March 11, 2009

Phonetic Arabic: Day 1
Aleppo, Syria

I'm making a big effort to establish some knowledge of the Arabic language beyond the basic salaam 'alaykum. I've got the numbers 0-9 memorized, and below is a collection of the words and phrases that I've learned after my first day. I'm writing them out phonetically in a way that I understand (so I'm sorry if you don't). I personally use capital letters and the macron (bar over the letter) to indicate stress or tongue rolling (r̄ = rolled like in Spanish).

Yes: a (said like the letter)
No: la
Hello: mar̄ ha-bah
Thanks: shu-kr̄an
Interesting(…): coy-es
Enough(!): ha-less
Lets go(!): yah-lah
Welcome(!): hella | ah ha-lane
How much(?): ah day-esh | be caum
Numbers:

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