The colon in the word “juu:aan” represents one of the hardest Arabic sounds and does not have any sort of substitute sound in the English language. We need to stress letter “T” in the word “baTTa” because it is doubled and when a letter is doubled in Arabic, it means that we need to double pronounce it or, in other words, emphasize it. People tend to find it difficult initially but with practice, anybody can perfect it. It is similar to the sound of the “th” in the English word “father”. To pronounce the correct sound of “DH” in Arabic, you need to put your tongues between your teeth.
As an example, the word “butter” in English can be pronounced the same way by dividing it into two parts like bu-‘-ter. To make it simpler, it would be ideal to pronounce the two parts as 2 different words with a mini pause in between.
The apostrophe that appears in the middle of the word means that you should cut the word into two parts when you pronounce it. This is a very tricky sound found in many Arabic words. The “gh” sound in Arabic is very similar to the sound of ‘ r’ found in the French language. It is almost a gargling sound produced from the back of the throat.
People have to really train themselves to learn how to pronounce the letter “ghayn”. The challenge in pronouncing this word is that it contains one of the hardest sounds in Arabic: “gh”. To pronounce this letter correctly, you must press your tongue against your upper gum area, right where the gum meets your upper teeth, and then make the ‘S’ sound as you should in SabaaH l-khayr. The first letter in SabaaH l-khayr is the sound-mate of the letter “s” but makes a gruff ‘ s‘ sound that isn’t commonly found in other languages. Same as the previous one, the capital “K” at the beginning of the word never sounds soft so when learners mispronounce it in the word “Kalb”, the meaning changes from a heart to a dog! It must sound like the final sound in the English word “truc k” but with more gruffness to attain perfection.Īdditionally, the pronunciation is of two syllables and not just one. To hear the sounds of the alphabet, check them out in our Arabic Online Course. More importantly, people usually forget to pronounce the letter “h” that appears in the middle of the word, and that alters the entire meaning of the sentence. Also, it is not to be confused with the letter “kaaf” which is softer in sound and written with a small “k”. Hence, the mispronunciation of most words in Arabic often includes the letter “Kaaf”.
It can actually be pronounced like a regular k but with the tongue farther back. The first letter in the word “Kahwa” is known as the letter “Kaaf” (with K written as a capital letter) and is one of the letters that doesn’t really have a counterpart in English. Here are some tricky words with pronunciation tips to help you sound just like a native Arabic speaker. So, time to unravel those tongue twisters and help you get started on the journey of perfectly spoken Arabic.
Chances are, as a new learner, your web search would probably be full of queries such as ‘how to pronounce Arabic words correctly?’ However, there’s no need to panic! All new language learners go through similar learning curves and once you master those sounds, it becomes pretty straightforward to articulate all the Arabic words perfectly. While the benefits of knowing the language are aplenty, it can be difficult for native English speakers to master the heavy sounds and pronunciation accurately. Additionally, as more businesses plan to expand into the Middle East, knowledge of the Arabic language can support you in securing an excellent job opportunity and also help define your career goals.
While knowing more than one language is an excellent skill to have, for both personal and professional reasons, fluency in Arabic is indispensable if you plan to visit an Arab country or, more importantly, wish to work for the government. Having been around for over 1,500 years, Arabic is the official language of 26 countries and one of the 6 official languages of the United Nations. Arabic, a language spoken by more than 300 million people around the globe, is one of the most beautiful and unique languages to exist.