Mostly Arabic with Maiwenn

[Maiwenn]

I thought this was going to be a simple thing to respond to, but it turns out it's not! :) It would seem that Disney re-released Arabic versions of older films, including Pinocchio. If the recording sounds "older" it's probably Egyptian (or you can check out the song "No Strings on Me" and see which one it sounds like).

Here's "No Strings on Me" in MSA (the ج in the corner is for Al Jazeera's children programming, so clearly part of their collaboration):

And the original in Egyptian Arabic


I mostly use Netflix and Prime Video for content (and there's a lot on youtube as well, including legally). I'm not sure what Netflix's offerings in Norway are, but here are a few Netflix-produced titles which have Arabic audio here in France and I would assume elsewhere:
*Trollhunters
*Carmen Sandiego
Boss Baby
Fast Furious Spy Racers
*Alexa & Katie
*The Worst Witch
*No Good Nick
The Big Show Show
Go! Live Your Way
Team Kaylie
Family Reunion

I starred the ones I've actually watched. If you search "audio in Arabic" on Netflix and then select that option you can see a selection of what is available (for some reason it won't show the full listing).
All the Miyazaki films also have Arabic dubs.

Thankfully, Netflix does specify when a dub is in Egyptian Arabic rather than MSA.

[Mista]

That's great, thanks for the help! I may have to finally give Netflix a try, then - or at the very least, I can talk my mom (who knows more Arabic than I do) into watching something with me the next time I go home to visit. Miyazaki is a great suggestion, usually a good deal more enjoyable than Disney in my experience, but since I have him sorted under "Japanese" in my brain, I would probably never have come up with the idea myself of watching him in Arabic

[Maiwenn]

There's actually a ton of Arabic-dubbed Japanese content out there. My partner grew up watching some Japanese shows in MSA that I had never heard of.

For legal youtube options, there's Cartoon Network MENA and Nickelodeon Arabia.
Nickelodeon Arabia has some full episodes and apparently a livestream of Spongebob episodes?
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCZTLU3 ... FBXVc0vD1g
Cartoon Network MENA:
https://www.youtube.com/user/CNArabic/featured
With separate channels for The Amazing World of Gumball: https://www.youtube.com/user/ElmoreStre ... c/featured
And Powerpuff Girls:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUkv4s ... cCqFW5248A

An extra recommendation from my partner's past (though I'm unsure of it's status, so I won't link it) is المناهل, it's a show from the 80s(?) to teach children MSA. It's good fun.

And for Levantine Arabic, there's Iftah ya simsim (the Arabophone version of Sesame Street):
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC48pfs ... ZTLQxZjS4g

[Hashimi]

And for Levantine Arabic, there's Iftah ya simsim (the Arabophone version of Sesame Street):
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC48pfs ... ZTLQxZjS4g

I prefer the old MSA version:

https://youtu.be/LuM-DMEBLCA?t=720

This short clip is one of the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life! (it's deep and philosophical too!)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3Sfx1d0060

I'm between two monsters (coronavirus and unemplyment!):

https://youtu.be/tUg7bOxZw60

Better audio:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQYd36QsoSQ

[Maiwenn]

The MSA Sesame Street is great! Thanks for the videos, Hashimi! :)

I got it into my head a couple days ago that I really wanted to try playing Scrabble in Arabic. Some arts and crafts time later, my partner and I played an inaugural game with our set made of cardboard. Against all odds (and assistance from my partner on a couple turns), I eked out a win. (Though it doesn't really count given the aforementioned assistance.)

(Sorry for the potato quality of the photo, I got tired of downsizing the file so just went straight to the smallest option.)

[Maiwenn]

Hello May!

Well, I've just signed up for the Super Challenge in Arabic (full), French (double), and German (half) as well as the 6wc in Mandarin, so May is off to a great start. For the 6wc, I'll only be tracking time for Mandarin as I can't be bothered to track for everything. For Mandarin, I'll be using clozemaster and Méthode 90's Chinois Débutant from Livre de Poche. It's a similar set up to Assimil.

For Arabic, I recently discovered that National Geographic Abu Dhabi has begun putting a lot of its (dubbed in Arabic) episodes on youtube. Here's a link to the channel. My current obsession is أمن المطارات: مدريد (Airport Security: Madrid):


Also, as it is Ramadan (رمضان مبارك y'all), loads of Ramadan shows are now flooding youtube. So much to watch. If there are any I particularly enjoy, I'll update the log.

I also got back into skype lessons this week with 2 in Darija and 1 in MSA. Now to get back into writing....

For the Forum Book Club, I'll be reading Camus' La Peste in French (and listening to the audiobook in Arabic separately) and Antoine de Saint-Exupéry's Courrier Sud in French. I was hoping to get Astrid Lindgren's The Brothers Lionheart in Arabic, but I couldn't quite justify the cost.

[Maiwenn]

Week 1 of the Super Challenge is done and I'm on target! And... well beyond the target for listening/watching in Arabic and German. It doesn't hurt that we've started watching Fauda (though I only count half the time since it's a mix of Arabic and Hebrew). The current dialect breakdown for Arabic "films" is 61% MSA, 29% Moroccan, 10% Levantine. I also had two skype lessons (2 Darija, 1 MSA) which went well.

In order to maximise what I'm getting out of the Arabic reading, I've been making a point of highlighting any words for which I'm unsure of the meaning OR the pronunciation. I usually don't look them up as I go along, but afterward. Looking up words often goes --> google translate, look up in my French->Arabic dictionary for nouns or my Bescherelle for verbs. Today I remembered that, duh, I could use the monolingual Arabic dictionary almaany to look up pronunciation and that that would be oh so much faster. I've also added in a children's book on voyager Ibn Battuta which conveniently already has all its harakat. When I read in general, I don't sound out words, which means I can read texts in English and French fairly fast. I'm having to force myself out of this habit with Arabic, because it means I'm not necessarily fully incorporating all the new words. Reading a book that has its harakat in means I'm not accidentally practicing wrong pronunciations.

Arabic:
Read:

• 70 pages قلعة هاول المتحركة(Howl's Moving Castle)
• 1 page الحيلي في القواعد والإلعراب (a grammar book I bought in Morocco)

Listened to/Watched:

• Finished Audiobook سلسلة الأحداث المؤسفة (A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Bad Beginning)
• ~20 minutes of the Audiobook الطاعون (La Peste)
• Various National Geographic Abu Dhabi shows
• Masterchef Maroc
• Fauda

German:
Read:

• Reckless

Listened to/Watched:

• Harry Potter und die Kammer des Schreckens

French:
La Peste

Oh!!! And I saw this post with 7 fiction tv shows produced in MSA, in case it may be of interest to others: https://arabicgoals.com/tv-shows-modern ... -learners/
They're all available on youtube (legally).

[Hashimi]

loads of Ramadan shows are now flooding youtube. So much to watch. If there are any I particularly enjoy, I'll update the log.

The only show I recommend this Ramadan, is this 40min film by Alshugairi. It's a mix of Hijazi Arabic + MSA with English subtitles:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cPu1g_NBLU

[Maiwenn]

Arabic

I finished قلعة هاول المتحركة(Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones)!! Now all I want to do is go back and reread her other books. Sadly, this seems to be the only Arabic translation of any of her works. I'll be reading through the books I have geared toward middle grade readers before attacking another "real" chapter book. I've also read a bunch of children's books. When I read them, I make a point of reading out loud to reinforce pronunciation.

On a long walk this weekend, I summarized things I've been reading to my partner in Arabic. I do feel like my spoken Arabic is becoming more sophisticated (or at least more varied in its constructions hahaha) thanks to the extra reading. I try to pay attention to how things are expressed and why.

In terms of listening/watching, I've been watching Trollhunters on Netflix + listening to audiobooks. Though I'm not counting it for the Super Challenge, I've also taken to doing exercise videos by a Lebanese woman, Sara Popfit. They're fun. She likes to call out "Bravo 3liki" a lot, so I've taken to saying it like her whenever I'm happy with something I've done. Thankfully, my downstairs neighbors continue to be elsewhere, so I don't need to worry about bothering them.

German

Continuing with Reckless and listening to the Harry Potter audiobooks. I'm on book 4 now!

French reading
La Peste (Camus) & Courrier Sud (Saint-Exupéry) for the Forum book club.
Patients by Grand Corps Malade. I saw the film adaptation when it was in theaters and loved it. The book did not disappoint.
I'm now reading La Garçonne, the French translation of Alia Mamdouh's غلامة. The translator did a fantastic job. My partner is reading the original as I read the translation. It will be a (long) while before I'm at the level where I could appreciate the original. For now, I'm happy to read the translation.

EDIT to add a picture of these skits for schoolchildren I bought way back when and am finally reading now. It's not often you see a script for a conversation between a waiter and customer in MSA. They're funny and only cost about 50 cents each.

IMG_7186.jpg (31.91 KiB) Viewed 309 times

[Maiwenn]

May Super Challenge Recap

French
677 pages including La Peste (Camus), Courrier Sud (Saint-Exupéry), Patients (Grand Corps Malade), La Garçonne (Alia Mamdouh, tr. Stéphanie Dujols), Les 3 filles du Docteur Darwin (Haddad), Les Yeux jaunes des crocodiles (Pancol)

German
193 pages read, all Reckless
960+ minutes of Harry Potter audiobooks (won't add in HP4 minutes until completed) & Dark

Arabic
330 pages read, mostly قلعة هاول المتحركة but also various children's books and now the bridge-to-novels books. I also accidentally began أعجوبة (Wonder, by R.J. Palacio), so I'm now splitting my time between that and the bridge-to-novel books.
1521+ minutes of audiobooks, National Geographic Abu Dhabi, Fauda, Trollhunters, and The Willoughbys.
Currently sitting at 65% MSA, 20% Levantine, 15% Moroccan.

Happily on track for the Super Challenge!
The 6WC, however, not so much. I'm not very good at remembered to "clock in" before starting activities. So while I have been chugging along with Mandarin, I haven't bothered to update the bot since... the first week? Oh well.

Goals for June Super Challenge
* More Moroccan!
* Stay on track!
* L'Étranger (Camus) & Mersault, contre-enquête (Daoud) for the Forum Book Club.
* LR L'Étranger with the Arabic audiobook.

I'm only 30 pages into Wonder (R.J. Palacio), but I'm finding it really easy. It seems like it would be quite accessible for A2/B1 learners. Maybe. I don't know.