If you’re going to learn Levantine Arabic grammar, what better way than through song, right? Twenty years later, I still find myself humming “Conjunction Junction, what’s your function?” from Schoolhouse Rock. (Iykyk)  So when I heard Hussain Al Jassmi’s, “Ma B7ebak”, I knew it was the PERFECT song to learn how to express “as much as” and other comparisons in Levantine.  If you want to love the song as much as I do, here’s the video. The PERFECT Song to Learn “As Much As” The keyword to listen for is: “قَدْ”. Al Jassmi repeats the word in the chorus: قَد السما ما بحِبَّك I don’t lov ..read more

Why I Love Finding Resources for You   Someone once told me that the hardest thing about acquiring any language is having to continuously find great content to immerse in. At first, I thought, Noooooo, I’m always going to love digging up new content day after day. I live for this! Now after a few years of immersing myself in Levantine Arabic resources, I have to admit, they were right. Sometimes I love finding new content, but other times I think — Good riddance, am I gonna searching for great content my whole life?! Yet, I’ve observed that times I’ve found it easiest to continuously ..read more

In the Demystifying Arabic Grammar series, I’ve been sharing how you can use Arabic grammar to help you learn Arabic on a tight schedule. Check out Part 1 and Part 2.   Today’s takeaway: Download this one Levantine Arabic verb chart that will show you how all Arabic words are spelled, pronounced, and created. EVERYTHING.   Part 1: What’s Headstands Got to Do With Arabic Grammar?   When it comes to Arabic grammar, to break out of fear and anxiety and feelings of “I can’t do this!” “That’s not for me!” “This is too difficult.” — you have to remember one thing: Hard things are not ..read more

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Over the past two weeks, I’ve gotten a few emails and messages from different readers who’ve asked: Can I use your Anki deck?! I don’t have time to make my own. Honestly, I get it. As much as I’m #teamAnki, at the end of the work week, or even simply at the end of the work day, sometimes one of the last things I have time to do is create new cards for my Anki deck. While I’m not really ready to share my entire personal Anki deck with the world yet, I wanted to start sharing sentences I pick up during the week while immersing, so that you can add new sentences to your deck too no matter how bu ..read more

I know you’re busy. Busy working. Busy dating. Busy cleaning your apartment. Busy attending to your partner and kids. Busy cooking. Busy getting a promotion. Busy taking care of aging parents and grandparents. Busy finding yourself. Busy scrolling through social media. Busy binging Netflix to let off steam. Busy sleeping. Busy going to the gym. And a lot of time, you feel like you’re too busy to learn Arabic. I get it. A lot of the time, I feel that way too. When I started immersing in Arabic, during the pandemic, I felt that I had all the time in the world. And I used it to become fluent in ..read more

Overall Summary:Today we’ll learn a simple way to remember and express the tenses in Levantine Arabic. Your main takeaway should be: “As long as I know the present tense of a verb, I can express almost all tenses.” As a fun bonus, each explanation of the tenses will have sentence examples recorded in a Syrian accent. Part I. How Learning Arabic Grammar Went From Being My Worst Nightmare to My Best Friend It was a long, dark, and stormy morning at Princeton. The walked into my Arabic 102 class, and the door squeaked open then closed behind me. The classroom felt too cold for late summer. My ..read more

So yall, after one year of learning Levantine Arabic from scratch without a private teacher, I can finally, definitively, say: I’m fluent. I’m currently in Beirut and people are completely confused at how well I speak. Yesterday, someone asked me, “Is your father Lebanese?” Someone else began arguing with me. “No!” He said, “You were born in Saudi Arabia.” No, my dad was definitely born in a village in Nigeria. My mom too. No, I was definitely born in a small town in South Carolina that felt like a village. Still, no matter what I say, few people in Beirut believe me when I say that I taught ..read more