Listening Resource for Arabic Dialects

العامِّيّة

root: ع-م-م / noun / definition: the colloquial language

---

So I’m now seven weeks into this master’s course and we’ve just had our first عامية lesson. It sort of feels like being transported back to the first year of undergrad, except that the stakes are a bit higher now because in a matter of weeks, I need to have absorbed enough عامية to be able to speak it for my final oral exam of the term.

(Arabic oral exams, for me, are already nightmarish—so I can’t say that the thought is not already stressing me out. *I remind myself that it’s all part of the learning process…*)

On the topic of عامية and dialects, I found a great listening resource for anyone wanting to build up their skills or get accustomed to Spoken Arabic.

Here‘s a (free!) website where you can access hundreds of “real-life” phone conversations in عامية about a whole variety of topics.

You can choose between Levantine, Egyptian, or Iraqi conversations and, if you want, narrow down the search by selecting certain difficulty levels or topics.

There are also multiple worksheets for each audio—but to be honest, I haven’t really looked through them. I’ve just been listening to the conversations in the background. Call it the illusion of productivity or getting accustomed to the language… I think both are accurate.

I’ve got to get back to ticking homework off my to-do list now, so I’ll see you soon with a Wehr Wednesdays post!

!مع السلامة

---

Follow The Arabic Pages on Instagram and Twitter, and find out how you can support this blog!

If you’d like to receive email notifications whenever a new post is published on The Arabic Pages, enter your email below and click “Subscribe”: