El Bulbul – A Jordanian Arabic Listening Resource For Intermediate & Advanced Language Learners

Marhaba guys!

It’s been a while since I posted something. Over the last few months, I’ve been working on a listening resource in Jordanian Arabic specifically for high intermediate learners and above.

Today, I’m excited to announce that the first episode is now up on theLevanTongue’s YouTube channel.

The listening resource is called “El Bulbul” and this post will be a short introduction as to what it contains.

Yalla, read on to find out more 😀

So what exactly is El Bulbul all about?

To put it simply, El Bulbul is a series of 30 episodes filled with interesting conversations in real spoken Jordanian Arabic to help language learners improve their listening skills & speak zay el bulbul.

Each episode lasts for approximately 10 minutes and is hosted by two Jordanians, Ashraf & Enas.

The series will tackle a range of topics from marriages in Jordan, the use of technology in our daily life, discrimination, the culture of shame and so many more.

Currently, I plan to release an episode once a week or at most twice a week.

Speak zay a whaaaat?

The reason why I decided to name the resource “El Bulbul” is that there is a phrase in Levantine Arabic whereby if you say someone speaks like a بلبل, that means he speaks the language fluently.

The phrase is commonly used to describe non-native speakers who are able to converse fluently in the target language.

A bulbul (or bilbul in North Levantine Arabic) is a type of bird that most refer to as a nightingale. Since nightingales are singing birds, I’m guessing the ability to sing beautifully is related to the ability to speak a language fluently.

And therefore, I hope this resource will benefit language learners of Jordanian Arabic in their journey towards conversational fluency 🙂

For whom is El Bulbul for?

I curated this listening resource with high intermediate learners, who feel that they have hit a brick wall or reached a plateau, in mind.

Advanced learners who feel that their Arabic is rusty can also benefit from it.

I, too, will be using El Bulbul to work on my spoken Arabic and my ability to converse on a wide range of topics.

What are El Bulbul’s episodes like?

The focus of this listening resource is on natural and real Spoken Jordanian Arabic. Therefore, I’ve chosen a conversational format where you’ll listen to light-hearted conversations between two native speakers on a wide range of topics.

Such a format will benefit intermediate learners who want to go beyond scripted audio resources and to get their ears attuned to real Jordanian Arabic.

And that means…the episodes will contain cross-talks, filler words, and heck, maybe even grammatical incorrect sentences.

At the end of the day, I believe the goal is to achieve conversational fluency. And fluency doesn’t mean accuracy.

Here’s a quote from this site that sums up the idea of fluency pretty well:

“Fluency is the flow and efficiency with which you express your ideas, particularly when speaking. A few grammar mistakes may appear here and there in the explanation, but it should be delivered in a way that is easy to understand and shows how comfortable you are with the language.”

Additionally, it is also important to have cultural awareness. Understanding the social rules, beliefs, customs of Jordanians play an important part in being fluent in Jordanian Arabic as well.

Thus, there will be episodes that will help learners learn more about Jordan and the Jordanian culture. Such episodes include weddings in Jordan, the public transportation in Jordan, the culture of shame, and more.

How to get the most out of this listening resource?

In order to get the most out of El Bulbul, I have also created a printable listening guide for each episode.

While I will be hosting episodes of El Bulbul on YouTube for all to listen to, the printable listening guide will be a paid resource.

It will be available for a no-brainer price of $2.99. All I ask is that the file is used for personal learning use only and not to be shared with others. To grab your copy, click here.

The printable listening guide is a PDF file that contains

• The transcript of the episode in Arabic
• The accompanying English translation
• A useful chunks and verbs table
• Three discussion questions related to the episode’s topic

While there are tons of resources out there such as shows and podcasts where we can listen and be exposed to real spoken Arabic, the issue is that such activities only allow us to learn passively at best.

In order to engage in active learning, accompanying resources such as transcripts and additional language insights are necessary.

This is why I also came up with the printable listening guide so that you can closely analyze the dialogue and more.

While passive learning is still useful, I believe an active learning approach can speed up your learning progress and save you time.

**Update: You can preview a snippet of the printable listening guide for the first episode here

Summary

All in all, if you’re a busy high intermediate independent language learner, the printable listening guide will enable you to spend whatever little time you got on your hands to learn Levantine (Jordanian) Arabic in a more efficient manner.

Check out the first episode of El Bulbul

Don’t forget to subscribe to my channel for updates to future episodes!

***El Bulbul is now available on podcast platforms***

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And…that’s all for now. I hope you’re as excited about the listening resource as I am.

If you got more questions, feel free to comment below or contact me via email.

Take care & I’ll see ya in the hosh!

Lyn

P.S. I’ve added some cool stuff in the shop section. Do head on over to check out Levant travel posters and more 🙂