Now that you know a little Arabic, it's time to learn the Roman Alphabet which we will use to learn Arabic on this blog. The letters are labelled "light" or "dark"
Consonants:
' glottal stop (catch between "uh" and "oh" in "uh-oh") Light
b Light (baa "bad")
t Light (taa "tad")
th as in "think", never as in "that" (see ð) Light (thaa "thank")
j Light (jaa "jag")
H breathe out forcefully on your glasses to fog them up and clean them. Light (Haat rhymes with "hat")
X Hebrew sound as in "Chunnakah" or German "ach." also spelled Kh Light (xaa "hat")
d Light (daa "dad")
ð th sound in "that" Light (ðaa "that")
r trilled as in Spanish Dark (raa rhymes with "law"). Also makes the preceding vowel Dark
z Light (zaa "Zack")
s Light (saa "sad")
sh Light (shaa "shack")
S "ngsa" velarized, also called "emphatic" Dark (Saa "ngSaw")
D "ngda" velarized/emphatic Dark (Daa "ngDog")
T "ngta" velarized/emphatic Dark (Taa "ngTall")
Z "ngza" velarized/emphatic Dark (Zaa "ngZog")
3 an English "r" sound made with the back of the throat, where the throat joins with the chest, instead of with the tongue. This is the hardest letter for English speakers but is an important sound in many words. An unpleasant way to learn it is to swallow, and notice which muscles are used. The tongue is perfectly still while making this sound. Use the swallowing muscles to make an "r" sound as you say "raa" "raa" "raa" with your swallowing muscles and leaving your tongue completely unused and relaxed. The Arabic name for this letter is 3ain and it is used in the name of the language- 3arabi "Arabic." It is called a "voiced pharyngeal fricative" in linguistics and is a common feature of Semitic languages, Ancient Egyptian, and some Native American languages.
gh this is the Arabic spelling of the Parisian French "r" gargling sound. Arabic speakers do not think of it as an "r" sound but instead as a smooth "g" sound. This is a confusing transition for French speakers and requires a deep psychological shift when thinking about the letter "r." One confusing thing is that Arabic has many words imported from French, but instead of using the letter "gh" and keeping the original pronunciation of French r, Arabs shifted the French gargled "r" to an Arabic flapped "r", which is more like Spanish, and sometimes shifted French letter "g" to the "gh" sound. Thus the French name Marguerite should be pronounced maghkeghit, which would be almost exactly as it is in French, but instead is pronounced margherit by some Arabic speakers, which is unrecognizable to French ears. English Maggie is pronounced maaghghi in Arabic and sounds almost exactly like French "Marie." Dark (ghaa French "ran" sound without nasalization)
f Light (faa like British "fast")
q This is the second most difficult sound for English speakers. It is a "clicked" letter "k" made with the little dangly thing which hangs in the back of your throat (the uvula). One way to practice making it is to say a "k" sound, notice which part of the tongue is against the roof of the mouth, then to flatten that middle of the tongue against the bottom of the mouth and say the "k" sound again with the back of the tongue this time, where you would gag if someone touched you there with their finger. In normal speech, this is pronounced either as a glottal stop (the first letter), or as an English normal letter g. However, being able to pronounce it correctly is a sign of education. Dark (qaa "god")
k Light (kaa like "cap")
l Light (laa like British "lamb")
Ł Dark, velarized/emphatic "ngL" sound used only in the important word aŁŁa God (Łaa "ngLot")
m Light (maa "mat")
n Light (naa "nat")
h normal English "h" Light (haa "hat")
w Light (waa "whack")
y Light (yaa "yack")
Vowels:
In Modern Schoolbook Arabic, also called Classical Arabic, Standard Arabic, Formal Arabic, or fus-Ha, there are only three vowels, with short and long versions, in both Dark and Light versions.
a / aa
i / ii
u / uu
Light Dark
a Australian accent "hat" American accent "hut"
aa American accent "half" American accent "haul"
i "hit" Darkened Slavic-sounding short "i" sound in English "it"
ii "feet" "meet" "keep" "Darkness" comes trough the nose while saying "f-ngeengt" or "mngeengt"
u "put" same as Light
uu "food" Darkness adds a slight English "r" sound to the end of the vowel as in English "thorn"
There is also the diphthong "ay" which is considered a combination of "a" and "y" by Arabic linguists but is really pronounced "ey" as in "Hey" in normal speech.
In spoken Arabic dialects, there are many other vowels and combinations.
e as in Spanish e or French é
o as in "hope"
ε as in English "met" or French è
and many other colors and flavors particular to each country or region.
Consonants:
' glottal stop (catch between "uh" and "oh" in "uh-oh") Light
b Light (baa "bad")
t Light (taa "tad")
th as in "think", never as in "that" (see ð) Light (thaa "thank")
j Light (jaa "jag")
H breathe out forcefully on your glasses to fog them up and clean them. Light (Haat rhymes with "hat")
X Hebrew sound as in "Chunnakah" or German "ach." also spelled Kh Light (xaa "hat")
d Light (daa "dad")
ð th sound in "that" Light (ðaa "that")
r trilled as in Spanish Dark (raa rhymes with "law"). Also makes the preceding vowel Dark
z Light (zaa "Zack")
s Light (saa "sad")
sh Light (shaa "shack")
S "ngsa" velarized, also called "emphatic" Dark (Saa "ngSaw")
D "ngda" velarized/emphatic Dark (Daa "ngDog")
T "ngta" velarized/emphatic Dark (Taa "ngTall")
Z "ngza" velarized/emphatic Dark (Zaa "ngZog")
3 an English "r" sound made with the back of the throat, where the throat joins with the chest, instead of with the tongue. This is the hardest letter for English speakers but is an important sound in many words. An unpleasant way to learn it is to swallow, and notice which muscles are used. The tongue is perfectly still while making this sound. Use the swallowing muscles to make an "r" sound as you say "raa" "raa" "raa" with your swallowing muscles and leaving your tongue completely unused and relaxed. The Arabic name for this letter is 3ain and it is used in the name of the language- 3arabi "Arabic." It is called a "voiced pharyngeal fricative" in linguistics and is a common feature of Semitic languages, Ancient Egyptian, and some Native American languages.
gh this is the Arabic spelling of the Parisian French "r" gargling sound. Arabic speakers do not think of it as an "r" sound but instead as a smooth "g" sound. This is a confusing transition for French speakers and requires a deep psychological shift when thinking about the letter "r." One confusing thing is that Arabic has many words imported from French, but instead of using the letter "gh" and keeping the original pronunciation of French r, Arabs shifted the French gargled "r" to an Arabic flapped "r", which is more like Spanish, and sometimes shifted French letter "g" to the "gh" sound. Thus the French name Marguerite should be pronounced maghkeghit, which would be almost exactly as it is in French, but instead is pronounced margherit by some Arabic speakers, which is unrecognizable to French ears. English Maggie is pronounced maaghghi in Arabic and sounds almost exactly like French "Marie." Dark (ghaa French "ran" sound without nasalization)
f Light (faa like British "fast")
q This is the second most difficult sound for English speakers. It is a "clicked" letter "k" made with the little dangly thing which hangs in the back of your throat (the uvula). One way to practice making it is to say a "k" sound, notice which part of the tongue is against the roof of the mouth, then to flatten that middle of the tongue against the bottom of the mouth and say the "k" sound again with the back of the tongue this time, where you would gag if someone touched you there with their finger. In normal speech, this is pronounced either as a glottal stop (the first letter), or as an English normal letter g. However, being able to pronounce it correctly is a sign of education. Dark (qaa "god")
k Light (kaa like "cap")
l Light (laa like British "lamb")
Ł Dark, velarized/emphatic "ngL" sound used only in the important word aŁŁa God (Łaa "ngLot")
m Light (maa "mat")
n Light (naa "nat")
h normal English "h" Light (haa "hat")
w Light (waa "whack")
y Light (yaa "yack")
Vowels:
In Modern Schoolbook Arabic, also called Classical Arabic, Standard Arabic, Formal Arabic, or fus-Ha, there are only three vowels, with short and long versions, in both Dark and Light versions.
a / aa
i / ii
u / uu
Light Dark
a Australian accent "hat" American accent "hut"
aa American accent "half" American accent "haul"
i "hit" Darkened Slavic-sounding short "i" sound in English "it"
ii "feet" "meet" "keep" "Darkness" comes trough the nose while saying "f-ngeengt" or "mngeengt"
u "put" same as Light
uu "food" Darkness adds a slight English "r" sound to the end of the vowel as in English "thorn"
There is also the diphthong "ay" which is considered a combination of "a" and "y" by Arabic linguists but is really pronounced "ey" as in "Hey" in normal speech.
In spoken Arabic dialects, there are many other vowels and combinations.
e as in Spanish e or French é
o as in "hope"
ε as in English "met" or French è
and many other colors and flavors particular to each country or region.
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