Another site that I have found very useful is http://www.arabicmusictranslation.com/, which has lyrics to songs in Arabic, with translations to English.

Songs include different types of phrases, some that are used in day-to-day speech. Many of the songs are also sung in a dialect (often Egyptian colloquial). For example, the phrase ايه يعني (aaya ya’ni) which translates as “so what?” in English.

The person behind the Arabic lyrics site recently started a second web site, http://egyptianarabiccourse.blogspot.com/ where he focuses on the Egyptian colloquial dialect with examples from song and more detailed explanations of the lyrics. This looks very useful, since colloquial is the day-to-day spoken language and is essential to learn these types of phrases.

In my class, I am learning Modern Standard Arabic, which is the formal way of speaking. It is used in the news media, in formal or business situations, giving a conference presentation, etc. However, on the streets of Cairo, the local dialect spoken is quite a bit different. When I get to Egypt and speak standard Arabic, people will understand but it may sound funny to them. So, as I am learning standard Arabic, I am also paying attention to how things are different in Egyptian colloquial.

Differences start with pronunciation of some letters, particularly the ق (qaf) which is instead pronounced as a “glottal stop”. In standard Arabic, one would say قهوة (qahua) for “coffee”, but in the Egyptian dialect, it is ‘ahua.

Another difference is when asking where something is. In standard Arabic, you would say أينَ الحمام؟ (ayna al-hamam) - “where is the bathroom?”. The question word in the Egyptian dialect is “feyn”, so you would ask “feyn al-hamam”. Another word for bathroom in the Egyptian dialect is تواليت (twalit), which obviously is a borrowed word from English.

When I started learning Arabic a year ago, the first thing I got was a pocket travel phrase book / dictionary. It has proved very useful, allowing me to learn some of the most practical, everyday words and things useful for a traveler to know. The pocket phrase book that I have has the standard Arabic spelled out in Arabic script, but it also gives the colloquial words, helping familiarize myself with how colloquial and standard Arabic differ.

To become proficient for reading newspapers and magazines, one needs to learn 3000-4000 words, and more for reading fiction or general conversation. (source: The Art and Science of Learning Languages - by Amorey Gethin) Many of the key words to learn are verbs, which are used repeatedly. In the last post, verbs were introduced along with the concept of conjugating them. It would help to learn one (or more) new verbs each day.

I already know some verbs, including these below, and will be posting new verbs regularly.

As is customary in Arabic, these verbs are given in the 3rd person, masculine past tense, which is how the verbs are listed in the dictionary.

Al Jazeera posts video clips and programs on YouTube. Watching these helps with learning vocabulary, pronunciation, and improving listening comprehension. This video is from last spring, about the Mahdi Army in Iraq. The word for “army” is جيس (jeish).