Arabic Videos

I Eat One Meal a Day. Today It's Pho.

My sister Yasmine and I walked to a Vietnamese place near the house, and I brought you along. We talk on the way. I have eaten one meal a day since 2018, and Yasmine says exactly what she thought when I started, which was that it was strange and that she was not going to argue about it. We talk about why we almost never eat out, the tacos we have been making at home, and whether cucumber belongs in them. She says yes. Mexico says no. Then the restaurant, the iced tea neither of us liked, the spring rolls, and a bowl of pho hot enough to turn my face red on camera. A real conversation between a brother and a sister in Levantine Arabic, around B1. Nothing scripted, nothing slowed down for the camera except me. The full library, 350+ videos in Modern Standard Arabic and Levantine Arabic organized by level from Super Beginner to Advanced: https://arabicallthetime.com

Intermediate (B2) | free | 00:16:46

Nour 14: The Groom Is Gone

The bride walks in. White dress, white veil, the whole family seated, the man who will write the marriage contract waiting. Everyone looks at everyone. Where is the groom? Anwar excuses himself, climbs the stairs, knocks, gets no answer, and breaks the door down. The room is empty. Muhannad is gone, on the day of his own كتب الكتاب. This is the end of show episode two, and I explain يمسح جوخ, the expression for flattery with an angle, plus وفد and لا حول ولا قوة إلا بالله. At the end of this video I ask you directly: should I keep going with this show? Tell me in the comments. The full library, 350+ videos in Modern Standard Arabic and Levantine Arabic organized by level from Super Beginner to Advanced: https://arabicallthetime.com

Intermediate (B1) | premium | 00:08:36

He Explained One Arabic Word. It Broke My Heart.

There is an Arabic word for the feeling of being far from your homeland: غربة. It has no clean translation. Juan, from Colombia, made a short video explaining it, and as an Arab living far from Syria, it moved me enough that I invited him here. Juan trained as an opera singer, left Colombia more than ten years ago, lives in Italy, works with languages, and fell in love with Levantine Arabic. In this conversation he tells me how a Colombian ends up feeling غربة in Arabic, how he learned the language, and what music has to do with all of it. His Arabic is beautiful, and you will hear that for yourself. We agreed this will not be his last visit. Juan's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/juan.pablo.canon/?hl=en The full library, 350+ videos in Modern Standard Arabic and Levantine Arabic organized by level from Super Beginner to Advanced: https://arabicallthetime.com Timeline: 00:00 – Intro: The Concept of Ghurba 01:42 – Meet Juan 03:00 – Why Learn Arabic? 04:20 – Speaking 7 Languages 06:14 – Learning Greek 09:14 – Discovering Fairouz & Levantine 14:04 – Favorite Arabic Song 15:28 – Study Routine & Flashcards 18:48 – Traveling to Syria 22:00 – Speaking Practice 24:25 – Exploring Damascus & Aleppo 25:40 – Visiting Maaloula & Aramaic 31:02 – What Juan Loves About Arabic 33:30 – Best Advice for Learners 35:48 – Conclusion #LearnArabic #LevantineArabic #Ghurba #ComprehensibleInput #ArabicConversation

Intermediate (B2) | free | 00:36:41

Nour 13: Promise Me You Won't Be Hurt

Fikri Bey tells Noor about the honeymoon, remembers his late wife, says he wants to hear children in this house again, and then makes the request that shows he understands everything: they will hurt you a little, it is normal with a new bride. Promise me you will not be hurt. Consider me your grandfather. Then the villa fills. Flowers, candles, the white dress, Noor smiling at the mirror. Muhannad, in his groom's suit, chews his nails and pours another whiskey. And Ahmad rushes into the study with news the grandfather does not want: the mayor is coming to witness the marriage contract. I explain مصيف, شهر العسل, يضايقوك, وعديني, and كتب الكتاب. Next episode: the wedding. The full library, 350+ videos in Modern Standard Arabic and Levantine Arabic organized by level from Super Beginner to Advanced: https://arabicallthetime.com

Intermediate (B1) | premium | 00:15:16

Nour 12: He Controls Everyone's Life

Away from the villa, two people who owe Fikri Bey nothing finally say what everyone else swallows. He is متسلط, they say, a man who controls the lives of everyone around him, and nobody dares stand in front of him. Sharifa obeys because she is طماعة and afraid he will give the fortune away. Muhannad is being crushed because he is the eldest grandson and the family's hope. And Noor? برمشة عين صارت فوق, one says: in the blink of an eye she rose. But Israa hears a girl's dreams being traded like merchandise, and she is not only talking about Noor. Then Fikri Bey calls Noor into his study, and their first real conversation begins. I explain متسلط, طماعة, يتبرع, and برمشة عين. Next episode: what the grandfather asks of her. The full library, 350+ videos in Modern Standard Arabic and Levantine Arabic organized by level from Super Beginner to Advanced: https://arabicallthetime.com

Intermediate (B1) | premium | 00:17:06

Do Subtitles Help You Learn Arabic? A Real Disagreement

Maha puts subtitles on everything she makes. I put them on nothing. So we sat down and argued about it. She learned English from films with Arabic subtitles, and she is learning Russian the same way right now. Her position is that reading and listening together prints the word twice. Mine is that the brain does not really do both at once, and that whichever one you are doing well, you are doing the other one badly. Neither of us walked away converted, but we did agree on more than we expected. Maha shares the three-pass routine she gives the people learning with her: once with nothing, once with Arabic on screen, once in your own language to check you were right. And we both landed in the same place on beginners, where a video with pictures and gestures needs no translation at all. A real, unscripted conversation in Levantine Arabic, around B2. Maha makes wonderful content for Arabic learners. Her channel: @levantinearabicwithmaha. The full library, 300+ videos in Modern Standard Arabic and Levantine Arabic organized by level from Super Beginner to Advanced: https://arabicallthetime.com

Intermediate (B2) | free | 00:19:48

Nour 11: "Grandfather Chose Her. He Forced Me."

Muhannad's sister Dana lands from America for the wedding, smells whiskey on her brother at noon, and starts asking the questions nobody in this house asks. Who is the bride? Do you know her? Have you even spoken to her? And Muhannad finally says it: جدي هو اللي اختار العروس وجبرني عليها. Dana's answer is the modern verdict on the whole story: what century are we living in, refuse, and if you will not pity the girl, pity yourself. She offers to sabotage the wedding herself. Meanwhile Noor tries on dresses while Maysoun cries at her own memories, and a second household with its own secret marriage comes into view. I explain طايش, جبرني, أفشل العرس, and مو فارقة معي. Next episode: what the family really thinks of the grandfather. The full library, 350+ videos in Modern Standard Arabic and Levantine Arabic organized by level from Super Beginner to Advanced: https://arabicallthetime.com

Intermediate (B1) | premium | 00:17:53

I Could Recite It All. I Couldn't Understand It.

I memorized the whole muallaqa. I understood maybe half of it. That is where this part of the story starts. After I finished معلقة عمرو بن كلثوم, I went back and studied it properly, line by line, and then kept going: امرؤ القيس, النابغة الذبياني, more and more of الشعر الجاهلي, the poetry of Arabia before Islam, more than 1,500 years old. First the sound, then the meaning. That order matters more than anyone tells you. Then March 2020 arrived and the world shut down. Suddenly I had time, and I spent it with poetry. Alone in the car, twenty minutes to recite the longest muallaqa from start to finish, and something I did not expect happened: joy, sadness, anger, pride, love, calm, all of it moving through me at once. Reciting became my meditation. In a season of bad news and pressure, 1,500-year-old verses were the thing that steadied me. After all that memorizing, I did something bigger. That is the next video.

Intermediate (B1) | premium | 00:08:23

Nour 10: You Will Call Me Mama

Nour finally meets someone kind in the villa: عثمان, the estate keeper, who startles her on the balcony and then reveals he has known her since she was a child playing in the neighbors' field back in the village. He tells her not to worry, that she will feel some غربة at first and then it will pass. Yes, that word again, and in this episode I share my own غربة story, from Syria to Canada. Then Sharifa summons her. They are going to the market for wedding clothes, and the car ride comes with rules: in front of people, Noor will call her Mama. In front of the world, خانم. We are a family of the upper class, she explains. Noor, bewildered, agrees to a game she was never told she was playing. One friend, one enemy, one bride learning the rules. I explain رعّبتني, مناوبة, حنون, and the coastal Syrian accent Othman slips into, a variety hiding inside the dub. Next episode: the market. The full library, 300+ videos in Modern Standard Arabic and Levantine Arabic organized by level from Super Beginner to Advanced: https://arabicallthetime.com

Intermediate (B1) | premium | 00:14:53

I Chased English Across 4 Countries

English and I did not start well. I met it in school in Syria, chased it alone at home, sat in classrooms at the British Council in Riyadh, fed it movies, podcasts, radio, news articles, flashcards. Years of effort, in country after country, and the language kept its distance. Then I landed in America, and everything I believed about learning collapsed fast. Real English was nothing like studied English. In this video I tell the whole road, Syria to Saudi Arabia to the Emirates to the United States, what failed and why, and what immersion did that years of methods never could. It is the story that planted the question this entire channel grew out of: if living inside a language is what finally works, why does the world keep studying from outside it? My university later wrote an article about my journey in America. The link is below if you want the longer story. https://www.pcc.edu/news/2016/06/hasan-alhamwi-to-canada/ https://www.pcc.edu/news/2015/01/hasan-alhamwi/ The full library, 350+ videos in Modern Standard Arabic and Levantine Arabic organized by level from Super Beginner to Advanced: https://arabicallthetime.com Slow, clear Levantine Arabic, around B1.

Intermediate (B2) | free | 00:22:56

Nour 9: I Wished the Ground Would Swallow Me

Muhannad looked at Noor, remembered Nihal, and ran out of his own house. Now Noor sits on the balcony wanting to vanish, and she says it the way Syrians actually say it: تمنيت الأرض تنشق وتبلعني. I wished the ground would split and swallow me. While Nada consoles her with an old song and a harsh verdict on men, the rest of the family moves. The grandfather fumes through a fishing trip, and we meet فجر, the family's spoiled grandson, who begs his sister for money at her office and complains that a billionaire's grandson should not be riding taxis. We follow it scene by scene and I explain طايش, امسك إيدك, عم نتشرشح, and غار, the vocabulary of family trouble. Next episode: Noor finds one friend in the villa, and one enemy. The full library, 350+ videos in Modern Standard Arabic and Levantine Arabic organized by level from Super Beginner to Advanced: https://arabicallthetime.com

Intermediate (B1) | premium | 00:17:13

Can You Name Europe's Countries in Arabic?

Is Norway in the north or the south? Where does Portugal sit? And how many language families live inside one small continent? Today we travel the map of Europe, slowly, from Scandinavia down to the Mediterranean, asking simple questions and answering them together. Then the payoff: the languages. Latin ones like Spanish and Italian, Slavic ones like Polish and Croatian, Germanic ones like German and Dutch, and the beautiful strange ones like Greek and Hungarian that belong to no family at all. Slow, clear Arabic with the map on screen the whole time. Follow the map, and the Arabic follows you.

Beginner (A2) | premium | 00:10:47

He Started Arabic 7 Months Ago. You'll Hear the Result.

Kevin is from France, lives in Taiwan, and works as an online French instructor. He speaks nine languages. Seven months ago he started his tenth: Arabic. In this conversation Kevin tells me how he began, why he started with Fusha and then moved to Levantine listening, and how he reached a genuinely comfortable level in seven months while working full time. We speak in Arabic the whole way through, slowly and clearly, so his story doubles as your listening practice. In part two, Kevin and I talk about the method behind all ten languages, and about the channel he now runs himself. That video is next. The full library, 350+ videos in Modern Standard Arabic and Levantine Arabic organized by level from Super Beginner to Advanced: https://arabicallthetime.com

Intermediate (B2) | free | 00:26:25

Nour 8: "What Did I Do to Him?"

Noor steps out of the car and into another world. The villa is enormous, the staff is waiting, her room is bigger than her house, and for one hour everything is wonder. يا سلام. Then she meets Muhannad. Or rather, she does not, because he will not look at her, will not speak, and leaves without a word. Noor is left asking the question that ends the episode: أنا شو عملت له؟ What did I do to him? We follow the arrival scene by scene and I explain تفضلوا, يا سلام, عم تشلح, and تخت, the everyday words of entering a Syrian-dubbed home. Next episode: does the problem get solved, or does it grow? The full library, 300+ videos in Modern Standard Arabic and Levantine Arabic organized by level from Super Beginner to Advanced: https://arabicallthetime.com

Intermediate (B1) | premium | 00:14:05

I Tried to Start a Fight Between My Twin Sisters. I Failed.

Life with twins in the house is never quiet, so I sat my sisters Yasmin and Lotus down for a game called who does it more, and I came prepared for war. I did not get war. I got two people who split the housework like diplomats, share each other's food on principle, and agree on almost everything, including which one of them has a temper you should genuinely fear, which one gets an Amazon package every single day, and which one made her sister kill the ants for her when they were kids. Slipper in hand. The only fight of the entire game breaks out on the final question: who loves their brother more? One of them plays a card I did not see coming. A real family conversation in Levantine Arabic, around B1, full of the words Syrian families actually throw across the living room: دلوعة, قبضاية, بتعصب. If you can follow this game, you can follow a real Arab household.

Intermediate (B1) | free | 00:09:33