You probably have heard of Amr Maskoun, a hilarious Syrian YouTuber/Comedian.
Now, while he’s no doubt really funny, his videos are not the easiest to comprehend for non-natives.
So in this post, I will share four of my favourite clips. They are all around a minute long.
And there are tons of Syrian slang phrases that you can learn from them.
Some of the phrases are quite unkind and harsh…but if you’re learning a spoken language, you got to learn all of them, eh? Both the good and the bad.
Ready? Let’s go!
Do you need listening practice in Palestinian Arabic?
In this post, I will share the Arabic transcript of Ahed Tamimi’s interview with AJ +. I also copied the English translation provided by AJ + so that it will be easy to compare both Arabic and English version of the sentences simultaneously.
Months ago, Ahed Tamimi was released from prison for slapping an Israeli soldier.
Today, you’ll learn some words in Palestinian Arabic from her.
In this post, I will talk about two numbers that you can use in Spoken Arabic to place emphasis on a subject matter.
The two numbers are نص (half) and ستين (sixty).
In addition, you can also hear how these numbers are used in contexts via an audio track available online.
So let’s find out how to use these numbers, shall we? Yalla, here we go…
Weeks ago, I compiled a list of alternative rock bands and solo artists from the Levant (you can check it out here). So I figured this time, I’m going to do the same for beloved female artists from the Levant who are known for their angelic voices.
You’ll find songs in both Levantine Arabic and Fusha. And while the most obvious one is Fairouz, I have also listed Nedaa Sharara – the winner of The Voice 3 and also interestingly, one of the very few artists in the entertainment industry donning the hijab (you go girl!).
Plus, this list is not exhaustive. Don’t fret if you don’t see your favourite artist here. Feel free to name additional awesome female artists from the Levant in the comment section below 🙂
For now, scroll through the list and enjoy!
Hey guys!
So I came across a Youtube channel called “The Adventures of Sitt Najeh” which acts as another resource for me to practice listening to Lebanese Arabic and to pick up new words.
The series is about a Lebanese middle age woman who moved to Canada from Lebanon, and each video pokes fun at the differences in the living conditions and culture between both countries. I like the channel as each video is short (most are under 5 minutes) and some of them have English subtitles.
In this post, I will introduce you to one of the videos titled “كلها منافع ” which means “Everything about it has benefits”. And, the “it” refers to a traffic jam.
So without further ado, let’s dive in to see how do traffic jams contain any benefits – from the perspective of Sitt Najeh, of course!
Alternative rock is a term that gets thrown around easily. But hey, if you’re a fan of rock music in general, then I’m sure you’ll be interested in a few of the bands and artists from the Levant (Syria, Jordan, Palestine & Lebanon) that I have compiled and listed down below.
The obvious ones in the list are Mashrou’ Leila from Lebanon and Jadal from Jordan. But there are more bands and artists to check out apart from those two.
Some of them may not be producing music anymore but it’s still worth checking their awesome music out. Folk, ska, reggae, psychedelic rock and even rap…I’m sure there’s at least a band that’s of your liking -read on to discover all of them 😀
Welcome to another post on Hikayat Sim Sim! Here’s a slightly longer video than the previous one. I hope you’ll get to learn new words and practice listening 🙂
Ready? Let’s go!