Saturday

Lebanese You Tube series: Shankaboot

If you're interested in learning authentic Lebanese Arabic, the type that is spoken by everyday people in Beirut then check out the You Tube series Shankaboot. It's a low budget show that is really high quality. It looks even better than a lot of the shows I've seen on Arabic TV. The story is interesting and the Arabic in it is great. The show has English subtitles that you can select as well. The series stars a delivery boy, Suleiman Shankaboot, in Beirut who gets involved with the mafia. It's not a conservative show which makes it more interesting. It has everything that you would find on American TV. The show also shoots in Bekaa البقاع for a few episodes so you get to hear what some of the rural Lebanese dialect sounds like.

The language is much different from the kind of thing you'll see on Lebanese talk shows and shows dubbed in Lebanese. Even though those shows are in Lebanese dialect the language contains less slang and is more proper. The thing I'm most interested in right now is Arabic slang and sayings. I've learned how educated upper class people talk, but I'm not as good as I'd like to be with slang. It's harder to find resources for that kind of thing because people have an aversion to teaching a way of speaking that they feel is wrong. It's just like how most Americans view Ebonics. It is viewed as bastardized form of English and no one teaches it. I've met a lot of foreigners who try to understand African Americans when they speak to them on the street but can't. That's how I feel when it comes to Arabic spoken in everyday life. I've learned a lot of everyday Arabic in the past year or so, but I still understand the news better than I do 2 friends just talking and joking with each other. I'm trying to change that.

And, if you can find it, another good show for learning authentic spoken Arabic is called Dunia دنيا. It's a comedic Syrian drama about a girl who comes from the country side to work as a maid and earn a living in Damascus and her dialect reflects that. She speaks with an accent that I hadn't heard before and it took a while to get used to. I still don't understand everything that it said in the show, but that means that it's something I can learn from. I stopped watching dubbed shows because I noticed that I can understand the vast majority of everything that's said. Dubbed shows have a more simplified and less "slangy" form of the language. Anyway, I found Dunia and a lot of good shows on arabseries.org, but they only accept new registrations from time to time. I would keep checking if you're interested because that site has tons of shows. I paid $20 a while ago for unlimited downloads.

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why don't you just study in the region for a while? As far as I can tell you've only been to Jordan for a short trip. It seems more practical.

The Arabic Student said...

That would be ideal, but because of work I can't go, not right now anyway.

Anonymous said...

Maybe you could start using some of the Shankaboot episodes for the Arabic lessons you post? They are a convenient length at around 5 minutes and are really entertaining

Jaz said...

Another couple of great links! I wanted to sign up for arabseries but they require an invite code unfortunately, I'll keep checking back.

I wish there was something like the lebanese series in Egyptian Arabic.

Anonymous said...

Awesome! Thanks so much for posting this - it's very difficult too find any Arabic movies or shows on the internet and this is fantastic.

Muzikstani said...

Hey, great serie Shankaboot, Im gonna check Dunia, it sounds good.

@Jaz: for Egyptian arabic check this cartoon serie, I really like it, some kind of simpsons because of the humor and also critical with the society http://orienteenmedio.blogspot.com/2009/10/super-henedy.html
You can learn some egyptian arabic watching it

Muzikstani said...

Hey, great links Arabic Student, thanks for keeping posting.

@Jaz: check Super Henedy, I really like this series. Its not like Shankaboot, is cartoon but it has an inteligent humor and criticizes egpytian society.
http://www.7vie.net/serie-tv/modules/smartmedia/folder899d.php?categoryid=6&folderid=197

tania said...

Cool:). Thanks so much for the good work! By the way, you mentioned in the post that you can turn the English translation on, but how? I didn't see where to do that, maybe I missed something? Keep up the oh-so-helpful tips!!

The Arabic Student said...

There's a little button that says CC on it.

tania said...

Oops! Hehe:). I didn't even try it as I thought it would put up the arabic words. Thank you again!

Anonymous said...

Great show!!thanks for sharing with us. && abt arabseries.org you shoudnt be paying for it!! there's thousand of websites that let you watch arab series for free. For example check out: 3arabtv.com or www.livearabictv.net. There's also some syrian shows on youtube, ive been watching تخت شرقي, مسلسل الخبز الحرام , بقعة ضوء, just copy the names in arabic on to youtube. Hope this works :)

Anonymous said...

It would be very good if you transliterate the Shakaboot's conversations. I'm not that good in Arabic and I can't recognize words in Arabic making connections with English translation - I think I'm not alone, so, if you can, please, do it.

elyabany said...

Another great show for hearing "street" Lebanese Arabic is Beirut I Love You. It's similarly aimed at a young audience, it's hilarious, and there are English subtitles as well. It's on Youtube as well.