17 thoughts on “Language quiz – Arabic”

  2. While several are speaking quite educated Arabic (close to Modern Standard Arabic, or MSA), there are some accent cues that help to identify the likely origins of the speakers. The hard ‘g’ in number one is an Egyptian marker, for example.

    Overall, I agree with Podolsky. My guesses are:

    1. Egypt / Egyptian
    2. Syria / Levantine
    3. This one is a mystery to me…
    4. Morocco or vicinity / Magrabi
    5. Saudi or other Gulf State / Khaliji

  3. Yes it’s pretty hard coz most of them are very close to the standard version

    1.seems to be Egyptian coz of the “g” (but he’s using the uvular qaaf instead of the glottal stop… interesting)
    2. seems to be Standard Arabic
    3. haven’t the faintest idea
    4. It’s Daarija/Moroccan for sure (but normally they use iyyeh for yes, so this is not everaday Moroccan)
    5. there is a “j” in it (like in “usually”) so maybe an educated N-African

  4. 1. Egyptian
    2. Egyptian (with more standard arabic)
    3. Iraqi (with more standard Arabic)
    4. Moroccan
    5. Laventine (more like Lebanese than Syrian)

  6. TJ has got them right:

    1. Egyptian
    2. Modern Standard from Egypt
    3. Iraqi from Baghdad
    4. Moroccan
    5. North Levantine Arabic from Lebannon

  9. Man, that first one is even kinda Modern Standard-ish for me too. Using words like “جداً” (giddan)? Kinda stuck up, if you ask me.

    The second one was super clear. Where did you get that, a textbook?

    And those Maghribis really don’t believe in vowels, do they?

    -Ben

  10. The first half of number 1 is a quote in standard Arabic, the rest is in Egyptian Arabic. This is what gives the inconsistency in the qaf.

    My best guess about the source of the clips is from some Evangelical Christian tapes.

  13. 1- Egyptian
    An Egyptian starts out by asking, in badly pronounced Modern Standard Arabic, “Can we know God”, and then shifts to colloquial Egyptian. President Nasser used to start his speeches with an MSA section and then shift smoothly into refined spoken Egyptian. This mixing seems to strike a cord with Egyptians.

    2- Egyptian
    A more eloquent Egyptian reading in Modern Standard Arabic directly from the New Testament.

    3- Gulf / Iraq
    It is difficult to hear the difference between Iraqi and Gulf accents, not the least because there are many varieties of each. Both usually feature throat intensive sounds strongly pronounced (Qaf especially).

    4- Maghrebi (Morocco / Tunisia / Algeria)

    5- Levantine (Probably Urban Palestinian or Southern Syrian if you ask me)

  14. Well, … 1. Egyptian
    2. Egyptian
    3. Iraqi…Kuwaiti overtones
    4. Tunisian
    5. Syrian

    When will the anwers be revealed? We’re battling over it! 🙂

  17. 1- no idea
    2- no idea
    3- no idea
    4- no idea
    5- french?

    PS: Just kidding, I’m learning Arabic, ina few months I’ll tell you if I can understand them.

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