So a while ago I posted about an American who speaks Sudanese Arabic fluently. I couldn't understand several parts of the video so I couldn't explain them, but I thought it was worth posting anyway because I had never seen a white guy speaking Sudanese Arabic. I even showed the video to a Lebanese friend of mine who was taken aback and asked me, "Is this guy mocking them or does he really speak like that?" He grew up in Chad so that's the way he really speaks Arabic.
Well, I got an email yesterday from Bentley Brown, the guy in the video, filling me in on what he was actually saying. Below are the notes he sent and a repost of the original video about his movie Faisal Goes West.
Well, I got an email yesterday from Bentley Brown, the guy in the video, filling me in on what he was actually saying. Below are the notes he sent and a repost of the original video about his movie Faisal Goes West.
Some of the trouble spots: انا الاعجبت مرة واحد. خليني انا الخواجي البتكلم عربي انت كي
اتعلمت انجليزي للدرجة دي وين؟
and
قال لي اتعلمه في أمريكا، في دالاس، يعني الحلة الانا ذاتا مولود فوقه قبال ما مشيت تشاد دا.
Breaking it down:
الاعجبت
I was amazed, shocked. In Chadian Arabic, the reflexive or 5th verb
form is made with -ال, not -ات. Functions like a definite article and
even follows حروف شمسية rules, i.e. الشافوا is pronounced ash-shaafo and means "they saw each other."
مرة واحد
very much, a lot
خليني انا الخواجي البتكلم عربي دا
Forget me, the white guy speaking Arabic... (khawaja or khawaji is a derogatory term in Sudan for "white foreigner")
انت كي، اتعلمت انجليزي للدرجة دي وين؟
...where did you learn English so well? (كي is a Chadian word that adds to emphasis, and is also used similar to كدا in Egyptian and Sudanese)
قال لي اتعلمه في أمريكا
He
told me he learned it in America... (notice this is one of my Sudanese
sell-out moments--in Chadian I would have said اِلْعلّمَه)
في دالاس، يعني الحلة الانا ذاته مولود فوقه
...in Dallas, the town I was born in
حِلّة
town
اْلأنا
that I (instead of اللي or الذي/التي, Chadian and Sudanese Arabic just use the definite article)
ذاتَه
Literally means "myself," a sort of colloquial way of saying "ذاتي," but here just used for emphasis.
موْلُود فوقَهْ
In this case, "born in," not "born on." Very colloquial and particular to central Chad, i.e. Ati area where I grew up.
قبال ما مشيت تشاد دا
...before I went [moved] to Chad. قبال ما is the Chadian equivalent of قبل أنْ and دا is used for emphasis, a sort of Chadian
marker that gets thrown around a lot.
