# Levantine Arabic Resources



## k8an

Greetings everybody.

Whilst I do understand some Egyptian and Lebanese, I feel that my knowledge is not very well grounded in the basics of the language and I would really like to brush up on things from the beginning before continuing to advance. I've been trying for a rather long time to find some materials for self-learning the Lebanese dialect. I know there are a COUPLE (not very many) available for learning Levantine, although none of the ones I have seen were highly recommended. Also, they mostly seem to be more based on Syrian/Palestinian/Jordanian dialects. 

If anybody could advise me of any books or book/cd combinations to learn the Lebanese dialect, I would be MOST grateful. 
(Pimsleur and other audio-only programs aren't suitable for me either.)

Thank you very kindly in advance!

Further note: 
The book _Kallimni Arabi_ for Egyptian Arabic by Samia Louis is the kind of thing I would be looking for, except in a Lebanese version.


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## MarcB

Try _Spoken Lebanese_ by Maksoud N. Feghali. It is for beginners.


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## k8an

Thank you very kindly, this is exactly the kind of thing I'm looking for!
The only thing is that it's written in the Latin alphabet instead of the Arabic one...I know this is quite popular for dialects, but it's quite hard for me. I'll get used to it though.

Thanks again!


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## Lebneni

Abjadiye.com teaches you the living Lebanese language the way it is spoken and used every day. In a simple and pleasant manner, it focuses on getting the fundamentals well acquired, on which you can build through practice.


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## tuhal

There is a book called "Shou fi ma fi" authored by Rajaa Chouairi which is decent.  As you will see when you find it, it is described as being for Intermediate Level, which basically means that you need to be able to read Arabic before you even open up the book.  There are explanations in English, but no transliteration, or anything like that.
  I taught a Levantine Arabic course in which we attempted to use this as a text book - but we needed a lot of supplemental materials in order to make this course successful, as the book has a number of disadvantages.  That said, the great thing about the book for you is that the audio and written material is almost exclusively in Lebanese Arabic, and not the Palestinian, Syrian, Jordanian or other variants of Levantine.


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## jimjamyaha

Levantine -Resource for noun patterns, if such thing exists?

Hi, long time lurker, first time posting so first I have to say thanks to you guys, this forum has been helping me a lot!

What I've been wondering is if there is any resources for noun patterns in relation to root letters or if there is any rules about this at all? I've found such things for verbs but not so much about nouns, just a few tables of examples but not a lot of explanation. I'm not asking about case endings at all but more collections of nouns with the same root letters. If there are such rules are they different in dialects from MSA?

For example, m- a lot of the time denoting a place e.g. ك ت ب and مكتب

I'm sorry if this is a silly question at all or if it doesn't make sense, I'll be going to Palestine for 3 months in a couple of weeks, so I've only had around 2 months to learn from no knowledge of Arabic at all.

Thank you, and I'm really sorry if I've broken the rules of the forum or I've not been clear enough!


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## fdb

You can find a discussion of noun patterns in any more-or-less comprehensive grammar of classical Arabic, for example in Wright, vol. 1, pp. 106 and following.


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## grosdied

[Moderator's Note: commercial links have been replaced by book titles and ISBNs]
Hi jimjamyaha, I'd suggest 2 ressouces:
- Everything you need to know about Levantine Arabic's grammar: 
*A Reference Grammar of Syrian Arabic with Audio CD
ISBN-13: 978-1589010512*
- The basics to be able to hold a conversation in Syrian (quite close to Palestinian Arabic): *Syrian Colloquial Arabic, a functional course
ISBN 978-0-646-49382-4*


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## qushta

Hi

The best resource for Palestinian patterns is the Olive Tree Dictionary

It has a reference section which has all the patterns for verbs and nouns. It is based on Haifa and Jerusalem Arabic. Palestinian dialects are quite varied. Where are you going to be based?

I have quite a lot of Palestinian Arabic resources if you are interested.


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## raulbh

Moderator note: I removed links to commercial websites and merged this new thread to the previous one about the same topic. Please, everyone, make sure to search the forum before opening a thread to avoid unnecessary repetitions. Also, please check the resources available in this *sticky* (again, to avoid repetitions  ) and if you have any suggestions, don't hesitate to use the report feature in the first post to send us links, and we'd gladly add them to the list.
Regards,
Cherine
*


Hi there guys! ! مرحبا*

My name is Ralph Hurley O'Dwyer. I'm a medical student from Ireland with an interest in global health, humanitarian aid and human rights (as well as languages, music and other cultures).

I thought this might be the ideal place to share useful Levantine resources. Since I began learning Levantine Arabic(specifically Lebanese) roughly a year ago, I have struggled to find decent resources hence hopefully putting my recommendations up here might help someone starting out like me! I've included a mix of resources written in both English and French.

*Books*

The best introductory book I’ve come across is the book

*“Parlons Arabe Libanais”* by Fida Bizri: *ISBN-13:* 978-2296121515 If you speak French and are planning on learning Levantine/Lebanese Arabic, I’d definitely buy it. It consists of three sections: an initial section explaining some aspects of Arabic grammar and pronunciation; a second section containing sample conversations with translations and transcriptions in both Arabic and Roman script; and a third section exploring Lebanese culture, history and idioms. Helpfully, it is also accompanied by a CD to aid pronunciation. The book is very clearly laid-out and more importantly the conversations cover much useful vocabulary and phrases.

*“L’arabe libanais de poche”* by Rita Nammour Wardini: *ISBN-13:* 978-2700503579  This is a fantastic phrasebook if you speak French and is useful as an effective springboard into Lebanese Arabic. Not only does it contain important phrases but it also provides a surprisingly effective introduction into the rudiments of Levantine Arabic grammar.

*“Spoken Lebanese” *by Maksoud Feghali: *ISBN-13:* 978-1887905145 This book also contains sample conversations. Unfortunately, there is no Arabic transliteration only a Latin one. The transcribed conversations are still quite useful however.

*“Colloquial Syrian Arabic”: *ISBN 978-0-646-49382-4 An excellent and thorough resource. This book provides a significant quantity of vocabulary, conversations (transcribed in both Arabic and Latin script) as well as listening resources and practice exercises. It is particularly useful when used with help from a fluent Levantine Arabic speaker.

*“Manuel de parler libanais”/Exercices de parler libanais"* by Antoine Fleyfel: *ISBN-13:* 978-2296132429 This is a useful set of books(in French) to begin learning Lebanese Arabic. Again, it provides a series of transcribed conversations(however these deal with somewhat more obscure topics than in the books above).

*“A Dictionary of Syrian Arabic: English-Arabic”* by Karl Stowasser: *ISBN-13:* 978-1589011052 This is one of the most useful books I have bought. Before discovering it, when I wanted to translate an English, I had to either ask my iTalki teacher or use an MSA translation pronounced in a Levantine way. The Syrian Arabic in the book is transcribed in Roman script. Although some would disagree, I find this as a positive feature as the transliteration system offers a clearer indication of pronunciation than a transliteration using Arabic script might offer.

There are some books that I'm interested in buying - I can't comment on them now:

*Lebneini w 2aktar: A Lebanese method: *ISBN-13: 9789953530376

*Lebneini w 2aktar : A Lebanese Method Volume 2: *ISBN-13: 9789953530680

*Lebneini w 2aktar Verb Dictionary:* ISBN-13: 9789953530857


*Overall Website*

http://www.talkinarabic.com/ A new and very exciting resource with lots of multimedia material in Levantine Arabic.

*Videos*

Perhaps the best introduction of all to Levantine/Lebanese Arabic is the series of video tutorials by *Hiba Najem* on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/hiibanajem Hiba’s channel offers an accessible overview of the basics of Arabic conversation, all the while aspects of Lebanese culture. Moreover, Hiba recently published an E-book based on her online content. The book is quite cheap and is a useful accompaniment to the series. ISBN: 978-9953031217

*Blogs*

https://welovearabic.wordpress.com/2014/12/11/top-10-free-levantine-arabic-resources-and-a-few-more-besides/ 

http://parler-libanais.blogspot.ie/

*Some good series :*

-  Shankaboot: http://www.shankaboot.com/ 

-  Beirut, I love you: http://www.beirutiloveu.com/

I'd be interested to hear what other resources fellow learners are using!

Thanks and good luck!

Ralph


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## badde

For *blogs*, here are some of my favourite ones.

Lebanese is my thing so most of these are for learning Lebanese, but some of them have some more general Levantine stuff, too.

(Feel free to remove any of these links if they break the ToS.)

http://lebanesearabicc.blogspot.com/ (Lebanese)

http://yallalebanese.blogspot.com/ (Lebanese)

Majnouna: Travel: language (Lebanese)

http://www.allthelyrics.com/forum/showthread.php?t=98786 (Lebanese)

https://clearabic.wordpress.com/category/intermediate-students/ (Lebanese)

#TeamMaha (Levantine)

http://www.damascusgate.com/en/reference-material/ (Levantine)

Learning Shaam dialect (Levantine) (Levantine)

http://thearabicstudent.com/ (Levantine)

http://languagesoflife.com (Levantine/Jordanian)

https://learnammiyya.wordpress.com/ (Levantine)

http://www.zubaidahabduljalil.com/ (Levantine)

http://www.downtherabbithole.net (Levantine)

From Alif to Omega (the same blog as the one above)

https://areluctantarabist.wordpress.com/ (Levantine)

Andrew, Author at foreigncy (Levantine)

For *books*, I'll add *MarHaba: A Course in Levantine Arabic - Lebanese Dialect* by George Nicolas El-Hag. I'd recommend it for beginners. It has both the Arabic script and Latin transliterations. It has vocabulary divided into sections like "Home", "Office", "Bank", "Store", etc., and some topical lessons with a short text in the Arabic script and a Latin transliteration. It's not much, but it did help me figure out what "nabe3" in the song "3ala Nabe3 Al Mayy" meant when I was just starting out. (I use songs as one of my learning tools.)

I've also been using *Eastern Arabic: An Introduction to the Spoken Arabic of Palestine, Syrian, and Lebanon* by Frank A. Rice and Majed F. Said. It has one shortcoming: it only has transliterations and no Arabic script. But the grammar explanations are pretty thorough, so it gets the job done. It also has a mini-Levantine dictionary at the end.

Another one I've been using is *From Modern Standard Arabic to the Levantine Dialects: A Conversion Course* by Margaret K. Nydell. Like_ Eastern Arabic..._, it's more of a grammar book with rules and the like. It has both examples in the Arabic script and transliterations. And it tells you which (approximation of) pronunciation applies for Lebanese/Syrian vs. Palestinian/Jordanian.

EDIT:
*
The 101 Most Used Verbs in Spoken Arabic: Jordan & Palestine (Third Edition)* by Jr. Fridrik E. Tiedemann. Does anyone have this book? I'm thinking of getting it, but I don't know if it's worth the price ($40 + shipping). Is it mostly conjugation of verbs like *701 Lebanese Verbs* by Maroun Kassab or does it explain grammar, too? I've seen this guy's sample videos here and I thought they were pretty good, but not sure if I want the book if it's just verb tables. Also, how advanced is it? 

For *TV shows*, I only know Lebanese ones.

If you're into soap operas, there's one called *"Sara*.*" *You can find it on YouTube. It's with Cyrine Abdelnour and Youssef El Khal. It has some useful vocab about divorce and violence against women.

I tried watching *"Law"*, but the actress mumbles and I can't understand what she's saying in certain places, so I gave up.

I'm not sure if I'm supposed to start a new thread for this, but could anyone recommend some more Lebanese soaps with a female lead like the ones above?


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## Languagelearner123456

[Moderator's Note: Merged with a previous thread]
I am aware that most written content is in MSA but does anyone know a way that I can practice reading Levantine Arabic? Any feedback would be greatly appreciated.


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## WannaBFluent

The easiest way I think is to write expressions that are typically used in Levantine Arabic in twitter or facebook search bar.
As شو بدك or شلونك or قديش etc...


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## analeeh

Yeah, I'd suggest heading to Facebook.


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## firdaus777

Hello Colleagues,

I have a number of students eager to "read" colloquial Levantine Arabic rather than MSA all the time.  This will provide them practice in the dialect.  I am having difficulties finding publications such as _short stories_, etc. in the Levantine dialect, preferably written in Arabic script.  Is anyone familiar with where I can find books, magazines, online articles, etc. in the Levantine dialect (again using Arabic script)???

Thank you all in advance for your help!


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## LearningArabic1

[Does anybody have any idea if a dictionary of Levantine Arabic exists ?]
Does anybody have any idea if such a thing exists ?


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## Malki92

Yes.

One popular dictionary of Palestinian Arabic is _The Olive Tree Dictionary_ by J. Elihay.

You can also buy the French version, if you prefer that. On Amazon: _Dictionnaire de L'Arabe Parle Palestinien: Francais-Arabe_ (by the same author, French is his native language).


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## samir99s

I'm looking for a book, dictionary, or some type of website with _*advanced *_Lebanese verbs and vocabulary to help build up on my Lebanese Arabic, but I can't seem to find a single thing. Recently, I got the "Spoken Lebanese" book, but I already knew almost everything in the book, making it useless for me. Again, I'm no beginner in Lebanese Arabic, I just need to know more advanced words so that I can express myself better.


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## Interprete

I'm not sure if it can be of interest to anyone, but I am currently learning Syrian Arabic with a teacher who transcribes the Syrian TV series Al-nadam (available on youtube), episode after episode. That's a lot of text, which to me proved a lot more useful than most textbooks which are usually geared towards beginners with little knowledge of MSA and which tend to stick to the basics. I could ask her if she would be willing to share the transcriptions if anyone is interested.


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## LearningArabic1

Yes please, it would be good


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## jack_1313

That would be pretty amazing. There's such a critical lack of intermediate and advanced resources when it comes to the dialect.


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## apricots

If anyone is looking for Palestinian resources there are some episodes of the show Arab Labor on Youtube and the Hebrew parts have subtitles in dialect. It's super helpful. Also the Jordanian show الجار قبل الدار has dialect subtitles for the English parts.


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## matthewtorreyjr

Hi everyone I am learning Levantine arabic by a book called "Marhaba" and I know how to conjugate verbs but I don't know many. Could someone maybe send me a PDF or link to a lot of verbs in levantine arabic with the roman alphabet?


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## ayed

English-Lebanse Dictionary
English – Lebanese

How to conjugate verbs
Conjugation


Check this 
http://arabic.desert-sky.net/links.html


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## Aliph

For *Palestinian Arabic *as spoken in Jerusalem 

Moin Halloun.  Cours d’arabe parlé palestinien. Asiathèque 1995, volume 1 et 2
Same book in English Moin Halloun « Spoken Arabic for foreigners » 2010 volume 1 and 2
Most of the vocabulary is written in Latin letters. Some small texts in Arabic script.


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## Aliph

And for *Syrian colloquial *
The excellent book of Mary Jane Liddicott
Syrian Colloquial Arabic, a functional course – 2011

Arabic is written with Arabic script.


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## firdaus777

The MarHaba (I, II, III) series of books by El-Hage Ph.D., George Nicolas are very good & rich with Lebanese dialogues.


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## Aliatas017

Hi guys.
Do you know any levantine arabic course?
Please help me. 
I really need to this course


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## Aliph

There are several. My favorite is this one by Mary Jane Liddicoat since it also gives you the Arabic Script. You can ask a free sample of the first chapters to see if you like it.
Syrian Colloquial Arabic

On YouTube there is a channel called  “Learn Arabic with Maha” by a Palestinian from Akko. She is quite popular.
And please check this amazing website full of free resources. You need a lot of patience (sabr in Arabic) to browse through but it is worthwhile
Free resources to learn Arabic language

If you can afford paying lessons there are several websites where you can hire a teacher starting from 6 dollars an hour. You can send me a personal message if you want some more information about it.


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## Aliatas017

Thank you so much for advices
😊😊😊


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## Aliph

You are welcome. Enjoy!


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## drann

Try 'Arabic Express: Speak Lebanese. A Complete course.'


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