What is Levantine Arabic? [Language Digest]

What is Levantine Arabic? Who speaks it, and what is its history? This episode of Language Digest focuses on Levantine or Eastern Arabic, spoken in the Levant which includes: Syria, Eastern Turkey, Iraq, Jordan, Palestine, Israel, Lebanon, and parts of Egypt.
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KOJII Website: kojiilanguages.com
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Twitter: / kojiilanguages
Facebook: / kojiilanguages
~~Making the world more open-minded through humor and in-depth study :)
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[@anisbbk45]

I recommend every one who wants to learn an Arabic dialect to choose Levantine it's Easy, Understandable n Sounds beautiful.

[@mohammedsaleh1338]

There was no Israel ,

[@renatodoe6661]

Your mom don't exist

[@mohammedsaleh1338]

@@renatodoe6661 you mad bro

[@zeuss2986]

@@renatodoe6661 immature, israel is a joke lmao.

[@Ash_tommo]

Israel who?

[@palestinabaddie]

toilet paper

[@renatodoe6661]

@@palestinabaddie go to hell

[@renatodoe6661]

Educate yourself, you arioul

[@muhammad_likes_dancing]

Palestine doesnt exist lol

[@hattapalkan8395]

thank you for this great video!

[@kojii6659]

Thank YOU for this great comment :)

[@hi._.golgo137]

Came here by accident but subbing. Sad to see you have stopped making content.

[@kojii6659]

I have been incredibly busy but I still think about re doing some videos in the near future.

[@Rachiraee]

I recently found out that I have Levantine ancestry through 23 and Me. I am truly floored because this part of my ancestry has been lost amongst my family members. I want to know everything I can about my people.

[@moussafarawn2715]

انا آرامي من سوريا الآراميين ليسو مسيحيين سوريا ولبنان لهجة متقاربة اما فلسطين و الاردن لهجة متقاربة لأن سوريا ولبنان يرققون الحروف اما فلسطين والاردن يستعملو حروف مدببة ضخمة النطق واسرائيل ليست من بلاد الشام الشام هي سوريا والاردن ولبنان وفلسطين هي بلادها ولكن تفككت سوريا الكبرى الى سوريا الصغرى ولبنان والاردن وفلسطين .

[@SKY911]

great video

[@no8986]

Jordan also has diphthongs (diphtongs?) where for an example "bayt" is "bät" or the "a" in the alphabet song. Also k is turned to ch in rural jordanian. For example, kalb (dog) would be chalb.

[@kojii6659]

Thank you for adding this!

[@ramajihad]

Lots and lots of misinformation Levant (Bilad Al-Sham) was one state in the ancient times , and was made up of Syria, Jordan, Palestine and Lebanon ONLY Iraq and Turkey are not part of Levant Israel did not exist in ancient times so it’s not part of Levant too WE ARE NOT ONE STATE

[@rro3924]

Some parts of nowadays Iraq, Egypt, Turkey and Saudi Arabia are from the levant

[@renatodoe6661]

You're talking nonsense

[@ShayPatrickCormacTHEHUNTER]

Such a thing never existed. Lol.

[@rro3924]

@@ShayPatrickCormacTHEHUNTER israel did not exist lol

[@ShayPatrickCormacTHEHUNTER]

@@rro3924 Please do not confuse your religious feelings with reality. They are indeed incompatible.

[@boshgezenyan5935]

OMG! I speak levantine 3arabi. God bless me :D

[@kaddanwasoouf8275]

Iraq Turkey not part from levant 👍🏽levant are the big ancient syria pl leb jord syr

[@talias476]

Yep, and arabic in Iraq is completely different to levant arabic.

[@kaddanwasoouf8275]

@@talias476 where are yiu from?

[@talias476]

@@kaddanwasoouf8275 Lebanon 🇱🇧 how about u?

[@kaddanwasoouf8275]

@@talias476 I'm syrian

[@28Justchecking]

South of Iraq and a part of Egypt were Levant someone missed his class as same as the pple who liked your comment 🤣

[@AishaAtiqueArar]

INFORMATIVE!

[@saarthel8532]

After seeing the french influence in some levantine arabic (like the "merci" example), i made the link between the sound shift from "th" to "z" or "d" and the fact that these are the same way french speakers would pronounce the english "th" as well

[@Anonymouse166]

City accents throughout the Levant is very similar . Someone from Aleppo can easily communicate with someone from Beirut or Hebron using same vocabulary. But villages 50 miles apart could have very different accents

[@b1_zelleone]

Dude you have the art of story telling. I will be be learning here. I meant tapping in lol

[@kojii6659]

Thank you so much!! That actually means so much and I'm so happy to hear your feedback. I've been lacking lately with these videos due to other work, but I definitely plan to make more :)

[@aboodlifetv778]

Cyprus is levantine too

[@meee6584]

No

[@aboodlifetv778]

@Ching Chong no no no greeks invaded it then after the rise of ottoman empire the Turks took it.

[@aboodlifetv778]

@Ching Chong and who said levantine are arabs!!! They're not most of the vocabulary they use are from Turkish culture.

[@meee6584]

@@aboodlifetv778 we are Arabs

[@aboodlifetv778]

@@meee6584 we are not but we are Arabized

[@Kolvatn]

For 2 weeks I've been thinking between Darija or Levant

[@ibbyltn5537]

Same, everyone is recommending me to learn Levant but I'm not too sure which one I should learn

[@onlyonegod701]

go with levant 100% no one will understand darija only darija speakers so if u learn levantine everyone will understand you

[@ibbyltn5537]

@@onlyonegod701 I decided to go with MSA in the end so I can learn the Qur'an at the same time

[@onlyonegod701]

@@ibbyltn5537 Oh! thats a good idea actually but you should definitely find a dialect you like to so you can speak normally with arabs. if u choose levant u should go with syrian. arabs that don't know fusHa (MSA) still understand quran

[@ibbyltn5537]

@@onlyonegod701 I think I'll definitely go with the Syrian dialect once I'm done with MSA :)

[@middleeasternvibes7981]

Hi I'm iraqi.. don't associate us with levant... Thank you

[@evanr6421]

يقصد الموصل He means Nineveh and far-northwest of the modern-day Iraq

[@niklas1914]

Will most Arabs understand levantine/Syrian dialect?

[@ak_3rab]

Its by far the most universally understood version or Arabic. I would say The Levantine Arabic is the Most comprehensive while Maghrebi and Iraqi dialects are the hardest

[@niklas1914]

@@ak_3rab is not Egyptian more understood?

[@ak_3rab]

@@niklas1914 NOPE! I would say Egyptian is like a step below Iraqi and Maghrebi. It’s probably the 3rd hardest dialect to understand. I can understand around 75% of what they say but as soon as they start throwing in slang I become extremely confused

[@RR-nf3qh]

@@niklas1914 Egyptian Arabic is widely understood throughout the Arab world mostly because of TV shows and Movies but in reality it is not an easy dialect it is just popularized

[@TheUnique69able]

Yes

[@regularman5914]

I’m from Jordan 🇯🇴

[@loai9689]

دايما اشوفك

[@smokeedinero]

On God we're early Christians yurrr

[@ak_3rab]

The Second you said “Israel” you immediately lost the interest of Syrians, Jordanians, Palestinians, and Lebanese. Being Syrian myself that was the only part of the video I disliked. But great information overall 👏🏼 Also the “northern levantine” actually depends from city to city. As someone from Aleppo I don’t sound at all like someone from Damascus. Just like someone from Gaza doesn’t sound like someone from Jerusalem.

[@kojii6659]

Thank you for your feedback. I know, especially more recently, the topic of Israel is incredibly sensitive. I tried avoiding even mentioning Israel as a country and simply calling it a 'region' but apparently people are still very sensitive about that. Nevertheless, I really appreciate your feedback!

[@ak_3rab]

@@kojii6659 😂😂 yeah mate just you saying the word Israel could turn a whole room against you. The truth came out against the apartheid regime and now there are a lot more supporters of Palestine thanks to social media

[@ak_3rab]

@Fadel Gassin bro you ever heard a Halabi speak vs a Shammi speak? They sound wayyyy too different. True we share many words but we also differ in many words. As Syrian you speaking of Iraqi dialects even though I hardly understand any of them makes me confused lol 😂 Love Iraq from Syria doe!!!

[@boshgezenyan5935]

first part of ur paragraph LOL. respects to all

[@meee6584]

@@kojii6659 the main point was that Israelis don’t speak real levant Arabic they speak their own dodgy Walmart version

[@omaralfar1666]

Iraqi Arabic is not part of Levantine Arabic, but a part of Mesopotamian Arabic, along with North Mesopotamian Arabic.

[@fmribra664]

Israel? Lol that’s funny since when the Israelis speak Arabic I thought their language is Hebrew

[@kojii6659]

My man re-watch the video and listen carefully. Also, Levantine Arabic is spoken in Israel.

[@fmribra664]

I watched your video there’s no point to watch a video that has false information please reconsider learning the Middle East very well before making sensitive topics. Israel is not Arab nor middle eastern to have it mentioned whenever someone talks about an Arab dialect. You want to include Israel in your videos make a whole video about Israel but don’t say Israelis speak Arabic 🤣

[@kojii6659]

@@fmribra664 ​ Arabic is technically the second language of Israel (Re Berkley Center for Religion, Peace & World Affairs). There are some towns (albeit they are underfunded, and isolated from mainstream society) that have a large Arab community. I knew a guy who was Palestinian and lived in Israel. He grew up speaking Palestinian/Levantine Arabic, Hebrew, and English. I never even said Israelis speak Arabic in the video. I simply said the Levant includes regions SUCH AS "Israel"... and before you come at me saying Israel is not a part of the Levant, yes, yes it is according to many sources. How about before you start attacking me you watch carefully what you're talking about buddy :)

[@meee6584]

@@kojii6659 they don’t speak real Levantine Arabic they speak a similar but very crappy version

[@arupabukenuluattilahan9053]

Turks aren't speaks arabic as well but Arabs in Southeast Turkey speaks. admin is right re watch the video

[@n.al-n.7580]

Us Arabs know more than you what Levant is

[@kojii6659]

So why don't you make videos like these and spread your culture, history, and language :(

[@sashuniverse2753]

Whoa I never see iraqs flag in 2020

[@Atribak]

Arabic word for house is manzil

[@middleeasternvibes7981]

Its "Beit"

[@Atribak]

@@middleeasternvibes7981 Manzil is fosha

[@alimoustafa5114]

levan , word from Phoenician word for white or milk

[@CharbelY]

No only Lebanon was named after the phoenician word for white (lbn : 𐤋𐤁𐤍) because of the snowy mountains

[@CharbelY]

Also levan can not be a phoenician word since the phoenician alphabet does not have vowels

[@dugo973]

Saix Beco

[@n.al-n.7580]

Good God, Iraq is a TOTALLY different accent! Has nothing to do with the Levant accent, they have a distinct dialect that’s not similar to any other accent like the Egyptian dialect, this is wrong 😑

[@n.al-n.7580]

No Levant is just Jordan Lebanon Syria and Palestine, that’s it. Iraq is not a Levant country and no such thing as Israel.

[@ahmadnidal4777]

Iraq and Syria aren’t levant

[@meee6584]

Syria is but Iraq isng

[@johnsonsmith3421]

Israel who?