Tag Archives: Arabic culture
What’s Valentine’s Day like in the Middle East? Posted by yasmine on Feb 13, 2019
I’m sure many of you learning Arabic know the word “حبيبي” meaning “my love”. Valentine’s day عيد الحُب or عيد الفالنتاين is right around the corner. Do you happen to have a حبيبي you are planning to celebrate with? Like many in Amman, Jordan, I grew up watching American movies showing couples having dinner…
Arabic Similes Posted by aziza on Apr 13, 2018
A Simile is a figure of speech involving the comparison of one thing with another thing of a different kind, used to make a description more emphatic or vivid (e.g. as brave as a lion) (dictionary.com) In this post, I give some common similes in Arabic. Some of them are similar to English, while others are…
To my mother Posted by aziza on Oct 13, 2017
In my previous post, I wrote the story of the poem “To my Mother”, originally “A Poem of Apology” by Mahmoud Darwish, and in this post, I present the translation of the poem and the song with English subtitles. أحن إلى خبز أمي وقهوة أمي ولمسة أمي وتكبر في الطفولة يوماً على صدر يومِ وأعشق…
Kirkuk and Kurdish Independence Posted by aziza on Sep 24, 2017
This post deals with a very important event in the Middle East nowadays which is Iraqi Kurdistan independence vote. This story relates to the attitude in the city of Kirkuk towards this vote. Please listen to the first minute and answer the questions that follow. The word list at the end can help. كيف يفهم…
Chicken Shawarma Posted by aziza on Sep 22, 2017
Hello everyone! In this post, I present my best recipe for chicken shawarma. It is from Chef Ahmed’s YouTube channel. I have tried it numerous times and I absolutely love it. It is very easy and works all the time. If you don’t have all the spices, don’t worry! Use the ones you have! If you…
Do You Know What Kashta Is? Posted by jesa on Jul 18, 2017
Marhaba! If you have ever tasted a range of Arabic sweets and come across a creamy white ingredient that you thought tasted like heaven, then you have encountered Kashta (or Ashta as pronounced in some dialects, قشطة )! Found in most sweets such as Knefe (كنافة), Katayif (قطايف), and Znood el-Sir (زنود الست), Kashta is…
Listening comprehension, economy1 Posted by aziza on Jun 25, 2017
In this post, I present the answers of the listening comprehension exercises presented earlier. English Questions and Answers: How does the report describe Qatar’s economy? The report describes Qatar’s economy as strong and competitive. What is the rank of Qatar on the list of countries by GDP per capita? Qatar takes the first…