الرقص في زمن كورونا

Language focus: Conditional ("if") sentences In today's podcast I read from an article found on BBC Arabic (link below), on a young Egyptian woman who decided to post videos on her Facebook page of herself dancing in her bedroom - videos that got her millions of views and many compliments, to her own total surprise. In the article Yasmen explains how she was initially very hesitant to post the videos. For one thing, her posts came at a time when young women were arrested in Egypt for their TikTok videos which apparently violated family values. Plus she simply expected a barrage of negative comments due to the reputation of belly dancing in Egypt. This reputation, she explains, was partly fueled by Egyptian movies which often depicted a young woman driven by poverty to the seedy world of belly dancing, and so a "dancer", or رقّاصة became something of an insult (as opposed to the formal, MSA راقصة which is used to refer to any kind of dancer other than a bellydancer - e.g. a ballerina). On the other hand, the article tells us of the number of women who in recent times have been posting videos of themselves dancing as a form of feminist protest. Yasmen, however, does not see herself that way, and says she is simply fighting for the right to be exactly as she wants to be in a conservative society that likes to judge women (which, we may argue, is a feminist thing to do, no?). Anyway, enjoy the podcast! Original فصحى text below, with the مصري version alongside it. Underneath that, you'll find a small overview of the use of the conditional لو in Egyptian Arabic. Finally, I wanted to let you know that I am taking a brief hiatus from podcasting until the end of the year, due to extreme time constraints. I really appreciate the lovely feedback I've received from you over the past few months, and I'm reassured that you're finding it as useful as I hoped you might, so I really hope to be back with more in the new year. Please continue to follow my idioms posts on Instagram and Facebook, and follow me on Twitter if you like for very occasional tweets. I'll also continue to monitor the blog for any comments or queries. Hope the rest of 2020 will be amazing for you and I'll see you in the New Year إن شاء الله!   بالمصري بالعربي 1 في يوم من أيام صيف القاهرة الشهر اللي فات، شابة مصرية كانت متجنبة الخروج من بيتها بسبب الحر الشديد وبسبب فيروس كورونا، فالزهق خلّاها تنشر على صفحتها على فيسبوك فيديو بترقص فيه على أنغام "مشيت ورا إحساسي" للمغنية روبي. في أحد أيام صيف القاهرة الشهر الماضي، تجنبت شابة مصرية الخروج من بيتها بسبب الحر اللاهب وبسبب فيروس كورونا، فدفعها الملل لأن تنشر على صفحتها على فيسبوك فيديو ترقص فيه على أنغام "مشيت ورا إحساسي" للمغنية روبي. 2 أجواء الأوضة البسيطة في الفيديو تبان كأنها مشهد من فيلم قديم: ضوء منخفض؛ مروحة عمودية بتلف مرة لليمين ومرة للشمال؛ باب مفتوح؛ دولاب خشب قديم في الخلفية، ومصباح محطوط قريّب من سرير. تبدو أجواء الغرفة البسيطة في الفيديو كأنها مشهد من فيلم قديم: إضاءة خافتة؛ مروحة عمودية تتجه بتتابع مرة نحو اليمين ومرة أخرى باتجاه اليسار؛ باب مفتوح؛ خزانة خشبية قديمة في العمق، ومصباح موضوع قرب سرير. 3 لكن كل التفاصيل دي ماكانتش واضحة، لإن كل الاهتمام منصَب على حركات الشابة اللي بترقص بانسجام مع الموسيقى وبأسلوب مختلف. لكن كل تلك التفاصيل لم تكن واضحة، فكل الاهتمام منصب على حركات الشابة التي ترقص بانسجام مع الموسيقى وبأسلوب مختلف. 4

Om Podcasten

Bilmasri is a podcast and blog (www.bilmasri.com) dedicated to the Egyptian dialect. It is for learners of Arabic (ideally anywhere between lower intermediate to advanced level) who have so far been focusing on Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), who may or may not have some knowledge of another Arabic dialect, and who would like to understand how the Egyptian dialect works. The starting point of most blog posts and podcast episodes is a text in Modern Standard Arabic – a news story, an excerpt from a work of fiction, or another form of text – which has been adapted into Egyptian Arabic. In the first part of each podcast episode, I will slowly read out the Egyptian version of the text. In the second part, I will take you through (in English) one or more aspects of the language just heard: this could be the pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary, idioms, etc., with a particular focus on the differences and similarities between Egyptian and MSA. The blog post will contain both Egyptian Arabic and MSA versions of the text, followed by a brief summary of the podcast discussion. The blog’s tags will help you find any language-related topics you’re looking for, and the episodes they’re discussed in.