Levantine Arabic: Lesson 1

Since posting the Introduction to Levantine Dialect video I've had requests to continue with Levantine dialect lessons. This lesson will use a clip from the first episode of the MBC series الحب المستحيل (Impossible Love). It's a Turkish show dubbed in Arabic. The specific dialect used is Syrian. This first episode is about the main character, Omar, chasing the only girl he's ever met who didn't want him at first sight. This seems to be a common theme in Turkish dramas because the show عاصي (Asi) has the same idea. It's about a guy who's chasing a girl that doesn't want him, or maybe is just playing hard to get, but in the end she falls in love with him.




لا تواخذني رأفت بيك. تأخرت عليك. سيارتي تعطلت على الطريق (La tuwaakhizni Ra'fat Beyk. Ta'akhart Aleyk. Sayaarti ta'atalat 'atari'.)

Don't hold it against me Mr. Ra'fat. I'm late. My car broke down on the road.

شفناك عمرو افندي لما وصلتك رشا لهون (Shifnak Omar Afundi limma wasalatek Rasha lihoon)

We saw you, Mr. Omar, when Rasha brought you here.

خلينا نحكي. رأفت بيك, شو القصة؟ ليش ما عم نقدر نشتري الأرض؟ (Khalina nahki. Ra'fat Beyk, shoo al issa? Leysh ma am ne'der neshteri al ard?)

Let's talk. Mr. Ra'fat, what's the story? Why can't we buy the land?

المسألة هي... أول شي شو منضيفك عمرو بيك؟ شاي, قهوة, ميلو, كولا؟ (Al masali heyeh... Awal shi sho mindeyfek Omar Beyk? Shay, ahweh, milo, cola?)

The problem is... First of all, what can we get you Mr. Omar? Tea, Coffee, ????, Cola?

Comments: I don't know what ميلو is. I typed it into Google and couldn't find anything. It's got to be a drink or something like that. Maybe I'm hearing it wrong.

يا ريت كولا باردة (Ya reyt cola baardeh)

I'd like a cold cola.

تكرم. عدنان (Tikrum. Adnan!)

You're welcome to it. Adnan!

أمور معلم (Umoor muallim)

At your service, sir!

جبلي كولا بسرعة! مبوز إكتير (Jibli cola bisura. Mbowwiz iktir)

Bring me a cola quickly! Very cold.

حاضر معلم (Hadir muallim)

Yes sir!

المشكلة إنه الأرض إللي عم تطلبها انت في قطعة منها صاحبها واحد من الضيعة. و هذا الزلمي عنده عناد بشكل إكبير إكتير. ما عم يقبل يتخلع عن أرضه بنوب (Al mishikli innoo al ard illi am tutluba enti fi 'ata mina sahiba wahid min adaya. Wa hatha azelami andu anaad bi shekl ikbir iktir. Ma am ye'bel yetkhela an ardu ibnobe.)

The problem is that the land you're asking for, there's a piece of it that's owned by someone from the village. And this man is very stubborn. He isn't accepting to let his land go at all.

كيف يعني؟ انت عرضت عليه سعر منيح؟ (Keyf yani? Enta aradt aley sar imneeh?)

How do you mean? You offered him a good price?

عرضت عليه طبعاً. بس ما عجبه (Aradt aley taban. Bes ma ajabu.)

I offered him, of course, but he didn't like it.

طيب, المصاري مو مهمة. شو بده عطوه (Tayyib, al masaari moo muhim. Shoo bedu atoo.)

Ok, the money isn't important. Whatever he wants, give it to him.

شلون؟ شو ما بده؟ (Shloan? Shoo ma bedu?)

What? Whatever he wants?

شو ما بده (Shoo ma bedu.)

Whatever he wants.

بدي ياك تحلل لي هالقصة من هون لبكرة. و هلق عن إذنك (Bedi yak ithellili hal ussa min hoon li bookra. Helleh an iznek.)

I want you to solve this story (problem) for me by tomorrow. Now if you'll excuse me.

الكولا معلم (al cola muallim)

The cola, sir.

وصلت الكولا يا بيك. أنا بشربها (wasalat al cola ya beyk. Ana bishruba.)

The cola arrived, sir! Eh, I'll drink it.


Vocabulary List:

• لا تواخذني - Don't blame me/Don't hold it against me. They say the ذ as a ز in this word and in many words in Levantine.
• شو منضيفك - What can we get you? The noun ضيف means guest. Here they are using it as a verb. So, you could say "What can we guest you?", but that wouldn't really make sense in English. The م in front of the word is added to make things flow better, just like the إ that is inserted before a lot of words like إكتير إكبير.
  
• يا ريت - I wish. In this context it means "I'd like" or "I want".
  
• مبوز - cold. It also means angry.
  
• ضيعة - village
• زلمي - man
• بنوب - at all, ever
• مصاري - money
• عن إذنك - with your permission. You say this when you are leaving or asking someone if you can do something. Also, بعد إذنك means the same thing.
  

Egyptian Dialect: Lesson 2

This second Egyptian dialect lesson is from another Disney movie. Monsters Inc. In Arabic it's called شركة المرعبين (sharikat al muribeen) "Monster Company". If you haven't seen it, this clip comes from the beginning of the movie where they are explaining that the monsters have to scare kids in order to power their world with electricity. The monster doing the training leaves the door open and gets yelled at because leaving the door open might let a kid into the monster world and kill them all. There are subtitles in MSA, but they don't match up with what is being said in Egyptian. As always, please let me know if anything could have used more explanation or if there's anything I can do to make these better. Without further ado, let's begin.

• إيقاف الدرس العملي (iyqaaf al ders al amali)

Stop the practical lesson.

Comments: The original movie says "simulation halted" which sounds better, but if you want an exact translation, which is good when learning, "stop the practical lesson" is word for word.

• إسمك فتح الباب مش كده؟ (ismek fath il bab mish kida)

Your name is "open door" isn't that right?

Comments: She's making a joke since he left the door open. فتح الباب (fath il bab) is not a real Arabic name.

• أصحابي بينادوني فتحي (ashabi binadooni fathi)

My friends call me Fathi.

• أه, فتحي. تقدر تقلي غلطتك ايه؟ (ah, fathi. ti'dar ti'uli galtitak eih?)

Oh, Fathi. Can you tell me what your mistake was?

• إني وقعت؟ (Inni wa'iat?)

That I fell?

Comments: The word وقع (waqaa) is hard for most people to pronounce in MSA. Egyptian makes it even harder. You'd think that getting rid of the ق (qaf) sound and replacing it with ء (hamza) would make it easier, but it doesn't. It takes some practice.

• لا لا لا لا, قبل كده (la la la la, 'abli kida)

No no no no, before that.

Comments: Before I could understand Egyptian I remember hearing قبل كده a lot. To me it sounded like "applicator" said with a weird accent. :)

• حد يعرف أستاذ فتح الباب غلط في ايه؟ أي حد. نرجع الشريط. هنا هوه تمام. فين فين فين... اهو! شفت؟ الباب. سبت الباب مفتوح. و سيبان الباب مفتوح اسوأ غلطة ممكن يعملها الموظفين على شان...؟ (Had yarif ustez fath il bab galat fi eih? Ay had. Nregga a-shareet. Hena ho tamaam. Feen feen feen... aho! Shuft? Al bab. Sibt il bab maftooh. Wa sayabaan al bab maftooh aswa galta mumkin yamilha al muwazzafeen ala shaan...?)

Does anyone know what Mr. Open Door made a mistake in? Let's rewind the tape. Here it is exactly. Where, where, where... here! See? The door. You left the door open. And leaving the door open is the worst mistake a worker can make because...?

Comments: سيبان (sayabaan) is the verbal noun (ing form) meaning "leaving". على شان (ala shaan) is usually just pronounced عشان (ashaan). In MSA it is على شأن (ala sha'n). It is used very often in Egyptian and Levantine and means "because".

• ممكن يجبلنا برد؟ (Mumkin yagib lina bard?)

We might get cold?

• ممكن يجبلنا طفل (Mumkin yagib lina tifl)

We might let a child in!

Comments: These last two lines sound better and make more sense in Arabic. The monster in training says literally, "It might bring for us cold." Then the head monster says, "It might bring for us a child." We just wouldn't say it that way in English, but without saying it like that the flow doesn't work.

• أه! أستاذ أبو عنكبوت (Ah! Ustez abu ankaboot)

Ah! Mr. Spider

Comments: In the Arab world if you've got a big mustache then you're ابو شوارب (abu shawaarib), literally Father Mustache. If you're a car salesman or have a lot of cars or fix cars then you're ابو سيارات (abu sayaaraat). Basically if you have a distinguishing feature or a job that lends itself to this kind of nickname then you're Abu whatever. This monster looks like a spider. I think he's more of a crab, but whatever.

• ما فيش في الدنيا حاجة مؤذية أو سامة أكثر من طفل آدمي. لمسة منه تموتك. غلطة زي دي ممكن تدخل طفل هنا عندنا في المصنع جوا عالم المرعبين (Ma feesh fi ad-dunya haga mu'ziya ow saama akthar min tifl aadami. Lamsa minu tmowwitek. Galta zayi di mumkin tidakhal tifl andena hena fil masna goowa aalam al muribeen.)

There is nothing in the world more painful or poisonous than a human child. A touch from him kills you. A mistake like this could enter a child here among us in the factory inside the monster world.

• مش عايز خوف اطفال. عايز روح (Mish Aayz akhawwif atfal. Aayz arawwah.)

I don't want to scare kids! I want to go!

• إحنا منخوفهم عشان نملأ دي (Ihna minkhawwifhum ashaan nimla dee)

We scare them in order to fill this.

Comments: Here you see how they usually say عشان (ashaan). Here it's better translated as "in order to" rather than "because". The م (m) on in the word منخوف (minkhawwif) is something they do in both Levantine and Egyptian. They put the 'm' before most verbs conjugated for "we" in the present tense. My guess is because it flows better. Just like how they throw in the إ (i) in some places where the words don't flow well without it.

• بلدنا بتعتمد علينا في تعبيئ صراخ اطفال البني ادمين. بدون صريخ ما عندناش طاقة. أيوه شغلتنا خطيرة و عشان كده لازم تتمرنو احسن تمرين.

Our land depends on us in filling the screams of human children. Without screams we don't have power. Yes, our work is dangerous, and because of that you all must train hard.

Comments: Literally it says "train the best training".


Vocabulary List:

• مش كده (mish kida) - Isn't that right? Isn't that so? In MSA it's أليس كذلك (Aleysa ka thelik) And in Levantine it's مش هيك (Mish heyk) or مو هيك (Moo heyk)
• شريط (shareet) - tape. Can mean a VCR tape or sticky tape just like in English.
• موظفين (muwazzafeen) - Workers
• جوا (guwa) - Inside. In MSA it's داخل (daakhil). The opposite in Egyptian is برا (barra).
• عايز (aayz) - want. It can mean "I want", "you want", "he wants" depending on the context.
• لازم (laazim) - must, have to. Just like عايز it can mean "you must", "I must", etc depending on the conjugation of the verb it goes with.
• بني آدم (beni aadam) - human. Literally means "son of Adam". The plural is بني ادمين (beni admeen).
• زي - like. هالولد زي ابوه تماماً (hal walad zay aboo tamaam) That kid is exactly like his father. In MSA زي means uniform.
  

MBC's Turning Point (نقطة تحول)

Turning Point is a popular show on the Saudi channel MBC. I like it because it covers topics of all kinds, not just explosions and disasters like Al Jazeera and other news stations seem to cover. Turning Point takes a bit of science, art, history, and sometimes disasters, and provides a more enjoyable way to learn Arabic. When I was taking Arabic classes the word "explosion" إنفجار was one of my first words because of how often it is used in the news. Watching Al Jazeera wasn't hard to do after a few months because of the limited scope of their stories. Their news will almost always consist of

1. Explosions/Car Bombs/Suicide Bombers سيارات مفخخة ,إنفجارات
2. The Most Recent Summit Between World Leaders قمم متعددة الأبعاد
3. Any Natural Disasters Such As Floods, Famines, Earthquakes كوارث طبيعية
4. Clashes With Rebels إشتباكات عنيفة

I realize that these things are important, but when they are the only topics that the channel covers the viewers get desensitized to this death and destruction and stop caring. It's sad to say that people suffering becomes boring and people stop caring when that's all they see on TV every day, but it's true. Here is a clip from نقطة تحول. I transcribed and translated the first minute or so.



العالمة السعودية تصنع تحولات عالمية و تتفوق على رجال
The female Saudi scientist manufactures turning points and excels over men.

الطفلة في ديالى, قصة عبث طفولي صنعت تحولات مأساوية
The (female) child in Dyala. A story of childhood play causing tragic changes.

عارضات الازياء يتحولن إلى فنانات
Clothes models becoming (changing to) artists.

صوته و ألحانه و اغانيه. نقاط التحول في حياته و حياتنا, الفنان محمد عبدو
His voice, his melodies, and his songs. Turning points in his life and our life. The artist Muhammed Abdu.مساء الخير مشاهدين الكرام و اهلا بكم إلى حلقة جديدة من برنامج نقطة تحول. حلقتنا الليلة مليئة بتحولات جديدة و حافنة ايضاً بالمفاجآت. عالمات سعوديات لم يصنعن نقطة تحول في حياتهن الشخصية و في المجتمع السعودي فقط, بل صنعن اكثر من نقطة تحول في العالم. هذا التقرير يلقي الضو على مصيرة المرأة السعودية و بعدها سنلتقي مع واحدة من اهم 15 شخصية عالمية ستغير من وجه الأرض. كونوا معنا

Good evening generous viewers and welcome to a new episode of the program Turning Point. Our show tonight is filled with new turning points and also filled with surprises. Saudi (female) scientists didn't only make turning points in their personal lives and in the Saudi society, but also made more than (just) one turning point in the world. This report shines light on the destiny of the Saudi woman and after it we will with one of the 15 most important international personalities who will change the face of the world. Stay with us.

Vocabulary List

1. ألحان - melodies
2. مليئة ب - filled with
3. مصيرة - destiny, fate, path
4. عارضة - model
5. مأساوي - tragic
6. عبث - play, amusement
7. تحول - turning, changing
   

Bab al Hara - Syrian Dialect Lengthening Words

Bab al Hara باب الحارة (The Neighborhood's Gate) is a very popular show in the Arabic world. The setting is a neighborhood حارة in Damascus during the beginning of the French control of Syria at then end of the Ottoman rule . It's in the Syrian dialect and to me the way they speak sounds really funny. They often lengthen the last word of their sentences. Syrian is the only dialect I've noticed that does this. They don't even do it in Lebanon right next door to Syria. You can see examples in this clip from the show.
At 00:05 and 00:14 listen to how he says حارة. And at 00:23 how he says ابو غالب. It basically sounds like he's saying ابو غالييييب. At 01:35 is also a good example. Listen to كذاب. And the whole conversation starting at 01:37 is full of it. Anyway, you get the idea. Not every Syrian does this but quite a lot do, so if you ever are wondering where a person is from, if they're lengthening their words then it's a safe bet that they are Syrian.

Here's the theme song from the show. I really like it.

The Green Apple: Health Program on MBC

The Green Apple التفاح الأخضر is a show on MBC about heath, nutrition, and beauty. The dialect is Egyptian, but at times it's MSA with only a hint of Egyptian. Even though a show may be in a dialect there are levels to the amount of slang they can use. Since MBC is a Saudi channel and they get viewers from all over the Arabic world the shows don't have so much regional slang that not all viewers would be able to understand. This definitely isn't the same as the language you hear on the news though. I transcribed the first minute of the clip and wrote out the difficult vocab words.




اهلا بكل مشاهدي التفاح الاخضر و ساعة كاملة من نصائح جديدة و مفيدة للصحة و التغذية و الجمال. و نتواصل معكم من خلال الانترنت تبعتولنا مشاكلكم و نرد عليها من خلال الحلقة او كمان نستضفكم معنا في الإستوديو. ضيوف كثير بعتولنا حاجات و استضفناهم معنا في الإستوديو و حلينا مشاكلهم قدر إستطاعي

Hello to all the viewers of The Green Apple and a complete hour of new and beneficial advice for health, nutrition, and beauty. We keep in touch with you through the internet. You send us your problems and we reply to them throughout the episode and also we host you with us in the studio. Many guests have sent us things and we hosted them with us in the studio and we solved their problems as much as we were able to.

Comments: You'll notice that at the beginning it doesn't say مشاهدين . The nun is dropped when anything plural ending in ين is in an idafa. بعت is how they say "send" in Egyptian. In MSA the word is بعث. And قدر إستطاعي means "as well as I could".انهاردة هنشوف الالوان و الورود ازايها حلو مشكلة مدام ليلى ابازا إللي بتعاني من صداع و توتر و عصبية شديدة جدا في العمل.

Today we will see how colors and roses solved the problem of Madame Laila Abaza who suffered from headaches, tension, and severe stress in her work.

ممكن الدريسنج يحول طبقة سلطة الخفيف لوجبة دسمة جدا. هنقوللكم النهاردة على سر الدريسنج الخفيف و اللذيذ.

It's possible for dressing to change a light plate of salad to a very fattening meal. Today we will tell you about the secret of light and delicious dressing.

السيدة مؤمنة محمد من السعودية بعتت تسألنا تعمل أيه لان هي و ابنها الرضيع بيسافروا كثير ع الطيارة و بيعانوا من الم في الأذن إثناء صعود و هبوط الطيارة.

Mrs. Mumina Muhammad from Saudi Arabia sent in asking us what she should do because she and her infant son travel a lot on planes and suffer from pain in the ear during the take off and landing of the plane.

تثائبي او ابتلعي لعابك او امضغي علكة و بعض الحلوى.

Yawn or swallow your saliva or chew gum and some candy.

Comment: This is the written text on the screen.

Vocabulary List:

• نصيحة/نصائح - advice and the plural
• تغذية - nutrition
• بعث - send
• حاجة - thing
• انهاردة - today
• توتر - tension (وتر is a guitar or bow string, so you can see where the word comes from)
• تثاؤب - yawn (noun)
• لِعاب - saliva
• عِلكة - gum
  

Disney Songs in Arabic w/ Lyrics on YouTube

I was browsing YouTube the other day and came across 99meemo99's channel. He's a Sudanese guy living in Dubai who has made 56 videos of Arabic Disney songs (Lion King, Little Mermaid, Hercules) with the lyrics written out and translated into English. It's great that he translates these popular songs for free for people trying to learn Arabic. Most of them are Egyptian since that's the language they dub Disney movies in for the Arab world. He's also got the Pokemon theme song, Digimon songs, as well as some other anime songs. Here's the Ducktales opening song from his channel. They translated Duckberg to Duckistan lol!




الحياة دي زي العاصفة هنا في بطستان
عربيات و طيارات
حاجة.. حاجة جنان
و نحل فوازير
عيزالها وقت كتير

This life is like a storm, here in Duckistan.
Cars and planes
Something, something crazy
And we solve puzzles
That take a long time

قصص بطوطية
كل يوم مغامرة جديدة
قصص بطوطية
فيها لعبة و فكرة اكيدة
قصص بطوطية

Ducktales
Every day there's a new adventure
Ducktales
With a definite game and idea
Ducktales

و في خطر حواليك
و غريب بيجري عليك
تعالو بسرعة و شوفو معانا

And there's danger around you
And a stranger is coming at you
Come quickly and look with us
قصص بطوطية
كل يوم مغامرة جديدة
قصص بطوطية
فيها لعبة و فكرة اكيدة
قصص بطوطية
حتلاقو ضحكة و فكرة مفيدة
قصص بطوطية

Ducktales
Every day there's a new adventure
Ducktales
With a definite game and idea
Ducktales
You'll find laughs and a beneficial idea
Ducktales

Arabic Satellite Channels

Well I recently started getting 8 Arabic satellite channels through Dish Network. I've heard lots of stories and testimonials about people learning languages through watching TV so I figured that I'd try it. I get the cheapest Arabic pack that Dish Network offers. I wasn't too concerned about getting MSA stations like Al-Jazeera, but stations like LBC (Lebanese Broadcasting Corporation), ART, and MBC (Middle East Broadcasting Center) are important to me since you hear more dialect on those station. There are so many sources where you can find MSA, but for some reason people don't seem to find learning the dialects important so there is less material available for them. MBC has shows in all the main dialects (Iraqi, Levantine, Egyptian, Gulf) and it is probably the most helpful station for me. There's a show called Wipe Out (وايب أوت) which is basically the Arab version of Spike TV's MXC. They also have a show called عيش Safari which has 2 groups of kids doing little competitions and different activities Survivor style. On the last episode I watched the winners of the competition went to an amusement park while the losers had to sell vegetables in a street market. Also on MBC there's a show called قصة شتاء (Winter Story) that I like to watch. It's a Turkish show but dubbed in Syrian. All of these shows are pretty interesting and can hold my attention a lot better than the news can, so I feel that I'm learning more from them since I'm not zoning out like I do when trying to watch the news. The ART movie channel is really hard for me to understand, but a lot of the time they have English subtitles on the movies which is good. I don't really know why though since I thought most Arabs could understand Egyptian.

Anyway, if you're trying to learn Arabic and are really serious about doing so then I would recommend getting Arabic channels in your house. You can easily just flip it on in the morning or when you get home from work without having to search the web for a show you want to watch (a lot of which you can't even get online). I try to always have the TV on an Arabic channel when I'm working or surfing the internet. It helps to get immersed in the language which is something you need to do if you really want to learn a language and not just know it superficially from what text books and school programs teach you. Authentic material is the key.