Arabic Learners

Read more about the article Eastern Saudi Dialect with Khaled! اللهجة الشرقاوية

Eastern Saudi Dialect with Khaled! اللهجة الشرقاوية

https://youtu.be/Ik1cWJ2hYVA Let's chat about Saudi dialects! Hello everyone!   Happy Friday! I was fortunate to sit down with my friend Khaled for another chat -- this time about a particular Saudi dialect- Sharqawi (اللهجة الشرقاوية). As some of you know, there are many, many different Arabic dialects. Even within a single country you're likely to find multiple dialects/regional accents/cool idioms and proverbs. I'm hoping this dialect vid is the first of many--partly because I geek out at…

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Read more about the article Arabic Keyboards for Mac and PC–which layout do you choose?

Arabic Keyboards for Mac and PC–which layout do you choose?

https://youtu.be/L0jv-yKXzKs Last week I finally gave in and got more RAM Hello everyone!   Happy Friday! In this video, we talk about Arabic keyboards. I recently got a new desktop computer and decided to put Arabic letters on the keys.Fortunately, Amazon helps us out with lots of options for different computer types and keyboard layout options. Here are the two I refer to in the vid:Arabic keyboard stickers: https://amzn.to/3eTBiPXMacbook overlay I used: https://amzn.to/3vFJtFt Hope you enjoy! As always,…

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The Arabic Quotes in my Home and What They Mean

The 40 Rules of Love by Elif Shafak is one of my all-time favorite books.  I read it in Arabic & English and cried both times. So much wisdom in there...and when you read the title "40 Rules of Love" - it may sound like a sappy romance novel. It's not that kind of love...(to quote Oprah's talk at Stanford) "but the kind of love that really counts, the kind of love that when everything…

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Read more about the article Can You PRONOUNCE Qatar, Bahrain, and other Arabic Names? Let’s Review.

Can You PRONOUNCE Qatar, Bahrain, and other Arabic Names? Let’s Review.

https://youtu.be/sMdbWlAQgSUI was recently talking with a friend about the upcoming FIFA World Cup in 2022 which will take place in Doha, Qatar. My friend expressed a sense of awe at my pronunciation of Qatar ("ooh that sounds so fancy!") -- well, the Arabic name does sound a bit..authentic...but that's because it's an Arabic word to begin with.  After that conversation, I thought it would be a great topic to delve into for this week's video.  I think…

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Read more about the article Ramadan in DUBAI: things to KNOW before you GO!

Ramadan in DUBAI: things to KNOW before you GO!

https://youtu.be/J7HRDh-Fsj4 Hey everybody!    A few weeks ago I talked about my life in Dubai, and common misconceptions about what life is really like there (here is the link: https://youtu.be/clSZi_43JEM) That video is really the tip of the iceberg, because there's SO much more to talk about when it comes to living abroad in Dubai. Case in point: Ramadan! As some of you may know, the holy month of Ramadan started last Thursday evening, April 23rd. Life in Dubai…

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Read more about the article Make Love in Arabic: habibi, hayati, and 15 other ways to address your lover

Make Love in Arabic: habibi, hayati, and 15 other ways to address your lover

https://youtu.be/_N-ww5ovWkg Hi everyone!  After my last video, a friend mentioned that the only word he had known in Arabic was "habibi." We talked about uses of the word--how we say "habibi" to a guy, and "habibti" to a girl.  We also use "habibi" when we are frustrated and trying to soften a statement that may seem a little harsh.   After that conversation I thought about other names we call a sweetheart or lover in…

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Read more about the article Get TF Out of Beginner’s Arabic! Time For Your First Lesson.

Get TF Out of Beginner’s Arabic! Time For Your First Lesson.

Useful words and phrases for getting fluent FASTER https://youtu.be/ElJPEvUcZ4EGiven recent events and a lot of people staying indoors, taking online courses, watching Youtube, etc.(please LIKE and SUBSCRIBE if you haven't already:https://www.youtube.com/c/shannonemaher)...I've been getting more requests for English lessons via our website.Something I didn't expect, however, is a growing number of inquiries from people looking to learn Arabic. A few of the inquiries are from folks with zero Arabic knowledge looking to learn from scratch, others are…

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Read more about the article Americans who learned Arabic: meet Dr. Phil

Americans who learned Arabic: meet Dr. Phil

https://youtu.be/uj46rN3e9Vo Hello everyone!  I am excited to introduce you to someone that I met at one of my Arabic-English Language Exchange Meetups.  His Arabic is SO impressive that I asked him to film an interview with me.  Meet Phil Hoffman, a current PhD student at UCLA. In this video, we'll talk about why he chose to learn Arabic, how he learned it, his involvement with the CIA *wink*, what he thinks of the "Al-Kitaab" method…

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15 Things That Helped Me Learn Arabic In 15 Months

When I speak Arabic to someone new, I'm often met with a sort of wide-eyed, fascinated, look of shock...and sometimes I'll get the “you’re half-Arab, aren't you?!" (from native Arabic speakers).Non-Arabic speakers? I'll get off the phone after speaking in Arabic and they ask "were you speaking Russian?" or even "is that Hungarian?" (these languages sound nothing like Arabic, so I assume they are judging based on my looks...if I covered my hair, maybe the guesses…

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