned, a group of women. So, "daras-na“ is ambiguous. It can be either we learned or a group of women learned. |
Natasha: If there is a mixed group, Arabs always use the male form. |
Judith: This is the same as in French or Spanish. Mixed groups are considered male. |
Natasha: Arabic verbs all get these endings to learn them well. |
Judith: That just about does it for today. |
Outro
|
Natasha: Listeners, have you ever dreamed of starring in one of our lessons? |
Judith: If your answer is yes, use the voice recording tool on the lessons page. |
Natasha: Record your voice with a click of a button. |
Judith: And then play it back just as easily, then compare it to the native speakers in the lesson and adjust your pronunciation. |
Natasha: After a few tries, you’ll be speaking better Arabic than Judith here |
Judith: Hey. |
Natasha: Go to ArabicPod101.com and rapidly improve your Arabic pronunciation. |
Judith:So, see you next week! |
28 Comments
HideHi listeners!
Is there any language you forgot because you didn't use it?
Hi Mike,
Thank you for your comment, Unfortunately I am not sure which part of the lesson you are referring to. I don't see any names in the dialogue part.
Nora
Team ArabicPod101.com
Ahlan!
I don't know if this page is new but you may want to proof read it. There are quite alot of errors on it! Such as "Judith: The conversation is between JULIA, Muhammad and Ahmed.", several people in the dialogue are marked as 'Judith' (including I think an Ahmad), some of the dialogue in Arabic script includes the name and some don't............
Hi Hisham,
Your might want to check TV and drama produced in the gulf to get a better idea of their dialect, but MSA should help for sure!
Nora
Team ArabicPod101.com
Hi!
I'm Hisham, unfortunately I'm one of those Arabs from Morocco, whose Arabic is so different from the modern standard arabic that I have a really hard time understanding it.
I hope to improve in the coming months to be able to become fluent in MSA and be able to speak with people from the gulf and the khalij.
Hi Larry,
Thank you! Fixed!
Nora
Team ArabicPod101.com
Hello,
I just wanted to point out a typo. You have:
"Judith: This is the same as in French or Spanish. Mixed groups are considered Judith."
This should be:
"Judith: This is the same as in French or Spanish. Mixed groups are considered MALE."
Larry
Hi Allen,
Where did you live before? It might be interesting if you check Moroccan Arabic. It has a lot of French in it.
Nora
Team ArabicPod101.com
Yes, Arabic. Now I'm back to the basics but it comes easier. I moved out of a French speaking island 8 years ago though and I still speak very well although a lot of more complex words may not come to mind as quickly as I'd like. I recognize it when I see it.
Hi Christi,
You kind of need both, really :D But in the earlier stages of learning a language, a teacher is indeed necessary. When you reach more advanced stages, you will start relying more on dictionaries though :)
Good luck!
Nora
Team ArabicPod101.com
Thanks! Obviously, you need a teacher and not just a dictionary to learn a language!