Talk:Lebanese Arabic phrasebook

From Wikitravel

Jump to: navigation, search

Okay, I've started creating this phrasebook. A couple of comments on what I've done:

  • I tossed up with myself as to whether a more appropriate name would be 'Lebanese Arabic phrasebook' or 'Arabic (Lebanese) phrasebook'. The nearest thing to a precedent I found was a request for a Swiss German phrasebook (which has not been created yet) so I've gone that way; I'm easy either way though.
  • The pronunciation guide was kind of difficult - I was trying to balance accuracy with ease of reading. I hope I've succeeded (the only one I'm not comfortable with is 'Th' as a transliteration for the letter thal). I'd welcome any comments. Having done that, I don't think there are too many differences between this pronunication and other dialects, so it might be reusable.
  • In Beirut (and maybe other cities, I don't know), people tend to pronounce 'q' as a glottal stop (kind of like the 'tt' in "bottle" in the cockney accent). In the mountains, however, they tend to pronounce it properly (as here). Any thoughts on which I should use here? Obviously the Lebanese listner will understand either.
  • It'll probably take me a few weeks to get through all of this - I'm not a native Arabic speaker and I will need to get someone to help me with some of the more obscure phrases (I've never had to say "uphill" or "downhill" in Arabic :) In the meantime, please feel free to jump in!

Otherwise, let me know any thoughts and I'll be happy to try and incorporate them. Aholcombe 03:28, 2 Sep 2005 (EDT)

I think you've done a fine job so far, and have modeled some of my Jordanian Arabic phrasebook after your patterns in order to maintain conformity. Concerning the 'q', I have chosen to include it in pronunciations since, as you have said, it can be understood by both those who use it and those who omit it. - Cybjorg 04:22, 17 Feb 2006 (EST)

dont use the qaf here would be better cause in mine opinion its more often that lebs dont use it, and so we have also a variation for the ppl here

[edit] English and French

Lot's of nice work here. Considering especially that this should be usable for Syria, not only Lebanon (and of course understood without problems in Palestine and Jordan). Mahattat el-train won't get you far in Syria finst (and btw, whenever would you use this in Lebanon?) I think we should consider the use of French and English. This is indeed very special for Beirut and Lebanon. I'd primarily use the arabic forms and then maybe but the French in paranthesis and label clearly that it's french. Lakerhaug

That's what the French phrasebook is for. Jpatokal 10:33, 30 October 2006 (EST)
Retrieved from "http://wikitravel.org/en/Talk:Lebanese_Arabic_phrasebook"