Egypt's Berber speakers cling to language in isolated oasis | AFP

Youssef Diab drives his truck through the Egyptian oasis of Siwa, singing catchy songs in a local Berber dialect that clings to life despite the dominance of Arabic. The UN has classified Siwi, the easternmost dialect of the Tamazight language spoken across North Africa as far as Morocco, as "endangered."
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/ @afp

[@FrshJurassicPrnceYA]

It’s refreshing to see INDIGENOUS North Africans for once. I hope their culture and language survives.

[@OstrichFan]

Egyptians are also indigenous lol Like upper Egypt esp The amazigh are more indigenous to other parts with a small area in Egypt that they are indigenous to But it is still important for them to tell their stories regardless

[@sparklemotion8377]

You live under a rock?

[@WSDNE]

@@sparklemotion8377what

[@gmail7866]

You mean Nubians aka Sudanese.

[@FrshJurassicPrnceYA]

@@gmail7866 They are LITERALLY Berbers, not Nubians. But Nubians are indigenous North Africans as well so no surprise that they look alike.

[@maliekjcksn]

This language survived much longer than the Coptic language and hopefully it will continue on in the future

[@KingSargon96]

Dont forget the Babylonian Language

[@Marocchino_italiano]

is one of a lot of dialects of Berber

[@caroline8293]

It's so sad to let a language, a culture, an identity go. Vive Tamazight

[@MugiwaraNinjaa]

Brother all in North Afrika speaks tmazight me to. its Not sad its sad when they forgotten us 🙏🏽

[@almurabitun]

They need to stop Arabization

[@ab456z]

Please accept, and face reality. Arabization across North Africa has been very successful.

[@wpower7435]

@@ab456z I think you're not entitled to speak for them

[@regularbahamian]

@@ab456z its colonial lol

[@ZeuzBluez]

We need to compile a siwi dictionary and also record as many conversations as we can so that we can integrate it to rest of tamazight. Thanks for sharing.

[@sparklemotion8377]

What's stopping you?

[@safuwanfauzi5014]

Guanche of Canary Island long extinct that because of Spanish who also banned arabic and others tamazigth family language. from Canary to Siwa is the land of tamaigth, to the south Timbuktu to Agadez in Niger. Azawad is the 1st taureg-tamazigth state but nobody support azawad/north mali as indepedent country, moroccoo, mauratania, algeria. tunisia and libya do nothing

[@Comptesupprimeeee987]

@@sparklemotion8377 what brings you to this matter ?

[@sparklemotion8377]

@@Comptesupprimeeee987 I don't know, Sherlock

[@TenthouseV]

Please read tamil language and it's literature. You guys will shock...

[@Eniola0ne]

Siwa is the Homeland of Berber from Siwa always to Mauritania, Morocco, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, to the cost of Atlantic Ocean

[@Dingleberry_123]

Siwis are not genetically Berber, they are Berberized.

[@Eniola0ne]

@Dingleberry_123 The Siwa are Tamazeigh, the call shawi. They preserved the Tamazeigh culture, though they were under the colonial pressure of Arab dominated government of Egypt to use Arabic as franc langua, but they still speak the Tamazeigh language.

[@metrik1b.257]

Dont forget Kanarie ilands

[@user-ok9dc5qt8d]

@@Dingleberry_123 They are visually similar to the Tuareg

[@Dingleberry_123]

@@user-ok9dc5qt8d Chinese and Koreans are visually similar, are they racially the same? Also, Touaregs have Arab cultural elements.

[@pyro7521]

ur being heard much love from souss

[@rses916]

💖💖💖

[@user-gf5vt2nd2q]

Please egyptians please save this language

[@user-gf5vt2nd2q]

@علئ ياسر ؟؟

[@user-gf5vt2nd2q]

@علئ ياسر مفهمتش . اي شعب فينيقي تقصد ؟

[@user-gf5vt2nd2q]

@علئ ياسر ما دخل الفينيقيين

[@user-gf5vt2nd2q]

@علئ ياسر اي دليل ؟؟ اللغة هذه هي الامازيغية . و توجد ايضا في عمق الصحراء و في الضفة في المحيط الاطلسي . في كل من الجزائر المغرب ليبيا و تونس . كيف لها ان تصبح فينيقية

[@user-gf5vt2nd2q]

@علئ ياسر بلى امازيغية و انا فهمت بعض من كلماتهم

[@ashiaku9864]

It sounds like water when they speak it. So beautiful

[@shhdjdjdud]

Everyone who spoke in this video spoke in the Egyptian Arabic dialect, not in that language

[@sid-alitelab8958]

they just spoke arabic

[@Tomara632]

It's important that their ancient ways, language and symbols survive... They stretch back to the days of Cleopatra.

[@MisyeDiVre]

I think they predate those days.

[@captainpancake8177]

It's way older than that💀

[@SohoJoe202]

Cleopatra lol try 60,000 yrs before any European nation existed.

[@TenthouseV]

You guys please read tamil language and literature.... You will get surprise

[@sid-alitelab8958]

it's just berber's language not egyptian language as a whole

[@SohoJoe202]

It’s so refreshing to see the native Egyptians. Shalom to Haplotype E P252 and those with Ethiopian/Egyptian ancient roots. My ancestor was Ramissu lll. My family migrated to Angola and Cameroon from the 7th-12th century from Aswan.✊🏽✊🏽✊🏽

[@adonaiel-rohi2460]

I love you Berber Diaspora

[@agadirand4four347]

Ur Jewish right?

[@TenthouseV]

It's ditto Tamil language. We always calling Ama, appa for mom and dad.. and we preserve our cultures by songs and poems too...😊

[@corvusglaive4804]

Notice how dark some of them are? You can see how North Africa has been changed genetically modified by its proximity to Europe

[@osamintv6135]

You're delusional

[@ghassencsetwow]

more like sub saharan africans are influencing thoses

[@funniestever5333]

@@ghassencsetwow Sub Sahara is a racist term to separate Southern Africa from North Africa.

[@ghassencsetwow]

@@funniestever5333 its a desert that sepreated them how a desert can be racist? stop this woke bs, visit maghreb and then visit any country in sub saharan africa totally different world

[@funniestever5333]

@@ghassencsetwow desert is not separating anything..African people live in the desert. African people have been living in the desert for 1000s of years. They don't call themselves Sub Sahara only racist people like yourself call them Sub Sahara.

[@rses916]

This is the Maghreb in a few years unfortunately it is spoken less and less (it's what I've experienced during my latest stay in Morroco). Basically it is seen as shameful to speak it in public places and there are those who dont even teach it to their children at home any longer they grow up speaking darija only while arabic is taught and spoken at school. So I can see tamazight being totally wiped out from north Africa 20-30 years from now. (Might be different with Kabyles in Algeria tho, hopefully).

[@prosemite6204]

There are arabs in real arab lands that look like berber and northern ethiopian

[@rses916]

@@prosemite6204 what is your point?

[@rses916]

@@prosemite6204 Turks look like arabs too does that mean they are? Persians look like arabs does that mean they are arabs? Lots of jews look like arabs does that mean they are arabs? You're not making any sense.

[@donlegend1169]

@@prosemite6204 this subhuman arab is trying to say that berbers are arabs 😂

[@user-gf5vt2nd2q]

And touareg in south

[@thereplicant6027]

as an Amazigh ( berber) from Rif in north Morocco i can understand the siwa dialect somehow

[@najimnajim8305]

نرجو من الامزيغ مصر ان يحتفضوا عن اللغة الامزيغية من التشتية

[@damonvincent2339]

The true faces of ancient KMT are in western Egypt and southern Egypt. Northern “Egyptians” are Arabs, Turks, Greeks, romans, and Persians

[@ismaelcherif1418]

Yes but the majority of the North African are Berber from the West to the East, descendant from the different tribes. The majority today speak Arabic & they're Muslim.

[@babylonking9896]

Forced to become muslims against their will because of Arab invasion, and Islamicization and arabization of the North African region

[@anonymous3479]

@@babylonking9896 bro i am an amazigh and arabs forced no one matter of fact, the arab rulle on north africa only lasted 80 years (( algeria my coutry plus morroco)). amazigh took the arab languge as languge of the state and kingdoms but no one forced them

[@anonymous3479]

@@babylonking9896 you are not amazigh so stfu

[@babylonking9896]

@@anonymous3479 LOL you doofus

[@babylonking9896]

​@@anonymous3479 So did Uqaba Bin Fafe came to North Africa with flowers, and roses, and the Amazigh people greeted him with kisses and open arms, or did he come with massive army killing, robing and enslaving people? What was wrong with the Amazigh language that made you people take another foreign language as a language of the state. Don't you see what you're saying is wrong and doesn’t make sense? Arabization of North African have eroded your Amazigh identity, culture and language, and religion It's sad how you in particular Algerians, Moroccans and somewhat Tunisian have been brainwashed by the Arab culture. You just don’t anything about history. Please go read your history and see how well did the Arab invaders treat your Amazigh ancestors, and then come talk to me.

[@ahmadibnabubakral-habashi]

Siwa people are Berbers Black ⚫️ Egypt 🇪🇬 🦁 🦒

[@singhsahab9874]

Egypt early to distribute or surrender food, energy unitary sahara Africa..

[@sparklemotion8377]

The irony one minute video about Tamazight and they only speak Arabic

[@Comptesupprimeeee987]

Because he is speaking to a non amazigh speaker. The man he is talking with him will not understand him if he spoke tamazight to him. So he decided to speak Egyptian Arabic dialect. To be understood.

[@sparklemotion8377]

@@Comptesupprimeeee987 i was talking about the interviewer

[@zebraDtoriko]

its nonsense we moroccans speak berber algerians lybians , moritania and even senegal do . in morocco we started teching the language to kids at primary schools

[@Arapha_of_Akkadia]

Siwi is descendant of Esau

[@mohamedazouagh5359]

North africa is amazigh and coptic

[@honeybee3579]

Sorry so Coptic and Amazigh are different ethnicities?

[@ashtray0belief]

@@honeybee3579 Coptic is a writing system, it's not a language per se, despite it being clasified as such. For instance, ancient Egyptians used Coptic to write their texts (as well as poor Greek), and what would be considered "Coptic" is a mix of ancient Egyptian and Greek. Amazigh is a language (or rather, a group of languages), as well as a rathert diverse group of people.

[@anas-432]

Coptic is greek it’s not indigenous to egypt

[@genuscorvid]

@@ashtray0belief You're not quite right. Copt is the name Greeks and Arabs used for native Egyptians. All Egyptians eventually switched to a varieties of Arabic, Masri and Saidi. The Egyptians that adopted Islam eventually stopped being referred to as Copts and adopted an ideology of Pan Arabism during the 20th century. However, the Christian Egyptians of the Coptic church (named because it is the church of Egypt, of course) have resisted adopting an Arab identity and so they are continued to be referred to as Copts, and their liturgical language written in a derivative of the Greek script is known as Coptic, which survives even as the Coptic Christians speak Arabic.

[@ashtray0belief]

@@genuscorvid A genuine thank you for educating me on the topic.

[@moorishsociety7339]

The real Berbers Jah bless. These fake Egyptians in lower Egypt have nothin to do with ancient ones.

[@originsandcivilizations3983]

fake egyptian ?! are you dumb or what ..immigrants are not native to a land..these are immugrants from lybia and mali to egypt

[@moorishsociety7339]

@@originsandcivilizations3983 Nope these people are pure native Egyptians before you Eurasians took over.

[@ne0nwarr10r2]

Ancient Egyptians live on among the rural Fellahin and Saidi of Upper Egypt. They are the least admixed of Egyptians; they have managed to preserve the oldest traditions and practices. Even the Bible said Egyptians come from upper Egypt (Ezekiel 29:14). Lower Egyptians are a little bit more mixed with outsiders than the ones in Upper Egypt but that doesn’t disregard them from Ancient Egypt history as they are descendants of ancient Egypt their just more mixed.

[@corvusglaive4804]

@ippos_khloros absolute nonsense, stop talking foolishness. Everybody know that modern Egyptians are mostly mixed Greco-Persian-Arabs, native Egyptians looked like all other Horn Africans.

[@corvusglaive4804]

@@ne0nwarr10r2 EXACTLY

[@ShiningNoctowls]

🌧🌈