#arabic language lessons

[h0neytalk]

Favorite VERY BASIC Comprehensible Input Sources I’ve Found (all free)

These are all for Italian and Arabic (MSA + Levantine dialect) and suitable for A1! I’ve found the very early stages are the hardest to find stuff for but also when it’s the most boring to be confined to flashcards and memorizing so hopefully this helps. Also it keeps me from losing these links.

Italian:

Curioso come George (Italian Curious George, honestly a lot of kids shows can get tiring but Curious George doesn’t hit that “annoying” pitch while still being simple) (link is to one episode but you can find tons in the related vids) (also segments are themed so you can find ones that roughly correlate to a unit of vocab like weather or clothes)

Ardea Digitale Schoolbooks (schoolbooks for children that you can download as PDFs along with workbooks/worksheets)

Arabic (MSA)

Read Learn Play Arabic (cannot speak highly enough of this one it’s so good and there’s so much and idk how it isn’t talked about more)

Cartoon Network MENA (good just because the material is recognizable, obviously usefulness of vocab/level is gonna vary by show)

Arabic (Levantine Dialect)

Sesame Street! Aka Ahlan Simsim. (Some segments are more advanced than others obviously but it’s incredible for learning the sound of the dialect and is also not grating for adults imo) (free on YouTube)

Lingualism Diaries (not nearly as beginner friendly as Read Learn Play but definitely doable within a few weeks assuming you know the alphabet) (also has audio versions)

I highly recommend lingualism.com for a ton of Arabic materials in all sorts of dialects/levels but they’re mostly paid (not expensive! But not free) and this post is meant to compile free stuff.

[schizononagesimus]

okay guys esl problem. can someone tell me if theyve ever noticed tense issues in my fics? i dont really fully understand how english works with past and present tense... like if i were to say "X crawled up onto the bed, looking at Y..." would that still be correct, or do i always have to say something more like "X crawled up onto the bed and looked at Y..." because oftentimes i feel it sounds clunky. help?

[necromancy-savant]

I went on the podcast, talked like a Tumblrina the whole time, and now they think I'm funny and interesting and my ass is getting a second episode. Tune in next time to listen to Seeking and Straying and discuss my terminal blorbo disease

Fr though these guys are awesome and made me feel like a rock star. AND they taught me all about DC culture and DC-specific AAVE

[doseofarabic]

Dose # 10 - letters [batch 7]

In this batch we will study :

Ḥāʾ ح ʿayn ع Wāw و

How to write them ♡(◕ᗜ◕✿)

The letter ح is exactly like the letter ج except that it has no dot

The letter ع is a bit different though, the head looks like the hamza ء which we studied in the intial, fianl and isolated forms. And in its medial form, it has a unique shape so make sure you don't confuse it with the letter ف Fāʾ which has a medial form that is a complete circle.

The letter و is a combination of a circle and and an open bracket.

Letters + vowels (˶ᵔ ᵕ ᵔ˶)

Letters + short vowels

Letters + long vowels

Letters + tanween

Words that contain the letters

Pronunciation (◕‸ ◕✿)

و [Wāw]

The semi-consonent و is like the sound w or ou

ع [ʿayn]

ح [Ḥāʾ]

The letters ح and ع are a bit tricky, so I wanted to group them together so that we can compare them and learn how to correctly pronounce the letters. Audios are included for both files.

Since they are letters that exist is semetic languages, it's hard for me to compare them to any letters in English or European languages in general so I'll try to explain it in full detail.

Both letters ع and ح originate from the same place. The middle of the throat. Look at the arrow below.

The difference between them is that the letter ح is that the "sound" and the air is flowing continuosly from your throat. It's like a continuous hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh sound. Except the "h" sound is coming from a lower part of the throat (not the middle part) so the sound ḥḥḥḥḥḥ ح comes.

Whereas, the letter ع while it also comes from the middle of the throat, but the sound doesn't "flow" it stops there. Put your hand on the middle of the throat and release sound and press to get the sound right. The vocal cords will come closer, so the air will not flow like it does with the ح.

The sound of ع is shorter and sudden, similar to the suddeness of the glottal stop, but it comes from the middle of the throat not the lower part of the throat.

Practice (◕▿◕✿)

You can use this worksheet to practice writing the letters we learned

Homework # 10 ♡(◕ᗜ◕✿)

[Find herewith the homework for this week]

[lunasilvis]

Would you like to teach me Dutch

Lol, no offense (also can't tell if you're serious), but why would you want to have a command of Dutch? We exceeded a population of 18 million this week, with our offbeat wonky Germanic sounds, I say it's enough as it is haha

[satellitesunset]

the fact that I can never read my favourite pieces of media in their original language bc I don't speak it. keeps me up at night actually.

[hebrewbyinbal]

Here is a 2 for 1 lesson! Let them know how versed you are in #english and #hebrew

[geekonaleash]

This is beautiful!

This is just a mini info dump from an Arab batfamily fan because I find Damian calling his siblings Akhi... adorable (for me as a native speaker watching a writer use Arab words) and, not painful, just... itchy, it URGES me to make a pptx with 300 slides and just? Talk about Arabic?

So... أخي, Akhi, Brother.

It's not incorrect. The word is used in the right place and delivers its intended meaning. Other Arab speakers might not find a problem with it. They'd feel odd like I did but will likely go "eh" and carry on. But I'm an Arabic enthusiast, so...

Like with every language with geographically widespread users, the Arabic tongue kind of- deviated from its roots. The language has naturally branched out into so many dialects I myself can't keep track of.

Arabs from different regions can understand each other. They use the same words but for different purposes and with different pronunciations.

The original root language that holds them all (Quranic Arabic) was simplified into an easier, standard version that is used for formal speeches and as a communication bridge (seeing that you can't, say, translate something to Arabic and say it's for all Arabs if you use a certain dialect. Because an Arabic dialect is an identity at this point, tell me somebody is Syrian, and I know them already)

Now, with the fun part.

See, no Arab calls any sibling of theirs Akhi, I myself would burst laughing if mine did.

Yakhoi يَخوي (nonstandard, everyday Arabic for o, brother) , maybe, if I'm calling a stranger from the streets or an offender I'm going to give a piece of my mind.

Or, hold your breaths, my brother is crying, and the lights are out and I NEED to use the tenderest, most loving, most adoring, most revering tone I could muster so he just knows he is loved and family. Y'know? This specific situation.

And other Arabs might just say, no, I use it when, I use it when, I don't use it, etc.

The point is, nobody will mention Akhi. Because it's a Standard Arabic word, a formal word, and a word used in translated texts and stories when a foreign character we don't consider part of us call their brother. It's weird, it's devoid of emotions, and it's like watching a robot trying to be emotional, but it's a translated text. That's what translated texts use, and it's fine.

It is fine, Standard Arabic has been used for stories so much that nobody questions its influence on a character's characterisation.

I'm not saying Standard Arabic shouldn't be used for story writing, quite the opposite, in fact. I'm just saying that if Arabic is used to represent an Arab, its usage should also consider an everyday Arab experience and manners.

Now to Damian.

Akhi is robotic. Damian's personality does allow him to fall under that category. If for his well refined manners and polite, formal speech.

But even the King wouldn't call his brother Akhi.

He'd call him by his name. For my community (and most, I'm sure) siblings are called by their names, and if we look up historic Quranic (Root) Arabic speakers, they, too, call their siblings by their name. Yes, even the Sultan.

If not by actual name, then either endearing or demeaning names.

Arabs LOVE endearing names, but they're dipped in a pool of honey I don't think Damian would like to dive in.

Talia, on the other hand, would most certainly call Damian Mama. Arab parents call their kids by their own titles. It's the ultimate expression of parental love of all times, in my opinion.

(Don't make Batman call him Papa, though. Pretty sure Damian would malfunction)

-

Well, I said all that, but watching writers include Arabic words in his vocabulary is still sweet. Tt is not even a word, but it's such an Arab thing it's my favourite.

If only I could make subtitles of everyday Arab talk and show you, their speech is heavy with, excuse my English, word softeners, it's like they're talking in a TV drama and not the real world.

Watching Damian adopting it would be interesting :D

[swedika]

Swedika - Svenska och Arabiska

Welcome to “Swedika Svenska och Arabiska” – your new journey to discover the world of the Swedish language in a simple and fun way!

In a world full of challenges and opportunities, language is a fundamental tool for opening doors to new and unique experiences. Whether you want to advance your career, communicate with a new community, or deepen your understanding of another culture, learning Swedish is the first step towards achieving these goals.

Through the “Swedika Svenska och Arabiska” project, we strive to offer innovative and simplified lessons, specially designed for Arabic-speaking beginners. Our goal is to make learning Swedish easy and accessible for everyone, through clear and interactive explanations and a method that encourages continuity and self-study.

Whether you are at the beginning of your journey or want to improve your language skills, we are here to provide you with the support you need to succeed and reach your goals with confidence. Let’s start this journey together, step by step, towards mastering the Swedish language!

Welcome to “Swedika” – where the passion for learning meets simplicity and efficiency!

[elitefor--arabic]

Present Simple Tense In Arabic Language

[h0neytalk]

Practicing the Arabic Alphabet

I honestly lucked out so much taking Arabic in college and learning basic MSA reading/writing/grammar from an excellent professor but I’m gonna compile the most useful things we did in class here to help people learning on their own (this isn’t focused on resources, just strategies, might do a separate post with worksheets and videos but they’re pretty easy to find):

Get the alphabet in front of you. We had a packet with a page for every letter with the letter written in the three positions, pronunciations, names, and lines to trace and write like 100 times. And then a page with all the diacritics. These sheets abound for free online. Make yourself an alphabet packet. Watch copious videos/listen to recordings going over the letters and how they sound. Repeat it back. Work in chunks and don’t move to the next set until you can recognize and write the current set.

Tracing! Learn to write the letters right to left and with the proper order from day one. This sounds obvious but people in my class were still drawing letters left to right as isolated shapes next to each other so idk maybe it’s not. Having nice handwriting in Arabic is both satisfying and absurdly helpful. Learn how the letters connect. Spend more time than you think is necessary on this.

Write English words and sentences phonetically using diacritics and Arabic letters. Do not worry about translation and spelling. Just make the connection between shape -> sound. Use anything you have. Lists of names, entire pages from books and magazines, texts from friends, menus. Literally anything. Work through how to make those words with the new alphabet. You will learn a surprising amount about the language and pronunciation by doing this. How do you translate sounds that don’t exist? What about multiple sounds where English only has one? Read it back with the accent.

Transcribe English phonetically. Same as above but do it without the English in front of you and just listening. Make that voice to visual connection.

Hand write word lists once you get to vocab. Then type them on your laptop and phone (if you want to be able to type in Arabic, also highly recommend a keyboard cover with the letters next to the Latin alphabet). Copy all the diacritics even though that’s not necessarily how native speakers do it. I have a notebook that looks like it belongs to lunatic toddler because it just has the same words and snippets written over and over again lmao.

Finally, transcribe Arabic. If you can use something with a transcript or captions to check your work even better! But don’t check for perfect spelling, check you used mostly the right letters and marks. You will definitely smash some words together and miss a silent or elided letter or something but try and hear the difference between ع and ا or ق and ك etc. The more sources you use the better.

We did this for one full semester of 50 minute classes 3 times a week while sprinkling in some basic vocab towards the second half. It felt like forever at the time but I never lost my ability to phonetically read and write in Arabic despite 4 years of complete non-use while living in America in an area without any significant Arabic-speaking population or language presence. It is absolutely CHISELED into my brain.

[psychologeek]

I'll start with the end.

"I will not be overly litigious over the north African and Levant examples you chose as I'm not an expert on all sections of post colonial history and even the areas I do know it's not a scholarly level most of my classes are European and American history."

This, here, is important.

You talk about European colonialism, and act like this is the only bad thing, because that's all you know about.

You are mostly aware for things you were taught - which are also the things someone has considered important enough to teach.

From your words, I understand you don't study this field.

You say this yourself - you aren't an expert.

But you can't talk about a single place, to illegitimate a single state, without knowing the super complicated geo-religo-political history of the entire area (and more) - which is at least 150 years of history.

~

I'm not saying that they ARE the best solution, but I do say that what you call "ethnostate" was a counterpoint to the empires, end the rise of nationalism.

(which is why we see an increase in those after ww1, and in even more after ww2).

AKA Pretty much: "each group who desires it should have their autonomy and ability to self-government. A place this group won't be a minority."

~

"largely popularized by 1848 revolutions" - I'm putting a careful pin on that one, as (modern day) Zionism might been influenced by that, but is way older than that.

(I just. Can't deal with summarising 500 years of history rn).

~

Yes, there's a difference between the Ottoman Empire (Turks) and the arab nation (arab) - by language and some culture. Different dynamics then the previous Chaliphates, but still controlled a MASSIVE land.

Which is why the Arabs who lived in those places wanted to "liberate the arab nation".

(and yes, I'm saying arabs - as arabs, arabic, and Islam are NOT native to most SWANA area. From the babri minority in Morroco to the Hindus in India (and Pakistan) . Babri, Aramic (Assyrian), Coptic (Egypt), etc. are the og languages. Or, you know, USED to be.)

I'm sorry, but. Umm. This is an ethnostate. So, are you fine with that kind of "United Arab state"? Or is Jordan also to be destroyed?

I love how you compare "arab and Jewish state" like it's the same thing.

Hi, do you remember that part of Britain's way to help with this arab-state thing was to forbid jews from purchasing land in what they called "Transjordan"?

Anyway.

Things become important because people want/need them.

Looking back at history, we can't judge it by our own views - but at the viewing of the political and environment that were during that time.

You can't expect a 17th century poet to say "love is love". But you can recognize the "I don't think a man should be hanged for that" (non accurate quote).

~

"I feel the need to state thar the reason the colonial powers exited Africa is not because there was a conspicuously large nationalist movement in any area specifically but that the the concept of colonialism started to deeply unsettle Europeans who were becoming conscious of the atrocities it entailed."

Oh yes, all the poor, innocent Europeans who just realized this might be bad.

Nothing to do with the falling of the German and Italian regimes, everything post-Vichie (france), or the massive political changes in Britain - and the general mess in Europe.

No, nothing like that.

Pan-Arabism is the result of over 1,000 of years being under similar government. Also the fall of the ottoman empire and the last Chaliphate. See "The Muslim Brotherhood" for more.

~

India, Pakistan, Bangladesh:

Please please read about the Bangali genocide. This was very needed.

"Relations between West and East Pakistan quickly broke down due to a lack of a contiguous border and thus Bangladesh fought to separate which ironically formed a micro nation state out of this as they are both majority Bengali and Muslim."

No, they fought to separate bc of military governance, and extensively economic discrimination against East Pakistan. (And things like Ethnic and linguistic discrimination, India-Pakistan war, etc.)

I mean, maybe the moral of this is that borders shouldn't be straight lined drawn on a map, but rather related to the population needs and opinions.

(btw, this is another ethnostate, with 99% of the population sharing the same ethnicity. Funny how no one complains.)

~

"Imperialism before the European colonialism was only small scaled, bc they didn't have the proper technology"

Screaming in history:

~

Neo-Assyrian Empire

(Honourable mention)

Area:

670 BC: 1,400,000 km2 (540,000 sq mi)

had fast communication that equivalent to 19th century communication.

Moved populations from their og places.

(I use wiki for the image)

~

Ottoman Empire:

Area:

1481: 1,220,000 km2 (470,000 sq mi)

1683: 5,200,000 km2 (2,000,000 sq mi)

1913: 2,550,000 km2 (980,000 sq mi)

~

Umayyad Chaliphates:

Area

720 : 11,100,000 km2 (4,300,000 sq mi)

(Arab Peninsula is Red. Everything else is, literally, NOT arab. I wonder how ARABIC got there?

Well, the same way that Spanish and Portuguese are in South and Central America. The same way English in North America and in India and Africa and Australia. The same way French in Africa and North America)

Empire statistics:

Here (yes, this is wiki - not a reliable source. But it gets the dates and places+- fine.)

18/27 (20/30) of the largest empires are pre-1491 (66%)

Only 5 are European: (British, Russian, Spanish, French2, Portuguese 2). 2 are arguable (Roman, Ottoman - as it was closer to Chaliphate. Don't judge places by current politics. Judge it by historical politics.) 23-25/30 (76-83%)

By population percentage, we have Roman (5th place) and British (12th) and Nazi Germany (25th) - 3/25, AKA: 12% (dropping the Romans (pre-1491), giving us 91% of, apparently, non-colonial empires)

This is what I'm talking about when I say "euro-centric view".

~

Minorities in the middle east:

Kurds had been fighting since 1920s.

Rojava is fighting against Assad's regime - and Arduan (Turkey).

Also look up Baluchistan - Suni minority, constantly oppressed by the Iranian Regime, ~60% illiterate (schools can't teach in the local language, which is a HUGE problem.)

From what I know, there's also Druze fight for autonomy in Syria (this might be wrong, my Arabic is not so good and I only recently heard about it) in Suadye - Jabel Al-Druze (Druzes' mountain). Non-violent protests since August 2023, about discrimination and latest about economy (government say they have to sell the wheat to government, but pay very little=poor.)

(trilingual translation is hard.)

Oh, and let's not forget the Yezidis, under genocide and enslavement (many women and girls in sex slavery).

~

I feel like I'm losing track of my thoughts.

Anyway, good night.

Just because your sentiment is targeted towards jews zionists does not mean that its not repackaged right wing talking points and bigotry.

Putting a cut off date for jews indigenousness at its core is still anti indigenous folk and putting a cut off date for an indigenous group regardless if it's targeted towards jews.

Calling jews colonizers for trying to rebuild their nation on land that was stolen from them is at its core anti land back movements.

Claiming that openly queer jews are "pink washing" is at its core queerphobic as you want queers you don't like to be silent or hidden away.

Claiming that jews are inherently white is at its core erasing and invalidating poc who do not fit your idea of what poc should be/look like.

[what-even-is-thiss]

Some free or inexpensive comprehensible input, audio and video lessons, and listening practice stuff for popular languages because idk I felt like googling some stuff today

Arabic: Yale k-16 interactive reading, Arabic Comprehensible, Egyptic

Bengali: Bangla Shekho, Bengali Fairy Tales

Chinese (Mandarin): Comprehensible Chinese, hackingchinese.com, Acquire Mandarin, Comprehensible Mandarin, Blabla Chinese, Easy Mandarin, Mandarin Click

English: English Comprehensible input for ESL beginners, Dreaming English, EnglishClass101, British Council LearnEnglish, News in Slow English

French: French Comprehensible Input, alice ayel, Easy French, innerfrench.com, Little Talk in Slow French, Francais Authentique

German: DW Learn German, Naturlich German, Comprehensible German, Easy German, Löwenzahn, Deutsch Direkt, Learn German With Falk

Greek (modern): Natural Languages TRPS Greek, Helinka, Hellinic American Union, Easy Greek, Greekpod101

Greek (ancient): Easy Latin (Greek Course), Alpha With Angela (biblical [Kione] Greek), Chihon Teaches, Ancient Greek in Action, Athenaze

Hebrew: The Hebrew Adventure, Free Hebrew (Biblical Hebrew), Hebrew Time, thehebrewcafe.com

Hindi: Comprehensible Hindi, HindiPod101, Hindi TV, Easy Hindi

Hungarian: FluentBox, Magyar Hungarian, Speak Hungarian With Angie, Easy Hungarian,

Icelandic: Icelandic For Foreigners, icelandiconline.com, Ylhyra, Viltu laera islensku,

Italian: Italian For Americans, Easy Italian, Learn Italian With Lucrezia, teacherstefano.com

Japanese: Comprehensible Japanese, DailyJapanese, Akane Japanese Class, iroironanihongo, Japanese Immersion With Asami, Speak Japanese Naturally, Learn Japanese with Tanaka san,

Korean: Comprehensible Input Korean, Korean Patch, Immersion in Korean, Intuit Korean, Learn Korean in Korean, Hello Jadoo, MAVOCA, Storytime in Korean, Talk to Me in 100% Korean

Latin: Easy Latin, ScorpioMartianus, Quomodo Dicitur?, Found In Antiquity, The London Latin Course

Portuguese: Teach Yourself Portuguese, The Sounds of Portuguese, Portuguese With Leo, Easy Portuguese

Russian: Comprehensible Russian, Easy Russian, About Russian in Russian, Russian With Max, Russian from Russia, Real Russian Club

Spanish: Dreaming Spanish, Teacher Catalina. Hola Spanish, Easy Spanish,

[jammiaalquran]

How to help children memorise the Quran?

The Holy Book of the Quran is known to be the word of Allah Almighty. It is an inimitable book which means no other book or scripture can imitate the content or form of the Holy Quran. Moreover, the elaborate lessons of the Quran also stay unique to date. Human speech can neither begin to fathom every little detail in its words nor can it parallel the language used. Quran remains to be on the highest rank in terms of literature as well as it was brought down from heaven in the purest form of Arabic different from the Modern Standard Arabic. Furthermore, the only scripture that remains intact just as it was centuries ago is the Quran.

[cod-dump]

Okay, so two ideas/thoughts but they’re both within the same realm;

1. Price being a serial eavesdropper on conversations, doesn’t matter who. Alejandro and Rudy gossiping in Spanish? That man is listening in. Farah swearing in Arabic under her voice? He caught that too. Dad glared included.

2. Along similar lines, but it’s just the idea of Price having to work as a translator for his team because Laswell refuses to get them one when Price can do it just fine himself. Plus, he may have started to piss off all the translators Laswell did bring in by correctly them, constantly.

He is such a gossip but fights so hard to keep that a secret. He's learned many languages for his line of work and during his childhood studies, so yes he's picked up on many, many juicy conversations.

Russian? Once he learned the kind of things Chimera talks about (after several lessons with Nik and Laswell) he committed to learning many other languages that he didn't already have under his belt. The delight he felt when learning that Rudy was a bitchy gossip, and the sheer joy he felt when Rudy started gossiping with him. 'Chisme Time' was sacred, Price was willing to fight over it.

While his knowledge in the absurd amount of languages he knew was useful, it also was a pain in the ass. Because when Price wasn't eavesdropping and gathering gossip, he was generally being a pain. Soap and Ghost have not know peace since they mistakenly entrusted Price to hear the bit of Spanish they learned while working with the Los Vaqueros. The judgement they felt was enough to make them mutter their words and trail off, finding it impossible to look Price in the eye. He was worse than Rudy.

Translators? They have one: Price. If he doesn't know the language already he's taking lessons in that very moment. He's so quick in learning them. Maybe it was a desire to never be caught off guard, to always be ready. Maybe it was conditioned in him to strive for overachievement, to be the best even when it wasn't needed.