Archive for 'Culture'
Status of cats in ancient Egypt: Questions Posted by Hanan Ben Nafa on Sep 14, 2020
Welcome to this advanced comprehension piece where you are going to watch a clip about the importance of cats أهمية القطط and their status مكانتهم in ancient Egypt مصر القديمة and the role cats played الدور الذي لعبته القطط in Egyptians’ everyday life الحياة اليومية then. The Arabic variety used here is mainly Egyptian Arabic, combined…
A new Arabic hit song: لقيت الطبطه Posted by Hanan Ben Nafa on Sep 11, 2020
Welcome to a new blog – مرحبًا بكم في مدوّنة جديدة 😀. Today, I have a great Arabic song for you to listen to and study. The song is in Egyptian Arabic and it’s called لقيت الطبطبة or “I found love/support”. The song is performed by the iconic Emirati singer: Hussain Al-jassmi حسين الجسمي. As is usually…
Italian words in Libyan Arabic Posted by Hanan Ben Nafa on Sep 7, 2020
Welcome to another post. Today’s post is of interest to those who are keen to learn spoken Arabic as the focus is Libyan Arabic اللهجة الليبية . As is the case with vernacular Arabic in general, dialects are not 100% Arabic and include many words that are of foreign origin من أصل أجنبي, mainly for…
History of Arabic ice cream: “Booza” Posted by Hanan Ben Nafa on Aug 10, 2020
Do you know that there’s a unique Arabic version of the ice cream المُثلّجات we know and eat today? The Arabic ice cream is called بوظة BooZa and it started in a specific city in the Middle East. El-BooZa is a type of frozen dessert نوع من الحلويّات المجمّدة that was made for the first…
The story behind this Egyptian Proverb Posted by Hanan Ben Nafa on Aug 7, 2020
In today’s post, we’re going to learn a new Arabic proverb مثل (شعبي) عربي and study its use and the story behind it. >> The proverb, which is in Egyptian Arabic, is as follows: ماتروحش تبيع المية في حارة السقّايين Ma TruH-š Tbeeʕ il-mayya fi Hart is-sa2ayeen *Literal meaning المعنى الحرفي Don’t sell…
Traditional Arabic Dessert: Zalabya زلابيا Posted by Hanan Ben Nafa on Jul 31, 2020
Today, I would like to share with you the recipe of Zalabya/ Zalabyeh وصفة الزلابيا, a traditional Arabic dessert نوع من الحلويات العربية التقليدية that is known across the Arabic world, but specifically in North Africa where it’s also called Zlabya. It can be considered a type of sweet pastry نوع من المعجّنات حلوة المذاق…
Two Arabic proverbs about Food Posted by Hanan Ben Nafa on Jul 27, 2020
This post focuses on two very popular proverbs مثلين مشهورين جدًا in spoken Arabic. Both are related to the topic of food موضوع الطعام. The intended meaning of both of them is positive إيجابي. While one is a prayer دعوة/أمنية to the “eater”, the other is considered an advice نصيحة. Below, a detailed explanation of…