A language learners’ forum

Six Arabic Learning Tools (Language Lab Log)

(That "Six Tools" post was something I usually couldn't find enough time to write. So "please" "don't expect me to be able to do something similar all the time". But it still was possible in that particular case, because of the reason mentioned at another person's log [direct link]).

Hi,
a couple of weeks ago, I began to study Persian as part of my new study routine. Just as with most of the languages I've studied in the past, the main interest was first created by movies. I've been a longtime fan of Abbas Kiarostami. Recenty I discovered Asghar Farhadi who's easily joined the rank of my favourite contemporary movie directors.

As a result I've put Persian on my study list and am sowly working through the Pimsleur audio series and John Mace's "Teach Yourself Persian".

I'm not sure how serious I will study Persian, but if I enjoy it and have the time to do so, I'd probably follow-up with the Persian Assimil course once I finish the Pimsleur lessons.

In case you missed it, Netflix released a series of stand-up comedy sets called Comedians of the world. One of the "seasons" is Middle East and features four comedians: Ibraheem Alkhairallah (Saudi), Rawsan Hallak (Jordanian), Adi Khalefa (Palestinian), Moayad Alnefaie (Saudi). It's rare to find Arabic stand-up comics with subs, so this is a welcome addition. Sadly, there no Persian or Hebrew speaking comics in the line-up. Hopefully, Netflix will keep adding!

I couldn't find any excerpts on youtube, but here's a feature created to advertise for the show in which Rawsan Hallak responds to prompts about various first times:



In my search for a sample youtube clip, I came across this modern-day 1001 Nights/Scheherazade produced for Ramadan, in which Scheherazade introduces different Netflix shows:



I'd love it if they also added Arabic dubs for all of these shows (rather than just the children's programs).

Maiwenn wrote:In case you missed it, Netflix released a series of stand-up comedy sets called Comedians of the world. One of the "seasons" is Middle East and features four comedians: Ibraheem Alkhairallah (Saudi), Rawsan Hallak (Jordanian), Adi Khalefa (Palestinian), Moayad Alnefaie (Saudi). It's rare to find Arabic stand-up comics with subs, so this is a welcome addition. Sadly, there no Persian or Hebrew speaking comics in the line-up. Hopefully, Netflix will keep adding!

Sadly, too, I can not afford Netflix.

Monox D. I-Fly wrote:

Maiwenn wrote:In case you missed it, Netflix released a series of stand-up comedy sets called Comedians of the world. One of the "seasons" is Middle East and features four comedians: Ibraheem Alkhairallah (Saudi), Rawsan Hallak (Jordanian), Adi Khalefa (Palestinian), Moayad Alnefaie (Saudi). It's rare to find Arabic stand-up comics with subs, so this is a welcome addition. Sadly, there no Persian or Hebrew speaking comics in the line-up. Hopefully, Netflix will keep adding!

Sadly, too, I can not afford Netflix.

Not a Netflix user myself either. However, there is something that should be mentioned in this context. Netflix doesn't offer the same programs in every country. Tried to watch some Spanish movies or series, but هَيْهَات. At least the free trial period didn't expire yet when I found out that they simply aren't available in my country.

For a long time, I thought there weren't audiobooks in Arabic, but... shocker... there are! كتاب صوتي is audiobook in Arabic.

One producer (https://kitabsawti.com) offers a free 14-day trial. They even have popular titles like the Hunger Games trilogy and The Da Vinci Code. (Note: when you create an account it starts the free 14-day trial immediately... I wish I had known this to time things accordingly.) It is a subscription-based app and there's no option to buy individual titles. Within the app, you can select the playback speed (.75x, 1x, 1.25x, 1.5x, 1.75x, 2x). The titles I've sampled so far have had engaging, professional narrators.

I'll be testing it out the next 14 days, so let me know if you have any questions!

EDIT 30/01/2019 Adding my thoughts on the Kitab Sawti app here:

Things I would change:
Encourage more performance from the narrators. Narrators did not create separate « voices » for principal characters. Dialogue therefore blended in with the rest of the text. There’s not much performance compared to audiobooks I’ve listened to in English, French, and German.
Add chapter markers! You can add bookmarks on your own as a listener, but it’d be helpful to already have some indication of what chapter you’re on in the book (especially for those who might be splitting their ‘reading’ between physical book reading and audiobook listening.)
Provide an option for purchasing individual titles for download.

Otherwise, I was very pleased with the app and will likely subscribe sometime in the future when I’m a bit further along.

PeterMollenburg wrote:If you don't manage to find the missing audio files I'd be willing to make a recording of the dialogues and courtesy expressions and then have it checked by a native speaker.

That is an awesome offer NIKOLIĆ! Thank you!

If you're happy to do so, I'm not going to say no. Perhaps you could offer them to The Yojik Website as well?

The recordings are done and I just got the OK from a native Saudi speaker. Do you want me to post them here or DM you?

NIKOLIĆ wrote:The recordings are done, and I just got the OK from a native Saudi speaker. Do you want me to post them here or DM you?

If you post them here or on the yojik website, other people would also benefit from them.

Hebrew and Arabic learners, https://www.shortstoryproject.com/ publishes short stories from Hebrew and Arabic-language authors (among others) with English translations. You get a few stories free before having to sign up for a subscription. The subscription seems to also offer audio versions, but that might only be in English.

NIKOLIĆ wrote:

PeterMollenburg wrote:If you don't manage to find the missing audio files I'd be willing to make a recording of the dialogues and courtesy expressions and then have it checked by a native speaker.

That is an awesome offer NIKOLIĆ! Thank you!

If you're happy to do so, I'm not going to say no. Perhaps you could offer them to The Yojik Website as well?

The recordings are done and I just got the OK from a native Saudi speaker. Do you want me to post them here or DM you?

This is very impressive and such a kind gesture, NIKOLIĆ. I sincerely thank you for taking the time to get this done and have someone check it over as well.

In answer to your question, I’d certainly prefer that it was more of a public offering, so I’ll decline the PM and ask that you post it in this thread, that is what I’d prefer out of the two options.

However I’d like to suggest as others have, that the recordings be also offered to the The Yojik Website. Of course this is your personal work and were you to decline, for whatever reason, although I might deem that as unfortunate, I’d respect your decision.

Another thing you may like to consider, is that if you post the recordings here, that your recordings are likely to end up in the hands of many and perhaps it might be best to provide them to The Yojik Website before someone else does. Still, this is personal work, so if on second thought you’d rather keep this out of the public sphere, well who am I to judge?

I thank you again, NIKOLIĆ, for taking the time and effort to help out with the missing audio.

Kind regards,
PM