If you’ve decided to learn Arabic online or in a classroom, you may have noticed that there seems to be a lot of regional dialects within the language, and you would be correct to notice that. Many Arabic speaking countries, and especially those of the Middle East and North Africa, speak different variants of the Arabic language and this is especially true in both Egypt...
Read More
It’s that time of year when love is in the air in most Arabic-speaking countries and that can only mean one thing: If you met even a few Arab friends, you’re probably going to get a دعوة زفاف daʻwat zifaaf (wedding invitation) from at least one of them. So, to help you speak Arabic and feel a special part of the big day, we’re going...
Read More
In a previous article, we discussed asking for and understanding questions related to giving directions in Arabic. Unlike cardinal numbers which are mostly used for counting, ordinal numbers are used to order things in a first-second-third kind of format and come in pretty handy when giving directions, especially in a busy city like Amman, Jordan, where they have numbered circles and you want to tell...
Read More
It’s that time of the year again when wedding bells start ringing out all round the world. Well, that is, unless you live in the Arab world, where it’s that time of year when the zaghrootah (زغروتة) start trilling out throughout the region. “So, what is the zaghrootah?” you might ask. Well it’s a kind of ululation - a kind of a long, wavering, high-pitched shrill of...
Read More
Egyptian Arabic, known by the locals as maSree (مصري), is the Arabic dialect spoken in Egypt with nearly 65 million native speakers of the language. Not only is it is largest of the spoken Arabic dialects, it is also probably the most well known dialect of all of the Arabic speaking countries because of the popularity of Egypt’s films, plays, music and television series throughout the...
Read More
I’ll never forget the first time I saw someone wearing a Koofiyyih, the traditional Middle Eastern headdress fashioned from a square scarf. It was a cold winter’s day in Amman, Jordan, and one my students was wearing this beautiful, traditional Palestinian black and white Koofiyyih around his neck. “Wow, that’s a beautiful scarf,” I said. “Where did you get it?” “Thanks, teacher. It’s a gift from...
Read More