Omar Margaret K. Saudi Arabian Arabic Course, Lessons 26 - 50

FSI. — MP3 mono ~ 40 kbps.There are three major groups of dialects in Saudi Arabia — Hijazi, spoken on the western coast, in Jidda, Taif, and the holy cities of Mecca and Medina; Najdi, spoken in and around Riyadh, in the north central part of the country; and Shargi, spoken in the oil-rich eastern region. While the Najdi dialect enjoys prestige by virtue of its conservatism and relative closeness to Classical Arabic and the fact that it is the dialect of the royal family, the Hijazi dialect is used throughout the country for government and commercial purposes, and has .become the most widely-understood dialect in the Arabian Peninsula. The Hijazi dialect is not "pure" Saudi Arabic, and reflects recent borrowings from other dialects, especially Egyptian, Jordanian and Palestinian; for this reason, sometimes one word or expression was selected from several which may be heard, and sometimes alternative expressions are introduced, since two or even three forms may be in frequent use.Since there is no "standard" Hijazi dialect, this book reflects the dialect as spoken in Jidda. Whenever forced to choose between language usage in the other Hijazi cities and that of Jidda, the Jidda usage was given preference. A few of the most common words from Najdi and from other cities are introduced for recognition and identified as such. There has also been a preference for "modern" words and structures, despite the fact that this sometimes means rejecting an older, more "Saudi" usage. This dialect has been designated "urban" Hijazi to distinguish it from Bedouin dialects also native to the Hijaz region.After completion of this book, the student should have attained a "working" proficiency in the language (approximately S-2 level by the FSI rating system). In other words, the student will be able to satisfy routine social demands and limited business requirements, carry on conversations regarding a wide range of general subjects (asking directions, ordering a meal, giving personal information, making purchases, etc.), and comprehend speech about such subjects at a normal rate of speed. This book will provide a student with all the basic grammatical structures of the dialect, so that he will be ready to proceed on his own to acquire the speed and new vocabulary which lead to real fluency.