How to read and say Jordanian Arabic

There are some letters of the Arabic alphabet that transliterate into English; others are completely foreign to English speakers, making them difficult to pronounce. The pronunciation guide shown below is case- sensitive; for example, 'th' is a different sound from 'Th' and 'TH'.

There are only two glides, or diphthongs, in Arabic. The first glides from 'a' to 'i' and gives an 'ay' sound as in the English word for bait; the second glides from 'a' to 'u' and gives the 'aw' sound as in the Arabic word mawt meaning 'death'.

One syllable of every Arabic word has more stress than the other syllables of that word. Much meaning is communicated in Arabic by the location of the stress. This is much truer than in most Western languages.

Vowels

Although some dialects have an 'e' and an 'o', there are only three phonemic vowels that are common to Arabic:

a

like 'a' in "apple"

i

like 'ee' in "cheese"

u

like 'oo' in "too"

Consonants

Characters marked by an asterisk (*) are ones that may prove more difficult for English speakers than the others.

a (ا)

like 'aa' in "back"

b (ب)

like 'b' in "bed"

t (ت)

like 't' in "top"

th (ث)

like 'th' in "think"

j (ج)

like 'j' in "jump"

H (ح) *

like 'h' in "ahem" (this sound is created by tightly constricting the throat muscles as you force air through; commonly referred to as "heavy h")

kh (خ)

like 'ch' in Scottish "loch" or German "nach" (this sound is similar to a gargled exasperation, as if someone were clearing his throat)

d (د)

like 'd' in "dog"

Th (ذ)

like 'th' in "that"

r (ر)

like 'r' in "row", but produced a little further back in the mouth, by flicking the tongue of the roof of the mouth. When doubled, this letter becomes a rolled 'r'.

z (ز)

like 'z' in "haze"

s (س)

like 's' in "sing"

sh (ش)

like 'sh' in "sheep"

S (ص) *

like 's' in "saw" (this sound has more force than an English 's'; commonly referred to as "heavy s")

D (ض) *

like 'd' in "dot" (this sound has more force than an English 'd'; commonly referred to as "heavy d")

T (ط) *

like 't' in "taught" (this sound has more force than an English 't'; commonly referred to as "heavy t")

TH (ظ) *

like 'th' in "other"

3 (ع) *

a guttural sound produced in the throat, perhaps slightly resembling 'ei' in German "nein", or like the 'aa' in "aargh" (as an expression of frustration). Many foreigners have trouble with this letter, and you will generally be understood even if you don't manage to master it! (While there are different methods of transliterating this difficult character, most Arabs (and this phrasebook!) use the number 3 in informal transliteration because of its resemblance to the original Arabic letter)

gh (غ) *

like French 'r' (this sound is a more guttural—or gargled—version of the English 'g')

f (ف)

like 'f' in "fox"

q (ق)

like 'g' in "got" or as a glottal stop (Jordanian Arabic only occasionally retains the standard Arabic pronunciation of this letter as similar to 'c' in "cat" but produced at the very back of the mouth.)

k (ك)

like 'k' in "kitten"

l (ل)

like 'l' in "lamb"

m (م)

like 'm' in "mother"

n (ن)

like 'n' in "noon"

h (ھ)

like 'h' in "help"

w (و)

like 'w' in "wow"

y (ي)

like 'y' in "yes"

' (ء)

a glottal stop (like the 't' in "better" if said with a cockney accent!)