Egyptian Arabic: Lesson 1

The Arabic The Little Mermaid is called عروسة البحر (aroosat al bahr), literally "bride of the sea", but it more commonly means "mermaid". Like most Disney films dubbed in Arabic, this one is in Egyptian dialect. It shouldn't be too hard to understand with a little explanation. In the clip Ariel is tempted by Ursula's two eels. If anyone has suggestions on how I can make these lessons more helpful, please let me know.

مسكينة. مسكينة و جميلة (Miskeena, miskeena wa gamila)

Poor girl, poor and beautiful.

عندها مشكلة كبيرة قوي. يا ريتنا كنا نقدر نساعدها. طب محنا نقدر (Andaha mushkila kabira awi. Ya reytna kuna ni'dar nasaaidha. Tub mahna ni'dar.)

She has a very big problem. If only we were able to help her. But we are able.

أنتو... أنتو مين؟ (Intoo, Intoo meen)

You... who are you?

ما تخافيش. إحنا نعرف حد ممكن يساعدك. حد ممكن يحقق لك احلامك كلها. تخيلي كده. أنت و أميرك مع بعض للابد (Ma tkhafeesh. Ihna narif had mumkin yasaadik. Had mumkin yaha'a'lik ahlamik kulaha. Takhayeli kida. Inti wa ameerik ma baad lil abad.)

Don't be scared. We know someone who might be able to help you. Someone who might be able to realize all of your dreams. Imagine this. You and your prince together forever.

أنا مش فاهمة (Ana mish fahima.)

I don't understand.

أرسولا تعمل أي حاجة (Ursoola tamil ay haga.)

Ursula can do anything.

ساحرة البحر؟ بس دا... ما اقدرش... لا إمشو من هنا! سبوني في حالي (Sahirat al bahr? Bes da... ma a'darsh... la imshoo min hena! Sibooni fi haali.)

The witch of the sea? But that... I can't... No, get away from here! Leave me alone.

على كيفك. دا كان مجرد إقتراح (Ala keyfik. Da kan mugarrad iqtiraah.)

As you wish. It was just a suggestion.

إستنو (Istenoo)

Wait.

إيوه؟ (Aywa?)

Yes?

Vocabulary:

• مسكينة (Miskeena) - Poor in the sense of taking pity on someone. It has nothing to do with money.
• يا ريت (Ya reyt) - If only. The يا (ya) here isn't a normal يا (ya) like if you were calling someone's name. It's just part of the phrase.
• ما تخافيش (Ma tkhafeesh) - Don't be afraid. The ش (sh) is added to the end of verbs after ما (ma). "I can't" is ما اقدرش (ma a'darsh).
• حد (Had) - Someone. This comes from the word واحد (wahid) meaning "one".
• يحقق (yaha'a') - To achieve, to make come to fruition. Since it's Egyptian dialect they don't say the ق (q) like in MSA. They make it a hamza ء which is a glottal stop.
• في حالي (fi haali) - alone, by myself
• على كيفك (ala keyfik) - as you wish, do as you like. It's the same as على مهلك (ala mehlik).
• مجرد (mugarrad) - just, only, simply. The ج (j) is pronounced as a 'g' in Egyptian.
  

Fairouz al Zayani Reads Al Jazeera Headlines

This clip is from November 7, 2009 and is of the Al Jazeera anchor (مذيعة) Fairouz al Zayani (فيروز الزياني ) reading the headline news. I've written out the transcript in Arabic and the translation into English. After the transcript there is a vocab list of some of the important words in the passage. I recommend listening to the passage once or twice and then going through it with the transcript making sure to note the words that are new to you. This is the main way that I learn and continue to study Arabic, having an audio source along with the transcript and just going over it until I know everything in the passage.



اهلا بكم. قالت جماعة الحوثي إنها سدت هجوم سعودي بري في جبل دخان و مناطق حدودية أخرى و اسرت عدداً من الجنون السعوديين. و كان الحوثيون قد اكّدوا تواصل الغارة الجوية السعودية على قرى يمنية حدودية. و قال مصدر رسمي سعودي إن بلاده شنت غارات جوية مكثّفة على اماكن وجود من وصفهم بمتسللين من جماعة الحوثي في مناطق داخل الاراضي السعودية

Hello and welcome. The Houthi band said that it blocked a Saudi land attack in Jebel Dukhan (Smoke Mountain) and other border areas and that they took a number of the Saudi soldiers prisoner. The Houthis confirmed that the Saudi air raids on Yemeni border villages are continuing. And an official Saudi source said that his country launched concentrated air strikes on the locations of who he described as Houthi infiltrators in areas inside Saudi lands.

قالت المعارضة اللبنانية بعد إجتماع لها في وقت متأخّر الليلة الماضية إنها اتفقت على المضي في تشكيل حكومة وحدة وطنية في البلاد وفق قواعد تم الإتفاق عليها مع رئيس الحكومة المكلف سعد الحريري. و ضم الإجتماع رئيس مجلس النواب نبيه بري و رئيس التكتل الإصلاح و التغيير ميشال عون و الامين العام لحزب الله حسن نصر الله و رئيس تيار المردة سليمان فراجية

The Lebanese opposition, after a meeting it had late last night, said that it has agreed on the execution of forming a national unity government in the country according to rules that were agreed upon with the acting president of the government Saad al Hariri. Head of the congress Nabih Berri, head of the Restoration and Change Party Michel Aoun, the secretary general of Hezbollah Hasan Nasrallah, and the head of the Marada movement Suleiman Franjieh joined the meeting.

يعقد البرلمان العراقي اليوم جلسة أخرى لبحث قانون الإنخابات المثير للجدل و من أهم المشاكل التي تعرقل إقرار قانون الإنتخابات, كيفية إجراء الإنتخابات في مدينة كركوك وسط صراع عربي كردي تركماني

Today the Iraqi Parliament is holding another meeting to discuss the controversial election law. Among the most important problems that is impeding ratification of the election law is how to carry out elections in the city of Kirkuk amidst Arabic, Kurdish, and Turkman conflict.

هذا و قد اعلن في بغداد اليوم عن تحالف الوحدة الوطنية لخوض الإنخابات البرلمانية المقبلة و ضمن التحالف الجديد عدد من التجمعات و الحركات و الشخصيات منها تجمع الوحدة الوطنية

In addition to this, an national unity alliance to hold the future parliamentary elections was announced in Baghdad today and within this new alliance are a number of groups, movements, and personalities, among them the national unity group.

قال الرئسي الروسي ديمتري مدفيديف إنه لا يمكن إستبعاد إمكانية فرض عقوبات شديد على إيران إذا لم يحدث تقدم في المفاوضات حول ملفها النووي. من ناحية أخرى قال رئيس لجنة الشؤون الخارجية في البرلمان الإيراني علاء الدين بروجردي إن إيران ترفض إرسال اليورانيوم المخصب الذي تملكه إلى الخارج لزيادة تخصيبه مقابل حصولها على وقود لمفاعل الابحاث النووي في طهران

The Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that he can't rule out the possibility of imposing severe sanctions on Iran if no progress takes place in the negotiations about its Nuclear program (file). On the other side of the issue, the president of the committee of matters of the exterior in the Iranian Parliament Aladdin Brojardi said that Iran refuses to send its enriched uranium outside the country in order to enrich it further in exchange for receiving fuel for the nuclear research reactor in Tehran.

عقد الرئيس الامريكي باراك اوباما إجتماعاً مع مدير مكتب التحقيقات الفيدرالي لبحث حادثة إطلاق النار داخل قاعدة فورت هود في ولاية تاكساس. و عقب حادث فورت هود بساعات قتل امريكياً و جرح 6 آخرون في إطلاق نار وسط مدينة اورلاندو بولاية فلوردا

The American president Barak Obama held a meeting with the head of the federal investigations office to discuss the shooting incident inside the Ft. Hood base in Texas. Hours after the occurrence at Ft. Hood 1 American was killed and 6 were injured in a shooting in downtown Orlando Florida.

إلى اللقاء

Until we meet again.

Vocabulary:

• سد - to block, repel (as in an attack). The noun means "dam", so you can see the kind of meanings this root has.
• بري - the adjective for "ground" as in هجوم بري "ground attack"
• شن - to launch an attack
• غارة جوية - air raid
• متسللين - infiltrators
• وصف - to describe something
• مكثف - concentrated or dense
• مضي - to go ahead with, to execute, to implement
• مكلّف - to be charged with something. الطالب المكلّف بإغلاق الباب (the student who's job it is or who is charged with closing the door). Notice the shadda. Without it the word means expensive مُكلِف
  
• عقب or على أعقاب - After, on the heels of. Don't confuse with عقوبات which means sanctions
• تخصيب - literally means "to make fertile" but in the case of uranium it means "to enrich"
• مفاعل نووي - nuclear reactor
  

Learn the Arabic Numbers through Song

In Arabic the word nasheed نشيد means "hymn", but they use the word for many things that in English we would just call songs, so when you see نشيد it doesn't always mean "hymn" in the English sense. Basically all children songs are called نشيد الاطفال. This song for teaching the Arabic numbers was posted on YouTube as نشيد الأرقام literally, The Number's Hymn. It's mainly for kids, but it's also useful for adults learning Arabic.



واحد, إثنان, ثلاثة, أربعة, خمسة, ستة, سبعة, ثمانية, تسعة, عشرة - Wahid, ithnan, thalatha, arba'a, khamsa, sitta, seba'a, thamania, tisa'a, 'ashara

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

وقف الواحد ليصلي - Waqafa alwahid liyusulli

One stood to pray.

ركع الإثان لربه - Raka'a alithnani lirubbih

Two bowed to his lord.

و الثلاثة واحد و إثنان - Wa athalatha wahid wa ithnan

And three is one and two.

و الأربعة إثنان و إثنان - wa alarba'a ithnan wa ithnan

And four is two and two.

و الخمسة كعكة بسكر - Wa alkhamsa ka'ka bisukkar

And five is a cake with sugar.

و الستة وقفت لتفكر - Wa asitta waqafat litufakkir

And six stopped to think.

و السبعة تنظر للنجمة - Wa aseba'a tunthuru lilnejma

And seven looks to the stars.

و الثمانية عكس سبعة - Wa athmaniatu 'aksu seba'a

And eight is the opposite of seven.

و عصى جدي مثل تسعة - Wa 'asa jeddi mithu tisa'a

And my grandpa's cane is like nine.

و الصفر مع الواحد عشرة - Wa assifru m'a alwahidi 'ashara

And zero with one is ten.

Iman Ayyad - Al Jazeera News Anchor

Iman Ayyad إيمان عياد often does the evening news on Al Jazeera. She used to go by the last name "Banoura" بنورة before getting married. This clip was right before the 2008 US elections and Iman and Ali Aldhafeeri علي الظفيري were in Washington covering the elections.




هذه النشرة الإخبارية نقدمها لكم من قناة الجزيرة في العاصمة الأمريكية واشنطن. و أبرز ما فيها عشية الإنخابات

We present this news report to you from the Aljazeera channel in the American capital, Washington and the most prominent news in it on the eve of the elections.

Comments: فيها here refers to "in Washington"

شريف بما يجري فيها في أقل من 24 ساعة على هذا الإشتباك الإنتخابي. الآن يبدو ان ناصر حسيني من ولاية فلوريدا الامريكية قد اصبح جاهزا معنا. ناصر يعني هذه الولاية ما زالت حتى صباح هذا اليوم تشتعل فيها المنافسة و نعلم ان المرشحين قد زاراها صباح هذا اليوم

...Sherif, about what happens in less than 24 hours in this electoral clash. Now it seems that Nasir Huseini from the American state of Florida has become ready with us. Nasir, I mean, this state was still, even until this morning, inflamed in competition, and we know that the 2 candidates have both visited it this morning.

Comments: It was an incomplete sentence, so it's hard to know what she's talking about at the beginning. Sherif was most likely another phone in caller.

اذا فاصل قصير في هذه النشرة. نعود بعده لمتابعتها من العاصمة الامريكية واشنطن فكونوا معنا.

So, a short break in this report. We return after it to continue following the news from the American capital Washington, so stay with us.

و ينضم إلينا حول هذا الموضوعة في الإستوديو ويليام غالستون الخبير في شؤون ال

And joining us about this issue in the studio, William Galston, the expert in matters of...

Vocabulary:

1. النشرة الإخبارية - literally means "the publication of the news"
2. أبرز - most prominent
3. بما يجري فيها - "about what's happening in..." يجري means "flowing", but in a sentence like this means "happening" or "on going"
4. إشتباك - "clash". You'll see إشتباكات عنيفة "violent clashes" a lot in newspapers.
5. قد - in the past tense it means "has" like "has become ready", but in the present tense it means "might" or "could" as in "الإمتحان قد تكوت صعبة" "the test might be difficult".
6. إشتعل - to flame up
7. ما زال - still, continues to be
8. شأن ,شؤون - matter, matters (issue, issues)
   

Ouf ouf - Nelly Makdessi Lyrics

Nelly Makdessi نيللي مقدسي is a Lebanese pop singer affiliated the the Rotana label. Ouf ouf is her most famous song and what's interesting is that it's simply a Turkish song taken and translated into Arabic. The original singer of the song is Gülşen Bayraktar, a Turkish pop star. I have to say that the Arabic version sounds a lot better though, but maybe I'm biased. Let's see what you think.




على حالك انت بعدك
You are still the same.
ما بتعرف ابدا شو بدك
You never know what you want.
مين مفكر حالك يعني
Who do you think you are?
ما تحلم رح ابقى حدك
Don't dream that I will stay by your side.

Comments: بعد can mean "after", but here it means "still". بعدك بالمدرسة means "you're still at school".
لا تحاكيني ولا تخبرني
Don't talk to me and don't tell me anything.
انا قلبي ياما صبرني
My heart has always given me patience.
من غيرك انت مين
Other than you, who?
ضيع من عمري سنين
Years of my life are lost.

اوف اوف لا تسهرني و لا تحيرني
Ouf, ouf. Don't make me lose sleep and don't confuse me.
اوف اوف يللي مطير عقلي مني
Ouf, ouf. Oh one who has made me lose my mind.
اوف اوف منك ياما جن جنوني
I've gone crazy because of you many times.
بحبك انا داب عيوني
My eyes melted in your love.
يا مجنني حل عني
Oh one who has made me crazy, get away from me.

Comments: يللي مطير عقلي مني literally means "the one who has flown my mind away from me". اوف is a word that Arabs say when there are fed up with or tired of something. ياما means "lots" or "many times". جن جنون means "to go crazy". "He went crazy" would be جن جنونه and حل عني means "get away from me" or "leave me alone".

انا دربي مش ع دربك
My path is not on your path.
و لا قادر قلبي يحبك
And my heart is not able to love you
انا بحالي و انت بحالك
I'm the way I am and you're the way you are.
خلي غيري يجرب حبك
Let someone else try your love.
ياما ليالي و انا سهرانة
There have been so many nights that I couldn't sleep.
بدي من هلق تنساني
From right now I want you to forget me.

مش وقت اللي بدك فيك
ترجع لي لا ما فيك
You can't just come back to be whenever you want to. No, no you can't

Comments: This literally says "Not the time that you want can you come back to me, no you can't". فيّ here means "to be able to". It's different from في meaning "in" because it has a shadda on the ya.

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

Myriam Fares - Eih Elly Byehsal Lyrics

The song Eih Elly Byehsal (ايه اللي بيحصل) has been around for about a year, but the music video was just released by Melody Music this week. Myriam Fares (ميريام فارس) is Lebanese, but she sings this song (and a lot of her songs) in the Egyptian dialect because there's a bigger audience for it and it's more widely understood. The lyrics aren't very complicated, but I added explanations for the words and phrases that I thought might be a little bit difficult.




ايه اللي بيحصل
What's happening?

انا عمري النهاردة تولد من جديد
ده عيد النهاردة و مش اي عيد
Today my life is born again.
Today is a celebration, and not just any celebration.

Comments: عيد can mean feast, holiday, celebration, and things like that. The only one that makes sense here in English is celebration. النهاردة means "today" in Egyptian. It's a combination of the two words النهار meaning "day" and ده meaning "this".

يا حبيبى يا حبيبى
انا عاشقة و اوصف بأيه الغرام
ده راح مني تاه مني كل الكلام
ياحبيبى يا حبيبى
Oh, my love. Oh, my love.
I'm in love and how can I describe this passion?
This has made all my speech leave me and be lost.
Oh, my love. Oh, my love.

Comments: تاه means to be lostايه اللي بيحصل
ايه اللي جرالي مالي كده سرحانة بايه
What's happening?
What has happened to me, what's wrong with me, why am I so preoccupied like this.

Comments: ايه اللي جرالي means "what happened to me". مالي means "what's wrong with me". You can say مالك to mean "what's wrong with you". كده means "like this" and is used a lot in Egyptian. سرحانة means "preoccupied" or "lost in thought". It's the feminine form since it ends in ة

ايه اللي بيحصل
ايه اللي جرالي مالي حالي متلخبط ليه
What's happening?
What has happened to me, what's wrong with me, why am I all mixed up.

Comments: متلخبط means "mixed up" or "confused". It probably comes from the MSA word خلط meaning "to mix".

رجعتلي روحي بنظرة عينيك
فداك عمري كله ما يغلاش عليك
يا حبيبي يا حبيبي
You returned my soul to me with one look from your eyes.
My whole life is for you and it costs you nothing.

Comments: فداك means "for you" as in "I would sacrifice my life for you". ما يغلاش عليك literally means "it is not expensive for you".

يا هوايا اللي غيرلي معنى الحياة
و رجع لقلبي حياة و مناه
يا حبيبي يا حبيبي
Oh my love who changed the meaning of my life
And brought back life and hope to my heart.

MBC Program: مسلسلات حليمة (Mosalsalat Halima)

Halima Poland (حليمة بولند) is a popular Kuwaiti actress and host of the show Mosalsalat Halima (literally Halima's series) which the Saudi TV station MBC is airing for the month of Ramadan. مسلسلات حليمة is basically a game show where viewers call in and answer questions about other Arabic TV shows. At the end of the show, Halima impersonates the role of an actress on a show and the callers have to guess who the character is that she is playing. I know the answers to none of the questions, but the show is still fun to watch, mainly because Halima is really bubbly and cute. It's also a good chance to hear some Kuwaiti dialect. She always says بندش على طول which means "let's start right away", and instead of جديد she says يديد since Kuwaitis replace the ج with ي in some words. Also, the ك is sometimes replaced with a "ch" sound and the ق makes a "g" as in "girl" sound. Enjoy!




00:00 - مساء الغلا لكل الجمهور الغالي في كل أنحاء الوطن العربي الكبير من مشرقه و حتى مغربه
Good evening to the precious audience in all parts of the big Arabic world from its east to its west.


00:28 - على بركات الله و بشكل سريع بندش على أول بورد. بعد ما حفظتو بلا شك قواعد اللعبة. و بنشوف شنو هي المسلسلات على بركات الله
With the God's blessings and quickly we enter the first board. Without doubt you still remember the rules of the game. Let's see what the series are, by the blessings of God.


1:01 - أنا مبسوطة انك سهرانة معنا اليوم. أنا إسمي ساهرة. إسم على مسمى
I'm happy that you are staying up late with us tonight. My name is Sahira (literally "the one who stays up late"). That's a good name for you. ("Ism 3ala mosama" basically means, "you're living up to your name". For example, if someone's name was Joy and she was happy and joyful all the time you could say this phrase to her since she's acting like her name.)

02:24 - ! بس انت بروحك؟ وينكم شباب؟ 1, 2, 3
Only you, by yourself? Where are you, you guys? 1, 2, 3! (She says this because only 1 of the guys in the audience shouted "heeya" which is what Halima always say when the answer is correct. "Bi rohak" could be translated as "by your lonesome", but literally means "by your soul".)

02:30 - شفت شلون ساهرة؟ قاع إنحمسك و إنشجعك
You see that, Sahira? They're giving you enthusiasm and encouraging you. (Literally, "shift shloan" means "see how". قاع here adds -ing to the verbs.)

02:57 - لا بها بحماس اكثر
No, it has more enthusiasm (because she said "heeya" with no enthusiasm)

03:33 - تكملين ولا تنسحبين؟
Continue or quit? (literally withdraw)

04:00 - ! صارت ترايد مارك هاذي على فكرة. هنا عم شوف لبنان كل من يطلعني هيييية
This has become a trademark, by the way. Here I'm seeing Lebanon and everyone is going "heeya" to me!

04:16 - ساعة مرصعة بالماس
A watch encrusted with diamonds.

04:53 - هو ده الكلام
That's the talk! (You could say "that's more like it" here. The context is that the caller got the question wrong at first, but then corrected herself. Then Halima says, "that's more like it". It's an Egyptian phrase.)

04:57 - الحين اقدر اقولك هيييية
Now I can tell you "heeya"! ("alheen" is the most common way to say "now" in the gulf and Kuwait)

05:08 - شو عم بتقول إلي جنبك؟
What's the person next to you saying? (عم is used in the Syria region and it adds -ing to the verb. Halima changes from dialect to dialect when she speaks.)

05:42 - تعرفيها بدون إختيارات؟
Do you know it without (seeing) the choices? (because the caller kept giving the answer before Halima read the choices)05:56 - الله يدوم هالضحكة
May God make this laughter continue. (دوم is related to دائما which means "always". "May God make this laughter always be there" would be more exact, but it doesn't flow right in English.)

06:06 - على إطار الضحكة,اليوم بالفزورة رح تبكون لان الفزورة كلها بكي بكي. مسلسل سعودي شهير بس كلها دموع و بكي و صراخ و انا جسد شخصية إن شاء الله تعجبكم
Since we're talking about laughing, today during the riddle you're all going to cry because the riddle is all crying, crying. It's a famous Saudi series, but all of it is tears and crying and wailing. I play a character and hopefully you all will like it. (على إطار is literally "in the framework of". بكي sounds like "bitchy" because in Iraqi and Kuwait they make the ك have a "ch" sound. جسد means to "embody", but here I think "play" is better since she's acting out a scene)

07:19 - إلي بعدو
Next! (literally, "the one that is after it")

08:44 - شفت شلون؟ كنت بلحظة رح تضيعين كل إلي وصلت لها
You see that? In one moment you were going to lose everything you had gotten.

08:48 - اذا الإسحاب مطلوب
Therefore, withdrawing is requested.

09:27 - كيف الأجواء الرمضانية عندكم؟
How is the Ramadan atmosphere there?

10:16 - بداية موفقة لإبتسام. شدي حيلك معايا هذا اول سؤال
A good beginning for Ibtisam. Get ready, this was just the first question. (شد حيلك can mean "pull yourself together", "get it together", "prepare yourself", things like that)

12:39 - الوقت يداهمنا
Time is creeping up on us. ("we're running out of time", that's the idea)

12:59 - والله إتصالك عزيز علي. عزيز جدا. عزيز وايد
I swear, your call is dear to me. Very dear. Extremely dear. (He asked her to help him. The guy who is the answer's first name is Aziz and so she's giving him clues by saying aziz. وايد means "very" in Kuwait.)

Jordan's King Abdullah II in Star Trek

Here's a short cameo of King Abdullah II in Star Trek: Voyager. This was before he was king. It turns out he's a big Star Trek fan. This guy is definitely the coolest Arab ruler around.

Mickey Mouse Must Die!

I'll just leave this here:



الفأر في الشريعة الإسلامية. أيش نظرة الشريعة للفيران؟ سؤالك. ما يسموها سم... الشريعة سمّت الفأر فويسقة و أنه يُقتل في الحل و الحرم. و أنها تضرم على أهل البيت النار. و أن شيطان هيسيّر هذه الفأرة. يعني هذه من جنود إبليس... يسيّرها إبليس. و أن إذا وقعت في إيناء في... إلقوها و ما حولها إذا كان جامداً. إذا كان مائعاً يعني يرمى كله لأنها نجسة... الفأرة.

يعني الفأر في الشريعة يسمي شئ منقوط يعني مفسد يعني, كائن مفسد. أيش رأيك الآن بالفأرة عند الأطفال؟ يعني بعد "توم و جيري"؟ أيش نظرة الأطفال للفيران؟ يعني حتى الأشياء إلي طبعاً و شرعاً أو فطرةً أو عقلاً يعني كائنات منقوطة صارت عند الأطفال حاجة عظيمة.

و محبوبة.

و محبوبة الفيران حتى. يعني ميكي موس هذا شخصية عظيمة يعني. مع انه ميكي موس يعني شرعاً يُقتل بالحل و الحرم

Before I watched this I hadn't heard of في الحل و الحرم. It just means "everywhere". They are 2 places in Mecca. إيناء was also a new one for me. It means "pot". And مائع is another word I'd never heard. It means "liquid".

Hopefully you now know how evil Mickey Mouse is and that you must kill the people who are dressed as Mickey Mouse everywhere you find them. And don't forget Jerry! Damn western media teaching kids to love mice!

Iraqi MP: "Only Nations Living in the Past Produce Martyrs"

Since Memri TV doesn't post Arabic transcripts of their video clips I figured I'd start doing some. I know the feeling all to well when you hear a word but aren't sure how it's spelled. This happens in Arabic all the time since so many of the letters sound the same. Maybe you heard a seen or a saud. Who knows? Having the English translation is great, but if you don't know the Arabic words that are being said then the translation is of minimal help. Hopefully someone will find this beneficial.

There were a few new words for me in this clips. I'd never heard the word ألفة (ulfa) before. It's another word for "friendship". Also, تارة (taara) which means "sometimes". And lastly, إستحضار (istihdaar) which Memri translates to mean "evoking a memory or an image".

As for what this guy is talking about, if only there were more people like him in the Arabic world. Then maybe we'd have less people going out and blowing themselves up for paradise. That's the problem with religion in general. If you believe there's an afterlife and that all of this is just a test, your can be convinced to do anything if it means that you're going to heaven. Anyway, here's the clip.



التيار الإسلامي تيار ماضوي, الذي يحكم يعني في العراق و خصوصاً القوة السياسية اللتي تحمل رايات الشهداء و الضحايا و تتكئ على تاريخ من المظلومية دون الاخذ من نظر الإعتبار المستقبل المشرق و المضيئ. و الشعب العراقي شعب حي. يختار الحياة لا يختار الموت. الخطاب الديني الموجود في العراق خطاب يقدس الموت و الموتة و القتل و الشهداء و يعتبرها قيمة حضارية. و لا يقدس الأحياء يعني. أنت إذا أردت أن تكون مقدساً يجب عليك أن تُقتل و أن تمون لكي تكون خالداً. و هذا الخلاف رغبة الشعر العراقي و تطلعاته و توجهاته. و لذلك... و هنالك نقطة أخرى أن القوة الدينية الحاكمة في العراق إنما إئتلفت نتيجة الخوف و ليس الحب, هم خائفون من آخر. الآخر تارة أن يكون علماني, تارة أن يكون سني, تارة أن يكون... الآخر.

مع العلم هي تحكم.

مع أنها تحكم فالذي قرب بينهم ليس الحب. ليس هنالك مودة و ألفة و تفاهم على خطوط مشتركة سياسية. و إنما الخوف من الآخر. و إن لم يكون هنالك آخر صنعوا في مخيلاتهم آخر لكي يخيف أتباعهم و يتقاربون بعضهم البعض.

التيار العلماني أو اللبرالي هو تيار مستقبلي. رؤيته مستقبلية و ليست ماضوية. و لا يتباكون على شيء. ما عندهم حائط المبكى. ليس في رموز العلمانية أو لبرالية أموات. الأحزاب الإسلامية أو الدينية, سميها ما شئت, أحياء يختبئون خلف صور شهداء و أموات و رموزهم كل شهداء. ليس هناك قائد سياسي حي في التيارات الإسلامية يقول ها أنا ده, أنا قائدكم. هو حي و لكن خلفه صورة شهيد, عملاق, طولها 5 أمتار.

إستحضار للرموز.

إستحضار للرموز التي ماتت و إنتهت.

هذه إجابية أو قد تكون إجابية.

ربما ينظر لها البعض إجابية و لكن الشعب شعب حي. الشعب ينظر إلى المستقبل و ليس إلى الماضي. يتكئ على الماضي أو كي ما يخالف, ما في مشكلة و لكن أن يقودك ميت و أنت على قيد الحياة إذا لك أن تموت أيضاً لكي تكون قائداً. الأمم الحية تنتج قادة أحياء. لا تنتج شهداء. الذين ينتجون الشهداء هم الأمم الماضوية الذين يفتخرون بالماضي أكثر مما يتطلعون إلى المستقبل.

Memri TV as a learning resource

I'm sure many Arabs will say that Memri TV is biased against the Arab World as it was founded and is run by Jews and it has a tendency to show clips of extremists and those on the fringes of society spouting crazy viewpoints (this guy thinks the Earth is flat and bigger than the Sun), but I'm not going to take a political stance and say whether it is right or wrong. I simply use it as a tool to learn the language. If you haven't heard of Memri, it's a site with over 2000 translated video clips that tries to give English speakers some insight into the Arabic/Muslim mind. They aren't all Arabic clips, but the vast majority are and most of them are pretty interesting. There are clips in MSA as well as all the dialects. You'll learn things about the language and also quite a bit about politics and Arabic/Muslim culture. They don't have the transcripts in Arabic, only in English, which is really the only criticism I have, but I guess their target English speaking audience doesn't really care to see pages of uninteligable squiggles, so it makes sense. It's a goal of mine to watch and make sure I understand all the videos on the site. That's over 2000 videos, but I'm sure if a person were to watch them all it would greatly improve their Arabic. Memri also has a YouTube channel. And here's a crazy guy who thinks that Valentines day is worse than AIDS and that it makes Muhammad sad when you celebrate it. Take heed!

The Arabic Alphabet

Here's a quick run through of the Arabic Alphabet. Since you can only upload 10 min or less videos to YouTube I had to kind of rush. I would have liked to explain the difficult letters more, but perhaps I'll do that in another video.