Playaling (+ house vocabulary)

Playaling is an incredible site for Arabic-language videos of all levels. The videos are pulled from genuine sources (rather than made for a classroom) so there’s an amazing variety of people, scenes, and scenarios featured in different clips. The videos are searchable by language level and dialect including Egyptian, Levantine, Gulf, and Moroccan Arabic. Content can even be sorted by video theme (everyday, religious, political, history, etc.) and by popularity. All the videos have Arabic transcripts and English translations so you have an easy reference if there’s something in the video that you don’t understand. Playaling is a site worth bookmarking! Scroll down to explore one of the Playling posts.

Here’s the Playaling instructions for how to use their site:

1. Search individual clips by filtering for preferred level, content, dialect or Modern Standard Arabic (MSA).

2. Play them once to train your ear, and then activate interactive captioning to learn what you missed. All content is equipped with optional transcription and translation, though some also includes conversion to MSA and transliteration.

3. Simply move your cursor over the transcribed text to discover meanings, along with grammatical and contextual information.

As an example, I’m going to focus on a Playaling YouTube video of a mansion tour in Istanbul. The walkthrough gives a great list of house-related vocabulary while offering context clues for each word and a healthy dose of luxury sea views. This video is in عامية مثقفة, which translates literally to “cultured slang”. It’s a more formal version of Ammiyah that sounds like a mix of dialect (in this case, Levantine) and Fusha Arabic. Below, I’ve pulled some of the most useful words from the transcript. Hopefully, this will inspire you to search Playaling and find videos you’d like to study.

Vocabulary / مفردات

فيلا / فلل
Villa(s)

حديقة / حديقات
Garden(s)

تراس
Terrace

صالون
Salon

التشطيب
The finishings (i.e. decorations, furnishings, etc.)

مفروشة
Furnished

الإنارة
The lighting

خشب
Wood

AC مركزية
Central AC

البرادي
The curtains

خزانة / خزائن
Cupboard(s)

فرن
Oven

بلكون
Balcony

زجاج
Glass

جراج
Garage

مخزن
Closet

غرفة المتعة
Storage room

الغسيل
The laundry

مرتب
Tidy

مراية
Mirror

دش
Shower

جلسة
Sitting room

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