What exactly is ‘Levantine Arabic’?

Levantine Arabic generally refers to the Arabic dialect (Amiyya) spoken in Jordan, Palestine, Syria and Lebanon. It is also sometimes referred to as Shami or Eastern Arabic.

A Levantine Arabic learner will not only find the dialect useful to converse with the locals when travelling within the Levant, but also to connect with the Levantine-speaking diaspora communities abroad.

Levantine Arabic vs. Modern Standard Arabic (MSA)

The difference between Levantine Arabic and Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) may very well be the number one concern that most Arabic learners have at the beginning of their language journey.

As you may or may not have already know, Modern Standard Arabic is the standardised Arabic used in formal writing and speech across the Arab world.

It is typically referred to as MSA, Fusha and in some instances, Classical Arabic.

Here are some of the few places where you’ll find MSA written and spoken:

• Newspapers
• Academic journals
• Official documents
• News channels

As you can imagine, it is only natural for such outlets to adopt a formal register and thus the reason why MSA is the language of choice.

However, while Arabs are taught MSA in classrooms, they do not speak it on a daily basis. This is due to the high formal register associated with the language.

Some may even go as far as likening MSA to “Shakespearean English” to explain the disparity between MSA and spoken dialects.

That may be an exaggeration but it’s a good exaggeration nonetheless.

The idea behind this analogy is that MSA is not spoken in everyday life just like how you’ll almost never hear anyone speaks in Shakespearean English.

While there are many differences between MSA and Levantine Arabic such as the grammar rules, pronunciation and vocabulary, it suffices to say that the main difference between them lies in its function.

Remember that while MSA is the official language for formal writing and speech, Levantine Arabic is the colloquial language spoken in everyday life.

Should you learn MSA or Levantine Arabic?

The answer to this question depends on your language goals.

Think about what you want to do with your knowledge of Arabic.

Are you learning the language to boost your career prospects? Are you learning Arabic to read and understand the Qur’an? If that’s the case, you should start by learning MSA.

Or maybe you just want to be able to connect with the Levantine-speaking community in your neighbourhood? Or perhaps your job requires you to be based in the Levant for a year or two? If that’s the case, learning a spoken dialect like Levantine Arabic is the way to go.

Are there pros and cons?

The pros and cons of learning either MSA or Levantine Arabic are, once again, dependent on your language goals.

For example, learning MSA will enable you to write a business email, to read literary novels as well as to watch and understand the news.

But for Arabic learners who are not even remotely interested to do any of the above, then the “pros” mentioned are not pros after all.

And this is why knowing your language goals right from the beginning is crucial.

That being said, I would like to highlight a major concern with using MSA as a conversational language.

The downside to speaking in MSA is that while you can certainly be understood, not everyone will be able to reply instantly in such a formal register unless they are accustomed to it.

The ability to do so is dependent on various factors such as education level or the level of exposure of MSA in one’s daily life.

For example, students will find more success conversing in MSA with university professors or those who work in the formal media industry, just to name a few.

Likewise, just because you can converse with your Arabic teachers in MSA, that does not mean that you will be able to evoke the same response with other native speakers in the streets – i.e. the average Joes and Janes.

And this is exactly why most students feel frustrated when they travel to the Middle East for the first time after spending years of studying MSA in their home universities.

They soon realise that while they can get by in an Arabic speaking country with MSA, they won’t be able to comprehend conversations amongst natives nor truly be able to engage with them on a deeper level.

The following is a famous quote by Nelson Mandela that hits the point home and succinctly explains the usefulness of learning a spoken language such as an Arabic dialect.

“If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.” – Nelson Mandela

In other words, to talk in MSA will allow you to be understood across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region but it is hardly a useful language to engage in conversations beyond a basic level.

To add to the complexity of this matter, tell any natives that you’re learning MSA and chances are that they’ll be impressed by your endeavour. After all, MSA is not a simple language to grasp, let alone master.

There is a certain kind of prestige attached to MSA as most Arabs would consider it to be the purest version of the Arabic language, hence a superior language than spoken dialects.

Therefore, while students of MSA might experience a few laughs and giggles for speaking in a formal register, students of Arabic dialects, on the other hand, may face critical comments from some native speakers who insist that they learn MSA instead.

It’s crazy, isn’t it?

Remember that the simplest way to retain your sanity is to be crystal clear about your language goals. Onwards!

Should you learn MSA first before Levantine Arabic?

Even if you’ve decided to learn Levantine Arabic, you might come across people telling you to start with MSA and only pick up the dialect later.

After all, one could possibly argue that Levantine Arabic comes from MSA and is basically a simplified or stripped-down version of the language.

So what is it, then? Should you learn MSA first to set the foundation, disregard it completely or learn both MSA and Levantine Arabic at the same time?

It may seem like a simple question but a question that has sparked fierce debate both online and offline.

On one side of the debate…

On one side of the debate, it is argued that learning MSA first when the ultimate goal is to converse with native speakers is a complete waste of time.

This is the viewpoint endorsed by Donovan Nagel, the man behind the language learning site, The Mezzofanti Guild, and founder of Talk In Arabic, a subscription site dedicated to learning most Arabic dialects.

In both of his articles titled “Why You Shouldn’t Learn Modern Standard Arabic Before A Dialect” and “If I Started Learning Arabic Again, This Is How I’d Do It”, Nagel emphasised the fact that MSA is not a conversational language and even went to the extent of describing it as “archaic”.

Even the famous polyglot, Benny Lewis, admitted in his article, “Standard Arabic or Local Dialect – Which Should You Learn First?”, that learning Arabic through MSA materials in the early stages was a waste on time and described MSA as an “academic language”.

On the other side of the debate…

Meanwhile, on the other side of the debate, it is argued that MSA should be studied before a dialect due to the standard rules and structure present in MSA as compared to the more flexible nature of dialects.

In other words, to study MSA from the beginning allows for a solid foundation and better understanding of Arabic language before one delves into learning a dialect.

The argument is that students may feel confused and lost as to the lack of proper structure in any Arabic dialects. As a result, it is possible for students to lose motivation to pursue their endeavour to learn a dialect any further.

In fact, there are many students who have chosen to learn MSA before tackling an Arabic dialect.

And one of them is Mike Still, a British YouTuber who runs a YouTube channel called “Arabic Mike” since 2013.

In one of his videos titled “Learn Arabic: Fusha/MSA or Dialect?” he said (at 02:54) that

“…if you’ve learned MSA, if you’ve learned Fusha, everything else starts to fall into place. When you hear people speak the local dialects, you can make links between what they’re saying in their accent and what you’ve learned in the formal MSA Arabic and then it all makes sense, it all comes together…”

And his argument does make sense and is certainly valid.

So that is basically the two sides of the infamous and classic MSA vs. Dialects debate in a nutshell.

MSA & Levantine Arabic at the same time?

Meanwhile, if you’re thinking of learning both MSA and Levantine Arabic at the same time….just don’t.

Such an approach is not recommended for beginners and you’re just setting yourself up for unnecessary stress and frustration.  Besides, you’ll get better results and feel more accomplished by focusing on either one of them.

Poking my nose into the debate…here’s my two cents worth.

But wait, is there a “better” approach to learning Levantine Arabic?

The following is my humble opinion as a student who started with MSA and then ditched it to focus on Levantine Arabic.

If you’re in it for the travel and to simply get around the Levant, I would say forget about MSA lessons and get yourself a phrasebook first and foremost.

However, if you’re in it for the long haul, (learning any language is, after all, a lifelong journey), it is advisable to know some basic MSA as a foundation.

And when I say “some basic MSA”, I do not mean spending years working through the Al-Kitaab textbooks series or any similar textbooks.

I would recommend spending the first three to six months going through a good MSA textbook and learning everything you can about MSA.

The primary idea behind having a basic knowledge of MSA is to gain better clarity on the workings of the Arabic language through the rigid rules and structure present in MSA.

And contrary to popular opinion, I do not view learning MSA as a “waste of time”.

For example, if you were to re-read Benny Lewis’ article, it is clear that his goal is to speak to natives as he globetrots around the world. It is also clear that he is not in it for the long haul. Arabic is not one of the languages that he declares himself conversationally fluent in as a polyglot.

Now, the switch from MSA to Levantine Arabic may not be easy and can be confusing in the beginning. But in the larger scheme of things, the inconvenience that comes with the transition is a small one.

Here are the three main reasons why I believe starting with basic MSA lessons is beneficial for a Levantine Arabic learner’s language journey in the long run.

Reason No#1:

• Unfortunately, there is yet for adequate comprehensive textbooks or guidebooks that explain the workings of Levantine Arabic systematically the way MSA textbooks do.

Levantine Arabic learners deserve the same type of comprehensive materials that are available in MSA to choose from instead of stringing bits and pieces of information from various sources on their own.

As an Arabic student who started with MSA lessons, I personally view Levantine Arabic as a simplified version of MSA. Ditch some features of MSA and make some tweaks such as replacing MSA words with their spoken counterparts and you’ll get Levantine Arabic.

At the same time, I do think it is possible to reach an intermediate level in Levantine Arabic and beyond without any formal background in MSA but only with comprehensive dedicated resources as well as proper learning techniques.

Resources in Levantine Arabic are indeed slowly growing in numbers and prominence but it is safe to say that they are still few and far in between (especially in comparison with resources in MSA).

Until then, I would recommend starting your language journey with basic MSA knowledge to understand the workings of the language.

Reason No #2:

• As you advance into the intermediate level and get exposed to higher level materials (think talk shows, interviews etc.), you’ll find that Levantine Arabic (or any dialects) and MSA tend to overlap each other to form a type of Arabic called “Spoken Educated Arabic”.

Spoken Educated Arabic is a type of Arabic spoken most commonly amongst the educated where the Amiyya speech structure is retained but where some features of MSA are incorporated.

This type of Arabic which is a mix of both literary and colloquial Arabic is typically used to discuss politics or other topics commonly found in the media but in a less formal register.

Such topics may NOT be of interest to a learner at a beginner level but Spoken Educated Arabic can be useful as one seeks to increase his or her proficiency by tackling more complicated topics such as politics and the likes.

Reason No #3:

• For whatever reasons, if a Levantine Arabic learner wishes to start learning MSA at a later stage, it will not be an easy feat. The grammatical rules and rigid structure of MSA may be hard to comprehend after one is used to the flexible and simplistic structure of Levantine Arabic.

It is much easier to resume MSA studies if a learner has a foundation to fall back upon.

I understand that from a beginner’s standpoint, all that you are concerned with are the necessary steps needed and the resources available to take you from point A to point B in your language journey.

Besides, it is hard to imagine being able to achieve conversational fluency in the years to come. You might not even be sure if you have the time and motivation to commit to learning the language.

It is only in hindsight that an experienced Levantine Arabic learner might regret not having a foundation in MSA should he or she wishes to take his or her proficiency to the next level.

Therefore, I only recommend knowing basic MSA to all future Levantine Arabic learners if they are confident about their commitment level to learn the language due to the reasons I mentioned above.

On the other hand, some learners are content to know only Levantine Arabic in order to communicate with native speakers about basic everyday topics.

If that’s the case, feel free to dive straight into Levantine Arabic materials and ignore MSA studies (the not-so-comprehensive resources may be adequate in this case)

So what exactly is ‘Levantine Arabic’ again?

Just in case, the information overload above has made you forgot what Levantine Arabic is all about, here’s a summary…

• By now, you should know that Arabs do not speak in MSA in everyday life.
• There are many different variations of colloquial Arabic spoken across the MENA region and Levantine Arabic is one of them.
• Levantine Arabic generally refers to the Arabic dialect spoken in Jordan, Palestine, Syria and Lebanon.

So are Palestinian and Lebanese Arabic one and the same?

While it is easy and useful to classify the Arabic dialect spoken in the Levant under the umbrella term, “Levantine Arabic”, there are still differences between the dialects spoken in each country, albeit minimal.

Heck, Levantine native speakers will even tell you that their spoken dialects vary within the country itself.

Say whaaat?!

Are you feeling overwhelmed? Don’t.

Differences in term of pronunciation, inflection and vocabulary are regarded as minimal because native speakers from the Levant are able to understand each other with ease regardless of where they are from.

From a close-in perspective (looking at each of the Levant countries individually), such differences tend to be greater along the urban city vs. rural village divide.

For example, Palestinians living in the villages outside of urban cities tend to pronounce the letter qaf (ق) as a kaf (ك) which is different from the typical feature of Levantine Arabic where the qaf (ق) is pronounced as a hamzah (ء).

Meanwhile from the close-out perspective (looking at the Levant as a whole), such differences tend to be smaller along the north vs. south divide.

After all, Levantine Arabic can be further divided into two categories:

• North Levantine (Lebanon & Syria)
• South Levantine (Jordan & Palestine)

That means that Jordanian and Palestinian Arabic are much more similar to each other than Syrian and Lebanese Arabic, and vice versa.

To go in-depth into the specific differences between Jordanian, Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese Arabic is beyond the scope of this introductory article.

However, it is safe to say that unless you’re travelling to a remote tiny village, chances are you will be able to converse and be understood across the Levant even if you are only exposed to one of the four sub-dialects of Levantine Arabic.

If you’re a beginner about to embark on your language journey in Levantine Arabic, I would highly recommend choosing exposure materials (shows, movies, songs, etc.) from one of the four countries and sticking to them.

Alternatively, you can also choose exposure materials from one of the two subdivision of Levantine Arabic (North or South).

Once you’ve got a good grasp of a sub-dialect, it is then easy to pick up the small differences that exist amongst the other variations of Levantine Arabic.

Okay, now you got the big picture…but what’s next?

If there is one thing that I hope you take away from reading this article is the fact that MSA is not spoken in everyday life.

I was not made aware of this distinction when I first enrolled in an Arabic Level 1 module as a university undergraduate years ago. And I’m sure that there are many other students just like me who only found out afterward.

While knowing the distinction may not deter some students from taking MSA classes, it would at least mentally prepare them about the limitedness of using MSA as a spoken language and save them from a rude shock once they land upon the soil of an Arabic speaking country.

And for other students who are like Benny Lewis whose ultimate goal is to only converse with native Arabic speakers, then knowing the distinction from the start could have been a major time saver.

I hope that up to this point this article has given you a better understanding of Levantine Arabic as an Arabic dialect and has helped to clarify any confusion that you may have.

So for now, keep a lookout for more articles that will address language concerns in greater depth and point out the various resources available to kick off your language journey in Levantine Arabic.

And last but not least, know your language goals.

Take care and I’ll see you around in the hosh,

Lyn

P.S. If you can think of anyone who will benefit from this article, do hit the share buttons and let’s start the conversation going

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