An Arabic language with many dialects, tongues and identities
Dialects reflect an oral history, and in recent times efforts are being made to document these differences in the various Arabic dialects between one country and another, even within the same country.
BBC Extra sheds light on the multiplicity of dialects in the Middle East and North Africa region and the extent to which these spoken languages are related to Standard Arabic. In the episode, we host Muhammad Al-Zaidi, a researcher in linguistics and a professor at King Saud University in Riyadh, to shed light on the importance of studying dialects in the region and the different meanings of some words from one dialect to another. The Syrian journalist Abdel Aziz Khalifa also tells us about the extent to which the Shawaya dialect is linked between Syria and Iraq with the residents of these areas and the stereotypes surrounding it. As for the content creator, Noura Qassem, from Egypt, she takes us on a tour of the various dialects in Egypt and why she chose social networking sites to introduce them through teaching the English language.
In the dialect challenge, we host four young men and women from different Arab countries to learn about their dialects and their impressions of other dialects.
BBC Extra camera goes on a tour to get to know a Russian young man who loved Tunisia through the stories of his father, who used to tell him about it from a young age, but as a teenager he decided to emigrate from Russia and move to live in Tunisia. How did he manage to learn the Tunisian dialect? What funny situations did you encounter during your learning journey?
Presented by: Saif Al-Din Rubai
Prepared by: Maryam Al-Toumi
Editing: Farah Daja and Nadim Demashkieh
Editor-in-Chief: Olivia Lupuadovan