#fus7a

Faruk Abu-Chacra: Another book that most people won't have come across is Arabic An Essential Grammar by Faruk Abu-Chacra. It's targeted at intermediate+ level. What I like about it is the way he shows a sentence/phrase in Arabic, English transliteration and English. 

He numerically parses up the sentence so you know what part of the Arabic script goes with the English translation.

Sandra from Canada writes:

My new glorious find is Professor Ian Campbell from Georgia State University.  His method of teaching Al Fushaa has shown me there's not something wrong with me - that I'm actually capable of learning formal Arabic.

He teaches MSA beginner and intermediate courses and other Arabic courses. He's put 48 lessons on YouTube for public use. He's the best Arabic teacher I've found.

I suggest a person print out his CV which contains the list of the 48 lessons, then using them you will find the lessons on Youtube. See Pages 6-9 for his YouTube lessons available to the public.

A recommendation from a reader!

Ahhhh, I love Arabic grammarians.

This is from Arabic for Nerds. Advanced! (Gotta say, I’m #TeamalKisai on this one, though. But maybe that’s my English grammar influence.)

Based on a poem by Saeed bin Ahmad bin Saeed.

- Vocals - Abdulrahman Mohammed غناء والحان / الفنان عبدالحمن محمد

- Lead guitar- Dr. Mohab Omar عزف جيتار وتوزيع موسيقى/ د.مهاب عمر 

- back vocals and bass guitar - Dr. Mohab omar

- Rhythm guitar - Dr. Moayad Al-Qurashi عزف جيتار/ د.مؤيد القرشي 

- Drums - Dr. Omar Raslan الايقاع / د.عمر رسلان

Special thanks to Lina Obeidat for the transcript and explanations!

يا مَنْ هواهُ أعَزّهُ وأذَلّني *** كَيفَ السّبيلُ إلى وِصالِكَ دُلّني

هوى: love

يذل : to humiliate 

السبيل : the way

وصال : reunion 

يدل : to guide

أنْتَ الّذي حَلّفْتَني وحَلَفْتَ لي *** وحَلَفْتَ أنّكَ لا تَخُوْن فَخُنْتَني

حلّف : to make someone promise

حلف : to promise

يخون: to betray 

وَحَلَفْتَ أنّكَ لا تَميْل مَعَ الهَوى *** أينَ اليَمين وأيْنَ ما عاهَدتَني

يميل : to tend

يمين : promise

عهد : promise

تَرَكتَني حَيْرانَ صبًّا هائِمًا *** أرعى النّجومَ وأنتَ في عَيْشٍ هَني

ترك: to leave

حيران: confused

صبًا: in love

هائمًا: lost

يرعى: to take care of

عيش: life

هني: happy

لَأقْعُدَنّ على الطّريقِ وأشْتَكي *** وأقول مَظْلومٌ وأنْتَ ظَلَمتَني

لأقعدن: I swear I will sit

أشتكي : to complain

مظلوم: oppressed 

ولأدْعُونّ عليكَ في غَسَقِ الدُّجى *** يُبليكَ ربّي مِثلما أبْليتني

لأدعون : I will pray

غسق الدجى: the dark night

يبلي : to afflict

I was just thinking about the value set on being skilled in Arabic, and the distinction between Lebanese Arabic and Arabic as a language. 

For example.

My mother will really respect a person if they are able to speak and write impeccable Arabic. For this reason, she loves listening to the news on the television.