Learn Levantine Arabic with Livi

Hello everyone and welcome to Episode Six.

Today we are going to try a slightly different format where Ramzi and I will ask each other 5 questions. 

Getting to grips with how you structure questions in Arabic is something I certainly struggle with so there will be an element of translation in this episode (English-Arabic & Arabic-English) to help give some examples in the different question structures the two languages have. 

It's also a chance for us to express our personal opinions about a range of subjects. Feeling like you can truly express yourself in another language is quite a journey and takes time and patience - so I hope this episode helps you. 

Here are some of the new words we will be hearing in today's episode:

I switch on - بشغل

Global crisis - أزمة عالمية

From my humble experience (lit) / in my humble opinion - تجربتي المتواضعة

Subject to change - قابلة للتغير

From different angles - من أكثر من زاوية

I comprehend it - أستوعبها

Thirties - الثلاثينات

Twenties - العشرينات

Clarification - توضيح

It lost a lot - خسر كثير

It has no relationship / irrelevant - ما اله / الها علاقة

I suffer - بأعاني

To pass - بيمروء

Catastrophe/Disaster/Calamity - مصيبة

Hi everyone and welcome to episode five - as always, thanks so much for listening. 

Today you will hear a conversation between Ramzi and I about the virtual world and what we feel are the positives and negatives of being 'online'.

We've got a whole bunch of new vocabulary today, 19 words in total! 

We fall into the trap - منوقع في الفخ

Welcome to Episode Four! Thanks so much for listening.

Today Ramzi and I will be talking about the memory and memories, in general. 

Here are 15 of the new words you will be hearing in the podcast.

The Memory - الذاكرة

Welcome to Episode Three! Thanks so much for listening. 

Today I will be talking to Ramzi about our experiences of and opinions on dreams and dreaming. 

Here are 15 of the new words you will be hearing in the podcast. 

I grew up - نميت

Recurring dreams - أحلام متكررة

The main role - الدور الرئيسي

I improvise - برتجل

Psychology - علم النفس

Obsession - هوس

Failure - فشل

Metaphorical - مجازي

Literal - حرفي

Behaviour - سلوك

Negative - سلبي

Positive - ايجابي

Just - مجرد

Mental training / mental exercises - تمرين ذهني

It’s not coming to my mind - مش خاطر في بالي

Welcome to Episode Two!

Today Ramzi and I will be talking about our interest in creating radio shows and the roots this has in our respective childhoods. 

Here are 13 of the new words you will be hearing in the podcast:

Curious / curiosity of - فضول

Interested - مهتم / مهتمين

Impression - انطباع

Development - تطوير

Imagination - خيال

Imaginary friends - أصدقا متخيلين

Information - معلومات

You get closer - تقري على

Nap / siesta - قيلولة

Peace agreement - اتفاقية السلام

Bombing - قصف

Abbreviated - مختصر

Radio / broadcast - إذاعة

Welcome to the first episode!

Today Ramzi and I will be talking about life under the coronavirus lockdown, the best way to learn a new language and the common mistakes that myself and other language learners tend to make when speaking Arabic.

Here are 10 of the new words you will be hearing in the podcast:

Quarantine/Lockdown - حجر

Welcome to an introduction to Learn Levantine with Livi.

*Below is an English translation of the text you will be hearing in Arabic)

This is a podcast for intermediate students of Levantine Arabic.

In each podcast you will hear a conversation between me and a native speaker. At the beginning of each podcast I will introduce some new vocabulary that you will hear in the conversation.

My Arabic is not perfect at all, so I really hope that I can help you by offering you the chance to learn from my mistakes.

In each episode, the native speaker will correct me and my pronunciation whenever I make a mistake and, whenever I get stuck I will ask them for help too.

I have been really lucky to have had amazing teachers but the biggest thing that helped me improve my speaking was when I stopped caring about making mistakes and just started talking. Fortunately, I have lots of patient friends who are native speakers, so I try to speak with them as much as possible in Arabic and I stopped caring about making mistakes. Instead, I just talk and talk and I see the mistakes as chances to learn.

I hope you enjoy the podcast and don’t forget - try and practice talking as much as you can and don’t be scared to slip up! I do it all the time, and it's always the case that we learn from our mistakes.