Which Arabic dialect do we teach?
As this is one of the most common questions we get asked, I have decided to write a brief entry on this blog to clarify the matter. Firstly, I would like to explain that we tend to teach Arabic that can be understood and used throughout the Arab world. To achieve this, we teach the “common colloquial” Arabic, that is shared by all Arabs, as well as classical Arabic.
An example of a colloquial word is the word فلوس which is pronounced ‘fuloos’ and means money. This word is colloquial and is used everywhere. The classical word for this is مال which is pronounced ‘maal’. So we try to use such common Arabic words in addition to classical Arabic as we believe this is the most effective way to learn Arabic.
We don’t believe one should concentrate on a specific dialect only used in certain parts of the Arab world when one can learn Arabic that is widely understood throughout the Arab world. It is not necessary to learn the Egyptian dialect if your travels take you to Egypt. Our Arabic lessons will enable you to communicate, not only there, but also in other Arab regions.
To cater for all needs, we occasionally teach dialects in our lessons but we always mention the dialect that is used. An example of this can be found in the beginner lesson called ‘wake up!’ which uses the Sham dialect.
For those of you who are still unsure about which dialect to learn, we advise you to avoid worrying about dialects too much and start learning the Arabic that we teach, which will certainly enable you to become more universally communicative in Arabic. After learning this ‘Universal Arabic’, you will, undoubtedly, find learning the various Arabic dialects much simpler, if you so wish to delve further into the wonderfully, rich world of the Arabic language!
Posted on May 4th, 2008 by moshaya
October 29th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
[...] The dialect taught on this podcast is “common colloquial” Arabic, common across all Arabic dialects, as well as Standard Arabic. Read more about this. [...]
January 20th, 2009 at 2:26 am
This is a good idea. Everyone uses fuloos, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say maal outside of a classroom. Unless it’s Egyptian and they’re saying like “what’s wrong with that?” ماله maalu. There’s a Nancy Ajram song where she says بحبه و ماله ba7ebu wa maalu and for the longest time I thought she meant “I love him and his money”. lol
April 15th, 2009 at 11:03 pm
I’ve been looking for exactly that! Each time I used to tell people that about the kind of Arabic I want to learn (“common colloquial Arabic” as you aptly call it) they would start telling me about the merits of learning فصحى – or sometimes a particular عامية – while I have noted a long time ago that Arab-speakers have no problem talking to each other without resorting to ‘recitation’ – and I understand the amusement that befalls native speakers when students out of the classroom speak as if they were reading the TV news when they just try to buy a coke
Thanks guys, I’m really happy about what you are doing and wish you loads of success. Hope to get in touch if I get to visit London or otherwise. Might come up with some ideas for developing the offer as well.
April 19th, 2009 at 12:18 am
I’m not a linguist , but a native speaker of Arabic
i think its easier and more practical to teach either the standard formal Arabic ( Fosha ) or one of the dialects .. i can’t imagine what common colloquial looks like , i think as a SPOKEN dialect it would sound bizzare in everywhere in Arabic speaking countries , plus its would always be lacking a reference , and therefore the speaker of it might always find problems in finding expressions , but still i think it would be useful for understanding ..
variations among Arabic dialects are much larger than those among English accents , here even the word order , grammar , intonation and vocabulary differs .so different that sometimes spoken Arabic dialects aren’t mutually intelligible .
and by the way here in Sudan we use ( goroosh ) rather than Floos , Foot means go away , or go , while in the Levant it means come in , just few examples to show how it would be difficult to synthesize a common colloqal
June 14th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
I have no idea what “common colloquial” Arabic is and this is the first time I’ve heard of it. Do you mean, perhaps, Modern Standard Arabic?
June 18th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
[...] podcasts teach both Fusha (classical Arabic) and colloquial lessons. However, the colloquial language used is a standard dialect that can be understood everywhere in [...]
November 9th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
Salam alykom!
i would like to hear as well in your audio lessons some hijazi dialect! thank you and wish you best of luck ! fe amanillah
Thank you for your wonderful lessons. They helped me a lot to understand with the arab people i have met! Lately I have finished an arabic basic course,dialect hijazi, and i liked it the most of all
March 11th, 2010 at 1:44 pm
Arabs themselves appreciate Fusha but some feel uneasy speaking it. For foreigners even slight differences might be a problem. I still remember when in Syria in Institute I was asked the simple question which I could not understand after 9 monthes of intensive course. The question was “shu ‘ala” (what did he say). To find a native speaker who would adapt his language to the clean fusha is not so easy, unless he or she is some mualim.
I give you one simple example to illustrate the differences of Arab dialects. I drove a taxi with one woman of Marrocan origin. As a migrants child she knew only Marrocan dialect, because she never learned Fusha. And she could not maintain a small talk with the taxi driver. She felt frustrated and later gave up idea of communicating in Arabic. Her reference to Marrocan Arabic was of no use, since Syrians did not understand it at all.
This example shows that Fusha as a reference is necessary for Arabs from different parts of Arab world to communicate. Soon I go to Tunisia and will be able to test it.