Enough Grammar, Let’s Talk About Movies

Tuesday, September 21

After a brutal class on Thursday, today was much better. I still wasn’t up to speed on my homework, but I am always willing to own up to my shortcomings. We went over the homework some more before reviewing for the quiz that is now pushed to next Tuesday. Sometimes I’d rather have the quiz sooner rather than later, just so I can get it over with. But hey, at least I can study more and really try to prepare myself… and not procrastinate… right?

Thursday, September 23

Rather than go over the material from Lesson 5 again, we started on Lesson 6. We went over the new vocabulary, and then learned three different ways to say “because.” I’d go over the differences, but I’m too tired and quite honestly, I still don’t have my head wrapped around the concept just yet. 

There’s certain vocab that I get excited to learn, and mainly it’s proper nouns that we use a lot, like months or days of the week. Well, we learned our days of the week! Sunday through Thursday correspond with numbers one through five, but Friday and Saturday are different. Friday in Arabic comes from the root word meaning “to gather.” In Islam, Friday is the holy day of rest and going to the mosque to say prayers. Saturday in Arabic is taken after the Hebrew word “Shabbat.” Cool, isn’t it? I think in another life I would’ve been a linguistics major. I really enjoy learning about how languages are put together. 

After learning our days of the week, my professor really didn’t want to start on a new concept, since we had about twenty minutes left of class and what she wanted to cover would take much more time (yikes!). So instead, she suggested several movies for us to watch that showcase the different dialects found in the Middle East. My professor recommended Secret of the Nile, My Way, Tayee, and Al Hayba. I have no clue what any of them are about, but if you’re in the mood to watch a foreign film this weekend, take a look at those!

Arabic Word of the Week

autumn / alkharif / الخريف