Listening practice: Covid-19 benefits Posted by Hanan Ben Nafa on Apr 10, 2020
This post is based on a very short video clip that discusses the on-going global outbreak الانتشار العالمي of Coronavirus and who could benefit from يستفيد من the current situation الوضع الحالي that compelled people أجبر الناس to stay home على البقاء في المنزل ? As the lady in the video speaks in plain Egyptian…
Letter of the Week (ر) raa Posted by yasmine on Apr 8, 2020
Moving on to our tenth letter of the Arabic alphabet (ر), we will look at various words and phrases beginning with (ر) along with more culture/language related facts. Let’s begin with looking at your basic forms of the letter ر. Initial ر, as in the word “رائِع” meaning “excellent”. Medial ـر , as in the…
The Sound of Music – لحن الحياة Posted by Hanan Ben Nafa on Apr 3, 2020
Last Sunday marked the 55th anniversary of the “The Sound of Music”صوت الموسيقى movie, which was released تم إصداره in the UK on the 29th of March in 1965. Interestingly, this work was not only popular in the West, but it was so in the Arab world too, thanks to a Japanese company that adapted…
Letter of the Week (ذ) thaal Posted by yasmine on Apr 1, 2020
Moving on to our ninth letter of the Arabic alphabet (ذ), we will look at various words beginning with (ذ) along with an Arabic Bedouin film titled ذيب, and lastly, how the letter ذ is pronounce in Levantine Arabic. Let’s begin with looking at your basic forms of the letter ذ. Initial ذ, as in…
Self-isolation hashtags in Arabic (2) Posted by Hanan Ben Nafa on Mar 27, 2020
Welcome to the second part of this post. Last week, I started sharing with you some of the popular hashtags and phrases that people circulated on Twitter across the Arab, with regards to the Coronavirus. The diversity of Arabic تنوع العربية and its dialects ولهجاتها was clearly reflected in انعكس بوضوح في how Arabs responded…
Letter of the Week (د) daal Posted by yasmine on Mar 25, 2020
Moving on to our eighth letter of the Arabic alphabet (د), we will look at various words and phrases beginning with (د) along with more culture/language related facts. Let’s begin with looking at your basic forms of the letter د. Initial د, as in the word “دَفْتَر” meaning “notebook”. Medial ـد , as in the…
Self-isolation hashtags in Arabic (1) Posted by Hanan Ben Nafa on Mar 24, 2020
As is usually the case at times of crisis وقت الأزمات, the way people respond online – particularly on Twitter in this digital age العصر الرقمي – is interestingly from a linguistic perspective. In thi blog post, I’m going to report on the creative ways الطرق الإبداعية Arabic speaking people responded to استجابوا إلي and commented…