Learn Arabic as it is really spoken. Listen to and read Levantine Colloquial Arabic.
Eman and her sister Noora go ice skating. Do they enjoy themselves? Will Eman go ice skating again?
Yesterday, my genius of a sister Noora got a vision that she is a pro at ice skating, and she kept trying to convince me to go with her, so she can show people her amazing skills. Me being the best sister in the world, I agreed to go, so we can have some fun and get some fresh air. So we went to the mall, signed up, got suited up and we were ready to ice skate! The rink was packed, and whoever is going in has to be a pro. And although I was nervous because I have no idea how to ice skate, I thought to myself, Noora knows how to ice skate well. And she’ll teach me, so I don’t fall straight on my face. So I was relying on Noora’s word and her amazing talent. So it was time to go in and I asked Noora “How are you going to teach me when there are all these people around?” Laughing, she says “Eman, I want to tell you something but you don’t get mad, okay?” I don’t know how to ice skate. As soon as she said that, I started looking around for the cameras because I felt she was pranking me. But unfortunately, only the security cameras were there, ready to record us as we embarrass ourselves. So in front of everyone, for an hour and a half, Noora and I took turns falling. She gets up. I fall. I get up. She falls. Just like Tom and Jerry. I’m telling you, every single kid was laughing at us for how many times we fell. Even the coach wanted to laugh! And when it was over, Noora looked over at me and said, “What do you think about doing this every Thursday?” And in my whole life I’ve never given an answer so fast when I said, “No sweetheart, you can go alone!”
Looking forward to hearing more of these.
Are we able to download the Audio file?
I’m glad you like the series, Kevin. The audio will be available when/if a book is put out for the series. In the meantime, you can always stream the audio from the blog post directly. –Matthew
This new introduction of Lebanese & Syrian diaries is great. I’m guessing you will be releasing a book with Syrian & Lebanese voices as well? There are many people wanting to learn these dialects as there are so many syrians everywhere now and many Arabic students enjoy traveling to Lebanon. I think it’s just a matter of distribution to get these books sold, many students are not aware of the resources available from you guys!
Thank you, Naufal. I do hope to eventually release a book for this series, as I did with Egyptian Arabic Diaries. It’s true there’s a lot of interest in these dialects, but unfortunately not a lot of good materials on the market. I’m hoping to help fill that gap a bit! I love organizing these projects and putting the materials out there, but getting the word out is always the hardest part. Any help letting other learners know about Lingualism is much appreciated! –Matthew
A problem in academia is that dialectology is treated differently than the way you do it with your materials. Simply writing it it out in Arabic script is too “casual” for many scholars and any dialect text not written in IPA is frowned upon. At least thats the case in Europe. Nonetheless, it wouldn’t be a bad thing to still try and reach out for this sort of audience. In my honest opinion, having an audio recording and the text itself written in Arabic is much better, because I can clearly hear how it’s pronounced and at the same time identify verb roots more easily. I think in the past audio recordings were not as common, but will now take over more and more!
Great material, thank you!
Very rare can one find a transcript of a colloquial speech written in Arabic.
This is exactly what I need!
One BIG problem is though – she is speaking waaaaay to fast.
I know you recorder someone who speaks naturally but for me it is impossible to learn this way
Yes, she does speak fast! I know it’s challenging. Without the texts, it would be impossible for learners to understand, but I firmly believe with repeated practice reading without the audio, then reading while listening, and listening without reading, over several days, you’ll really reap the benefits and improve your listening skills. Good luck!