DIALECTS 101

As seen in the map above, learning Arabic is highly intertwined with understanding a specific cultural area. Arabic, whose roots trace back to ancient Mesopotamia and the language Aramaic, has influenced a majority of the world’s languages today. Anything starting with an ‘al’ in English - algebra, alcohol, alchemy - come from Arabic, in addition to many other words. Those who learn Arabic and wish to communicate with native speakers need to learn two types of Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic (MSA or fuSha) and the dialect(s) of the region they wish to travel. Many of these dialects share commonalities with one another.

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Modern Standard Arabic (MSA)
MSA is the official language for almost every country in the Middle East and North African region. It is used in education, media, official news reports, writing, and formal speech. MSA is the business and professional Arabic used globally, and most universities internationally primarily teach MSA in the classroom. MSA is the version of Arabic used at the United Nations, where it is one of six official global working languages.
MSA is also the basis (in some cases loosely) for every single Arabic dialect as well as some other languages entirely, like Swahili or Maltese. Its global influence cannot be understated.

Levantine/Shaami Arabic
This dialect covers most of Jordan, Israel, Palestine, Syria, and Lebanon, although each country has its own unique spin of the Shaami dialect.

Most linguists consider this dialect the closest to Modern Standard Arabic as it does not differ too widely from its structure. The major change is the Qawf letter is softened to an ah sound and most conjugations begin with a ba instead of the normal prefix for each pronoun.

Lebanon and Syria have obvious French influences in their version of shaami, and in many cases speak a smattering of English, Arabic, and French combined in the same sentence! 

Gulf Arabic/Khaleeji
The Arabic word for Gulf is khaleej. This dialect is spoken by the countries that border the Perisan Gulf: Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, UAE, and Qatar. These six countries share much in common - religiously, economically, culturally, and linguistically.

It also softens the Qawf sound into a hard guh as well as conjugated with a sh sound more often. It doesn’t differ widely between each of these countries, although the speed of these dialects change between each country. 

Each of the Gulf countries, however, due to the preponderance for migrant labor, rely a bit more heavily on English in daily conversation.

Iraqi Arabic
Baghdad long served as the academic and cultural capital of the Arab world as well as the birthplace of the Arab region via the Mesopotamian civilization. Thus, its dialect has been molded over the centuries given its strategic geolocation.

It’s somewhat seen as a blend between shaami and khaleeji as well, but is distinctly separate. Northern/Western Iraq is closer to shaami while Southern/Eastern Iraq is closer to khaleeji. However, its unique point is the ch sound in many conjugations as well as many unique words for everyday terms, forgoing the fuSha vernacular. It’s Qawf becomes a softer kuh sound.

Egyptian Arabic/Masri
Masri is the most recognizable dialect given modern-day Egypt’s media domination! Most Ramadan shows, music, and movies come from Egypt. The dialect is the most widely understood across the region, and other dialects use Masri as a linguistic common ground. It’s also considered the easiest dialect to learn, given the multitudes of resources, study opportunities, and media sources from which to learn.

Its most unique feature is the jeem letter, which is replaced with the hard guh, geem. It also softens the Qawf sounds to an ah, both the THa and dha sounds to zah, and the tha to a tah.

Moroccan Arabic/Darija
Darija is the farthest dialect from Modern Standard Arabic and somewhat unintelligible to any other dialect. It combines Arabic with its nomadic language of Tamazight, alongside bits of Spanish, French, and English. And depending on what part of Morocco you are in, the more French or Spanish heavy the dialect becomes. Moroccans themselves (like the Lebanese) switch often between Morocco’s languages.

When learning Darija, it is primarily useful only in Morocco as neighboring countries have a more Frarabic dialect. The intonation, conjugation, and sounds widely differ from MSA, and it is more consonant heavy and staccato sounding than fusha as well.

Arabeezee
The best dialect! The word for English in Arabic is injaleezee and, just like Al Fusaic is a merge of Arabic and English words, Arabeezee is the name of the “dialect” that blends any form of Arabic with English. Some English words aren’t easily translated, so they are spelled and spoken in an Arabic accent instead. 

Transliteration (writing Arabic sounds in English or writing English sounds in Arabic) includes a lot of Arabeezee. For writing in English, some Arabic sounds not found in English are replaced by a number. For example, ‘hello’ in Arabic can be written as marhhaban or mar7aban.

Frarabic
French + Arabic. It’s highly present in Lebanon, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Morocco and Syria as the main French-speaking portions of the Arabic world, but the expat Arab communities in France also speak this language. The numbering system still applies as in Arabeezee, but with French as the basis for spelling instead of English. 

Frarabic, especially for the Arab communities living in France, is an identity point of the dialect as it is a literal blending of their two cultures. It is a chance for these French-Arabs to celebrate their community linguistically. The Frarabic within the region itself is a legacy of colonialism.

By Benjamin Lutz