# All dialects:  لبلب /  بلبل



## Tracer

In EA, if you want to say “He speaks French fluently”, you can say: *“ itkallim faransaawi zayy il-bulbul” / **بلبل /**
**
*
You can also say,* “itkallim faransaawi zayy il-liblib / **لــبـلـب /**

*Is there something odd going on here? Is /liblib/ an EA colloquial way of saying CA /bulbul/? The transposition of the consonants is what I find peculiar.


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## إسكندراني

You could also say بيتكلّم فرنساوي كويّس
What is CA بلبل? You mean the bird? In that case no. I've never seen بلبل used for 'fluent' anywhere, CA or otherwise.
بيتكلّم لبلب أو بيتكلّم زيّ اللّبلب أو لبلب في الكلام
I don't know the origin but I doubt it's فصحى. It could be a loan from Greek or Turkish as many of these words are. Or Local. Or I might just be wrong and it turns out to be فصحى.
I really like the proper Arabic here (بطلاقة) but I admit it would sound pretentious to say this one in Egypt


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## CZAREK

> In EA, if you want to say “He speaks French fluently”, you can say: *“ itkallim faransaawi zayy il-bulbul” / **بلبل /**
> *



I heard بلبل in Levantine dialect few times ex (Palestine dialect for sure -maybe Jordanian ,too).

بيحكي عربي زي البلبل=he speaks Arabic fluently(lit *like nightingale*).

for sure it's not used in Egyptian Dialect.*
*


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## Tracer

Thanks for the comments.

I'm not sure where I acquired the "bulbul" expression, but I acquired it someplace or from someone...I didn't make it up.  

That's why I'm surprised at إسكندراني 's  comment that he's never heard it used in this context to mean "fluently".  I've used the expression on several occasions all over the Middle East and everyone appeared to understand what I was saying and what I meant.

But that still leaves me wondering about the "liblib" expression in EA.  

I viscerally feel there's a connection between "bulbul" and "liblib". What I'm saying is that "somehow", bulbul > liblib, although why and how, I don't know.


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## إسكندراني

I don't think most Egyptians even know بلبل is used this way, so it's not an active conversion we make.


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## apricots

[Moderator's Note: Merged with a previous thread]
I came across this Egyptian word لبلب, someone who speaks authentically, and was wondering if other dialects have an equivalent.


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## elroy

In Palestinian Arabic, both لبلب and بلبل are used.  They have the same meaning.  (This is an example of a phenomenon where sounds can be switched around in a word without changing the meaning.)  I would define لبلب/بلبل as someone who is very fluent in a language.

To specify the language, we put it right after لبلب/بلبل:

سامي لبلب إنجليزي
عصام بلبل فرنساوي
إلخ


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## analeeh

In Syrian I've only ever heard _bélbol_, and it can be used with a _b-_ as in English: _inte bélbol bilingliizi _(which is of course not to say that it isn't also used in the construction elroy mentioned for Palestinian, or that لبلب isn't used, but _bélbol _is certainly more common).

بلبل incidentally is also the word for 'nightingale'. I'm pretty sure I've also heard it used to describe people speaking in their native language to mean someone who talks a lot (and eloquently?).


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## akhooha

Badawi's Dictionary of Egyptian Arabic (page 779) indicates that liblib can mean talkative, clever, or fluent. No mention is made of it being a variant of bulbul...


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## be.010

I've never heard لبلب in any Syrian dialect before! The word used here is بلبل, for fluent.


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## akhooha

And how are you pronouncing بلبل  ? As bulbul or bélbol or something else?


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## analeeh

be.010 said:


> I've never heard لبلب in any Syrian dialect before! The word used here is بلبل, for fluent.



Do you say انت بلبل انجليزي as well as انت بلبل بالانجليزي?


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## be.010

akhooha said:


> And how are you pronouncing بلبل  ? As bulbul or bélbol or something else?


Very close to the second one ;-) (I'd say bilbol, or a short schwa sound instead of the e).


analeeh said:


> Do you say انت بلبل انجليزي as well as انت بلبل بالانجليزي?


The second one, too


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## elroy

be.010 said:


> The second one, too


 So both versions sound okay to you?

In Palestinian Arabic, I'm only familiar with the version without _bi-_.  The one with _bi_- doesn't sound awful and may very well be used; I just don't think I've ever heard it.

(By the way, this seems to be yet another example of Palestinian allowing two variants that are each the only variant used in Egypt and Syria/Lebanon, respectively.  I should make a list. )


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## momai

I can also confirm that it is bilbol in Syrian Arabic. I myself use it only with bi as in "ent bilbol bil ingliize"for example , it sounds fine too wiithout the bi though.


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## be.010

elroy said:


> So both versions sound okay to you?
> 
> In Palestinian Arabic, I'm only familiar with the version without _bi-_.  The one with _bi_- doesn't sound awful and may very well be used; I just don't think I've ever heard it.


It's the other way around here! I don't think I've ever heard it without bi- but I agree it still wouldn't sound wierd ;-)


elroy said:


> (By the way, this seems to be yet another example of Palestinian allowing two variants that are each the only variant used in Egypt and Syria/Lebanon, respectively.  I should make a list. )


Absolutely. I think most often Arabic dialects just fade (?) between regions rather than being totally bound by political borders.


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## elroy

How do you treat حريف?  I would say حريف شطرنج, not حريف بالشطرنج (although the latter doesn't sound horrible).  For me, بلبل/لبلب works the same way.


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## be.010

Same here  although I doubt it حريف is ever used in Damascene..
We'd rather say معلم بالشطرنج.
Not to go off topic, without bi- معلم has a totally different meaning here.


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## badde

Can you use لسانو خفيف _lsaano khafiif _(lit. his tongue is light) for 'He speaks fluently'? I saw it used like this in a book of colloquial proverbs. I have seen بيحكي بلبل _bye7ke belbel _used with this meaning before, but never the other one. Is it a synonym? Is it ever used?


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## elroy

I understand لسانو خفيف as شاطر بالحكي.


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