I came across this site through a post on the How to Learn Any Language forums. I thought I had found all the good sites for learning Arabic, but this one has stayed hidden from me. It's called LangMedia and they have resources for a lot of different languages, not just Arabic. As far as Arabic goes though, not only does it have a lot of MSA dialouges with translations, but there are also quite of few roleplay videos in the Jordanian, Palestinian, and Syrian dialects (also with translations). I wish I had known about this site a year ago when I was just starting with the Arabic dialects. It would have made the road a lot easier. There's really a lot to be learned from this site.
Here's an example of the kind of videos that are on their website along with the transcription and translation.
رحت انا مع ابوي لتل ابيب و كانت هاذي اجمل مرة بطلع فيها في إجازة. بقيت هناك لأسبوعين. رحت على البحر. رحت على مطاعم. رحت على حديقة الحيوانات. و كان يعني إجازة تستحق يعني أن تتسمى إجازة لأنه كانت أول مرة بروح فيها على حديقة حيوانات. أول مرة بشوف البحر. تعرفت على أصحاب كثير
I went to Tel Aviv with my dad. This was the best vacation I ever had. I was there for two weeks. I went to the sea; I went to restaurants; I went to a zoo. It deserved to be called a vacation because it was the first time I went to a zoo and saw the sea. I made a lot of friends.
2 comments:
Hello! Nice blog! :)
You can send people who ask for their names in Arabic my way. I'll be glad to help when I have time.
Interesting to note the following in the video:
1. When he says several times:
"I WENT" he says ROHIT rather than ROHT (with an "i" sound between H and T)
One of the hardest things for me in learning Arabic dialects is the correct positioning of VOWELS.
It appears that there is almost FREE VARIATION in their use......like you can use almost any vowel anyplace. I know it's not as scattered-brained as that, but it's a bugbear to be sure
This is probably due to the fact that in comparison with CONSONANTS, VOWELS are less important in Arabic.
This is in contrast with English where the vowels hold primary place
(Is it: pit,put,pat,pet or pot?? It's vital to pronounce these correctly) whereas the consonants take secondary place.
This is a general statment of course, but I believe it is generally true and very seldom mentioned by teachers of both English or Arabic.
2. Another feature of the colloquial in Arabic which is a little hard to learn correctly: THE USE OF THE PRESENT TENSE FOR THE PAST.
Where he says: I WENT to a zoo for the first time and I SAW the sea for the first time. In Arabic he's using the PRESENT CONTINUOUS (isn't he?) using بروح for "I went) and using بشوف for "I saw"
He's saying: "The first time I SEE (or I AM SEEING)"..... and "the first time I GO (or I AM GOING)."
Again, it's these little but hugely important aspects of language that are so seldom mentioned by teachers.....I guess they don't see them as problems.
That's why there's an old adage in language teaching: The worst teacher of a language is a native speaker of that language (except, of course, for the pronunciation).
Devilish.
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