In one of my earliest posts I discussed the different varieties of Arabic and explained that there are two main varieties Standard Arabic (فصحى), i.e. the written variety which is sometimes spoken in reading the news or religious speeches, etc; and colloquial Arabic (عامية) which is the spoken dialect. In this post, I discuss colloquial Arabic more.

Colloquial Arabic has many regional varieties. In general, there is a difference between Egyptian Arabic, Gulf Arabic, Levantine Arabic and Moroccan Arabic. Within each one of them, there are more geographical varieties, e.g. in Egyptian Arabic, there is a difference between the dialects spoken in Upper Egypt, the Nile Delta, Cairo, Alexandria, Port Said, etc.

At a different level, there is a difference between the dialects people speak according to their level of education. Dr. El-Said Badawi differentiates between three types of spoken Arabic: Illiterate Spoken Arabic (عامية الأميين), enlightened Spoken Arabic (عامية المتنورين) and Educated Spoken Arabic (عامية المثقفين). The first variety (عامية الأميين) is spoken by people who have very little or no education. It is characterized by the use of mainly colloquial expressions with no influence from Standard Arabic or even from the modern developments of today’s world. The second level (عامية المتنورين) is used by people who have a certain degree of education but not necessarily a high one, and it shows some influence by Standard Arabic and by developments in today’s world. The third variety (عامية المثقفين) is used by the highly educated, and it shows a lot of influence by Standard Arabic and shows a strong connection to developments in technology, politics and media.

The interesting thing about these levels is that each and every speaker of Arabic may use all the three levels together in a single day, e.g. as a university teacher, I use the highest level of colloquial to communicate with my students and colleagues. At home, I do not need to be so formal, so I can use the second level. The move from one variety to the other is not conscious. We use the variety appropriate to the situation without even realizing the shift!