Shakespeare on the Street: Standard Arabic and Choosing a Dialect

The sound of electric guitars and a steady drumbeat fill the amphitheater. Spotlights brighten the old columns and music sneaks into every nook and cranny of the nearly two-thousand year-old venue. Back then, amphitheatre-attendees favored gladiator combat. Today? A crowd-pleasing indie band, a concert attended by locals, clueless expats, and study-abroaders alike."

I admittedly fall into the latter. I am studying Arabic language in Amman for the summer and have filled my schedule with events—exploring art districts, historical sites, and even attending a concert in the city’s Roman Amphitheatre. A group of students have come along with me. We are talking, laughing, and having a great time, some of us starting conversations with neighboring concert goers. The woman standing beside me and I start talking. After a brief talk in between sets, she leaves me with a remark said with a smile: “Your Arabic is great! You sound just like an Al-Jazeera reporter.” ‍

In that moment and to this day I am honored by that comment. It is great to know that my not-so-native tongue can be understood by native speakers, even as clearly as a news reporter! However, as taxi drivers, shopkeepers, dialect teachers, and everyone in between remarked on my fancy and formal speech, it made me realize—maybe I should open up that dialect book. And that begs the question: should you begin studying Arabic with Modern Standard Arabic, or with a dialect? ‍

Most second-language students of Arabic begin their studies with learning the basics of Fuṣḥā, or Modern Standard Arabic (MSA). This is the written form of Arabic spoken by politicians, news broadcasters, or anyone in a formal situation. Arabic is a diglossic language. There exists this formal variety of Arabic, as well as a regionally-differentiated colloquial variety of Arabic. I may read and write in MSA, but it is not natural to speak in MSA on the street or in informal interactions—doing so would be like reciting Shakespeare to the Walmart employee who asks for your receipt. Will you be understood? Probably, mostly. Will you be laughed at and get some looks? Yeah, probably. ‍

Like most American students of Arabic, I started out learning MSA with the Al-Kitaab textbook series. In Chapter One, I learned how to say “United NationsUnited Nationsالأمم المتحدة” and I still don’t remember the word for “forkforkشوكة or فرشيطة, depending on where you are”, a telling example of the politicization of studying Arabic in the U.S. Tangents aside, I learned a very formal language. I listened to the news, read books, and learned poetry, all in MSA. I studied like this for about a year before studying in Morocco and really just getting my MSA off the ground with some minor exploration of the local Moroccan dialect. But it was during my summer in Jordan two years later that I had my dialect revelation when I had to take a dialect class.‍

Coming into this dialect class with great MSA but very minimal skill in dialect proved to be my challenge of the summer. Most students in the program had similar backgrounds—a mostly MSA-based education with some ventures in dialect here and there. Our inability to be informal became increasingly apparent as the class progressed. Even in the first class where we were tasked with learning how to introduce ourselves in Jordanian dialect, MSA slipped in anywhere that it could and we spoke in a mix of formal and informal. In that awkward jumble of language mixing, I remember our teacher letting out many disappointed ya Allahhhhhhh’s. ‍

As I went to concerts, shops, anywhere, I realized that I needed to get my dialect together, as my teacher lovingly told me. You can be the wonderkid of learning MSA, and that is great if you just want to read in Arabic and speak with government figures. But you won’t be able to get by in an actual Arab country without dialect. It is great to start learning Arabic with MSA to have a good foundation in fundamentals of the language. Being able to learn a dialect after learning MSA will be much, much easier than starting the other way around. However, there are drawbacks if you stick to learning the formal language alone. Not all Arabs have been educated in MSA. Not everyone wants to speak MSA. Colloquial dialects are natively spoken, MSA is not—again, are you going to go place your McDonald's order in Shakespearean English? Throughout the summer, this revelation sank in and I decided to focus on studying Modern Standard Arabic to improve my general skill and chose to focus on Jordanian (or more broadly, Levantine) Arabic to gain skill in a dialect. This choice has been extremely beneficial in my Arabic studies. I am able to understand formal broadcasting and read in Arabic, now in addition to podcasts, movies, and music from the region. I can have conversations where I don’t sound like I am trying to be arrogantly posh and make a standout of myself. ‍

So, to all new students of Arabic who are trying to learn all three columns of the Al-Kitaab dialect vocabulary: you do not need to suffer in this way. As a long-time learner of Arabic, I would recommend getting a good foundation in MSA and seeing what dialect you actually want to learn. Is there a specific region you want to study in or are interested in? Do you have family or connections to a specific region? Do you want to learn multiple dialects? Take some time to reflect and consider these questions before making any big moves. ‍

Luckily, when you do choose a dialect to study, there are resources aplenty. Movies, informal podcasts, content creators, TV series, are all good places to listen to dialects and get the rhythm and sounds of words sticking in your brain. My resource of choice is music, hence my many interactions with concert goers and music fans. Find out what works for you and it will not feel like studying, it will feel natural. ‍

I will still take pride in the remark that my MSA sounds like that of a reporter, but I hope that I won’t sound like I am reporting on Al Jazeera forever. ‍