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Pronunciation guide in Arabic phrasebook


Pronunciation guide in Arabic phrasebook

Arabic pronunciation varies widely from place to place, almost to the extent of making it unintellilgible even for native Arabic speakers. Standard Arabic will be spoken by most educated people, as it is what they hear frequently on TV, mostly news. As a general rule:
  • a like hat and sometimes father (IPA: /a/)
  • aa (ا) is a longer version of a (IPA: /aː/)
  • b (ب) as in English
  • t (ت) as in English
  • th (ث) as in English thin (IPA: /θ/)
  • dh (ذ) as in English them (IPA: /ð/)
  • j (ج) as in jam (IPA: /dʒ/), s as in measure (IPA: /ʒ/) in the Levant (Lebanon, Israel, etc.), and 'g' as in 'give' in Egypt.
  • H (ح) is a pharyngeal fricative sound at the back of the throat (IPA: /ħ/). It sounds like you are about to whisper the word hello.
  • kh (خ) as in Scots loch or German Bach (IPA: /x/)
  • d (د) as in English
  • r (ر) rolled like Italian or Spanish pero or perro.
  • z (ز) as in English
  • s (س) as in English
  • sh (ش) as in English (IPA: /ʃ/)
  • S (ص) like s but with the back of the throat constricted (IPA: /sˤ/)
  • D (ض) like d but with the back of the throat constricted (IPA: /dˤ/). Same vowel changes as S
  • T (ط) like t but with the back of the throat constricted (IPA: /tˤ/)
  • Z (ظ) varies: like dh or z but with the back of the throat constricted. (IPA: /ðˤ~zˤ)
  • h (ه) as in English
  • q (ق) like k but further back in the throat (IPA: /q/) and is often pronounced like a glottal stop (IPA: /ʔ/) or g.
  • k (ك) as in English
  • l (ل) as in English
  • m (م) as in English
  • f (ف) as in English
  • n (ن) as in English
  • ' � (ء أ آ ئ ؤ) as in Cockney bottle. A glottal stop (IPA: /ʔ/).
  • ` � (ع) A voiced version of H. (IPA: /ʕ/)
  • gh (غ) a fricative sound at the back of the throat (IPA: /ɣ/) or kh while using the voice box.
  • w (و) as English we; as a vowel uu: as English boot.
  • y (ي) as English yes; as a vowel ii: as English bee.

  • The Most Frequently Asked Travel Questions about Arabic phrasebook


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    Arabic phrasebook Travel Guide from Wikitravel. Many thanks to all Wikitravel contributors. Text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0, images are available under various licenses, see each image for details.

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