History Main / ArabBeobleTalk

An East Asian SisterTrope is JapaneseRanguage, which is potentially prone to UnfortunateImplications in the exact same way. A Central and Eastern European SisterTrope is VampireVords.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* ''Parparím meparperím''[[labelnote:Hebrew]]פרפרים מפרפרים[[/labelnote]], (slightly non-standard)[[note]]The standard would be pronounced ''mefarperím''[[/note]] Hebrew for ‘fluttering butterflies’, used to be a common {{Shibboleth}} used by the [[UsefulNotes/IsraelisWithInfraredMissiles IDF]]. Conveniently, ''Barbarím mebarberim''[[labelnote:Hebrew]]ברברים מברברים[[/labelnote]] is (slightly corrupted[[note]]Normally it’s pronounced ''barbárim''[[/note]]) Hebrew for ‘babbling barbarians’.
* In 2007, an e-mail asking people to wear a black shirt on a particular date to show solidarity with kidnapped soldier [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilad_Shalit Gil‘ad Shalit]] went viral in Israel. It turned out to be a trick to fool Israeli Jews into participating in the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakba_Day Nakba Day]] unwittingly. One of the things that made it clear was that it was a trick was that the writer of the e-mail mixed up /p/’s and /b/’s on occasion.
* Some Hebrew signs in Arab towns and villages in Israel often fall victim to this (for instance, advertising ‘combuters’ or ‘[[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Bikachu]]’), prompting a lot of sniggering from Hebrew-speaking Israelis.
* The Israeli Authority for the Development of the Galilee launched the ''[[http://www.jpost.com/Travel/Around-Israel/Northern-delights-347451 Kfar Bikártem]]'' program, meant to encourage Israelis to visit [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circassians Circassian]] and [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Druze Druze]] villages in northern Israel. The name is a pun on ''kfar''[[labelnote:Hebrew]]כפר[[/labelnote]] (‘village’) and ''Kvar bikartem?''[[labelnote:Hebrew]]כבר בקרתם[[/labelnote]] (‘Have you visited already?’) The Circassians do [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Circassian_language have their own language]], but they also speak Arabic, and the Druze speak Arabic among themselves, so the name given to the program comes across as using this trope.
* Google ‘Arablish’, and most results you find of mistakes in English based on phonological differences will be mistaking ‘salon’, a word which has been borrowed into Arabic as صالون /sˤaːluːn/, for ‘saloon’.
* During Operation Protective Edge, Hamas released a Hebrew version of their popular propaganda song titled ‘[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-Ouqp-YI-A Rock the Security of Israel]]’. The song was performed with a thick Arabic accent and used some very awkward and poorly used flowery language, making this incredibly {{Narm}}y song [[MemeticMutation ripe for mockery]] in Israel. [[IAmNotShazam It became popularly known as]] ''Tkof Ta‘asé Bigu‘ím'' ‘Attack Do Terrorist Attacks [sic]’, mocking the singers’ accent (the Hebrew word for ‘terrorist attacks’ is ''pigu‘im''[[labelnote:Hebrew]]פיגועים[[/labelnote]]), to the point that [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reshet Reshet]] referred to it by that name when reporting about another incredibly {{Narm}}y propaganda song, ‘[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL1AsQYvXkc We Shall Take the Zionists to the Gallows]]’, on their Website/{{YouTube}} channel.
* Israeli students of Arabic are usually very surprised to learn that Arabic has ‘only three vowels’. Expect to hear about it from any student with mild enthusiasm about the subject.
* Inverted in [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypriot_Maronite_Arabic Cypriot Maronite Arabic,]] a moribund dialect of Arabic spoken by Arab [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maronites Maronites]] in UsefulNotes/{{Cyprus}}. In this dialect, /b/ and /d/ turned into their voiceless counterparts, /p/ and /t/ respectively, e.g. ‘tomorrow’ is ''bukratan''[[labelnote:Arabic]]بكرة[[/labelnote]] in Modern Standard Arabic, turned ''bukra''[[note]]Same orthography[[/note]] in Levantine and Egyptian Arabic, and ''pukra'' in CMA, and most pharyngealised consonants merged into non-pharyngealised consonants (e.g. /q/ merging into /k/), leaving only the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voiced_pharyngeal_fricative voiced pharyngeal fricative.]]
* [[https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC-QZWTOtdsm6CNPHUR88irA N&A Productions]], an Emirati-born Iranian [=YouTuber=], is known for speaking with a notoriously thick Middle Eastern accent ([[WhatTheHellIsThatAccent though, whether or not it's an Arabic or Persian accent is made unclear]]), to the point where some viewers make jokes along the lines of "his English is so bad, he sounds like he's actually speaking Arabic."
* [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anat_Berko Anat Berko]], a Member of the Knesset for the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Likud Likud]] (centre-right party), [[http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/12/world/middleeast/israel-anat-berko-palestine.html?_r=0 made a jab at the Palestinian historic narrative]] by pointing out that Arabic doesn’t have a /p/-sound, indicating just how foreign the name ‘Palestine’ is. Berko herself is of Iraqi-Jewish descent. Despite maintaining this does not diminish the fact that there are Palestinians ''now'' and Jews have to learn to get along with them, she was met with harsh criticism--MK [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamar_Zandberg Tamar Zandberg]] from the leftist party [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meretz Meretz,]] retorted, ‘Do you have no brain?’ and the Arab [=MKs=] left the room in protest. This was widely mocked, with a snarky critic noting that by this "logic" Jews don't exist, as Hebrew has no "J".[[note]]"Palestina" in fact dates back to Roman times, with Palestinians calling it "Falastina".[[/note]]
[[/folder]]

* [[http://www.nbcnews.com/id/14836453/ns/us_news-weird_news/t/humiliation-aside-system-worked/ This led to the arrest]] of an Iraqi man flying with his mother out of O'Hare when a TSA screener pulled a penis pump from his bag. Asked about what it was, he whispered that it was a pump. Unfortunately, due to this trope, the screener thought he said it was a ''bomb''.

* [[https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC-QZWTOtdsm6CNPHUR88irA N&A Productions]], an Emirati-born Iranian [=YouTuber=], is known for speaking with a notoriously thick Middle Eastern accent (though, whether or not it's an Arabic or Persian accent is made unclear), to the point where some viewers make jokes along the lines of "his English is so bad, he sounds like he's actually speaking Arabic."

* The lack of the /p/ and /v/ sounds, replacing them with [b], [f], or [v]. This is unusual, as /p/ is one of the most common consonants across all languages (along with /t/ and /k/). Depending on who you ask Arabic also lacks the /g/ (hard ''g'' as in 'get') sound; some dialects use /g/ as substitution for other sounds, such as /q/ (like a ''k'', but pronounced further back in your throat) in Yemenite and /d͡ʒ/ (''j'' as an 'jump') in Egyptian, but other dialects which don't have /g/ will usually substitute it for a /ɣ/ or /k/.

* [[https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC-QZWTOtdsm6CNPHUR88irA N&A Productions]], an Emirati-born Iranian [=YouTuber=], is known for speaking with a notoriously thick Middle Eastern accent (though, whether or not it's an Arabic or Persian accent is made unclear), to the point where some viewers make jokes such as "his English is so bad, he sounds like he's actually speaking Arabic."

* [[https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC-QZWTOtdsm6CNPHUR88irA N&A Productions]], an Emirati-born Iranian YouTuber, is known for speaking with a notoriously thick Middle Eastern accent (though, whether or not it's an Arabic or Persian accent is made unclear), to the point where some viewers make jokes such as "his English is so bad, he sounds like he's actually speaking Arabic."

[[https://m.youtube.com/channel/UC-QZWTOtdsm6CNPHUR88irA N&A Productions]], an Emirati-born Iranian YouTuber, is known for speaking with a notoriously thick Middle Eastern accent (though, whether or not it's an Arabic or Persian accent is made unclear), to the point where some viewers make jokes such as "his English is so bad, he sounds like he's actually speaking Arabic."

* The lack of the /p/ and /v/ sounds, replacing them with [b], [f], or [v]. Depending on who you ask Arabic also lacks the /g/ (hard ''g'' as in 'get') sound; some dialects use /g/ as substitution for other sounds, such as /q/ (like a ''k'', but pronounced further back in your throat) in Yemenite and /d͡ʒ/ (''j'' as an 'jump') in Egyptian, but other dialects which don't have /g/ will usually substitute it for a /ɣ/ or /k/.

* Israeli satire show ''Eretz Nehederet''’s impression of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Abu_Tir Muhammad Abu Tir]] occasionally used this trope. He was portrayed as trying to re-brand Hamas as a cool organisation mostly into partying to lure Israelis into the Palestinian Territories, and at one point he gave the show’s host a flyer for a ‘party’ he was supposedly throwing. The host read the flyer as ‘''mesiba lebanim''’[[labelnote:Hebrew]]מסיבה לבנים[[/labelnote]] (‘a party for boys’), but Abu Tir explained it says ‘''mesiba labanim''’ (misspelling/pronouncing Hebrew ''mesiba lapanim'', ‘kickass party’).

* Some Hebrew signs in Arab towns and villages in Israel often fall victim to this (for instance, advertising ‘combuters’ or ‘[[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Bikachu]]’), prompting a lot of sniggering from Hebrew-speaking Israelis.

* Israeli newspaper ''Yedi‘ot Akhronot''’s weekend extra ''7Days'' has a column featuring [=WhatsApp=] group conversations among a kindergarten teacher and the parents of the children she teaches. The 2015-04-09 column dealt with a child using foul language at another over [[SoreLoser losing a competition they had in kindergarten]] and how to explain to the kids what the foul language means. One of the mothers mentioned having to explain to her daughter what ''kus emek'' (Arabic for ‘your mum’s [[CountryMatters cunt]]’; regarded as far milder in Hebrew[[note]]''kus'' in Hebrew is generally on par with ‘pussy’ in English[[/note]]) meant. She said it referred to ‘mummy’s כוס’, creating some shock and confusion, until she clarified she was referring to her ''kos'',[[note]][[NoPronunciationGuide written the same way]] as ''kus'' because Hebrew orthography doesn’t usually distinguish /o/ and /u/[[/note]] ‘cup’, as in her morning cup of coffee. When asked how she explained the different vowel, she said, ‘That’s how it is in Arabic and [[ArtisticLicenseHistory they invented coffee]].’

* Israeli satire show ''Eretz Nehederet''’s impression of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muhammad_Abu_Tir Muhammad Abu Tir]] occasionally used this trope. He was portrayed as trying to re-brand Hamas as a cool organisation mostly into partying to lure Israelis into the Palestinian Territories, and at one point he gave the show’s host a flyer for a ‘party’ he was supposedly throwing. The host read the flyer as ‘''mesiba lebanim''’[[labelnote:Hebrew]]מסיבה לבנים[[/labelnote]] (‘a party for boys’), but Abu Tir explained [[NoPronunciationGuide it says]] ‘''mesiba labanim''’ (misspelling/pronouncing Hebrew ''mesiba lapanim'', ‘kickass party’).

* The lack of the /p/ and /v/ sounds, replacing them with [b], [f], or [v]. Depending on who you ask Arabic also lacks the /g/ (hard ''g'' as in 'get') sound; some dialects use /g/ as substitution for other sounds, such as /q/ (like a ''k'', but pronounced further back in your throat) in Yemenite and /d͡ʒ/ (''j'' as an 'jump') in Egyptian, but other dialects which don't have /g/ will usually substitue it for a /ɣ/ or /k/.

If you want to learn more, [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} The Other Wiki]] has more on [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_phonology Arabic phonology.]]

* The Israeli skit show ''Ktzarim'' featured this twice:

* Another Israeli skit show, ''The Chamber Quintet'', featured [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PgJG5uvOvV4 this skit]], in which an armchair racist visits his Arab grocer after a bloody terrorist attack and insults Arabs crudely, saying they should all be massacred, somehow missing the fact that the grocer is an Arab, despite his thick accent. After he apologizes profusely, saying that he wasn’t thinking straight because of the bombing, he asks for some potatoes, and the grocer goes back to get him some; while he does, the customer urinates in the grocer’s pickle barrel (while ''still'' apologizing); meanwhile, the grocer urinates into the bag of potatoes, passing it off as the fresh dew from the fields. Once the customer leaves, the grocer calls his wife and asks her to throw away the pickles, saying, ‘That pissing arsehole was here again.’ He pronounces the Hebrew word for ‘piss’, ''pipi'',[[labelnote:Hebrew]]פיפי[[/labelnote]] [[note]]Yes, this did make translating [[Literature/PippiLongstocking Pippi]]’s name rather troublesome in Israel.[[/note]] [[AvertedTrope with a clear /p/]], but this trope is often played straight [[BeamMeUpScotty in people’s recollection]], adding another layer of humor--''bibi'' is a common nickname for the right-wing politician Benjamin Netanyahu, deeply resented in the left (among other things) for his amiable attitude towards xenophobic nationalists (the skit aired relatively shortly after [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Assassination_of_Yitzhak_Rabin the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzkhak Rabin]], which Netanyahu has been accused of promoting).

Due of its nature, this trope is mostly exclusive from Western, African and Middle-Eastern countries. Countries outside those regions (like Japan, South Korea, China, etc) have their own ways to stereotype Arabic language or sometimes they avoid this trope altogether.

* In [[DependingOntheWriter some]] Webcomic/{{Polandball}} [[http://i.imgur.com/KxOowN9.png strips,]] the Arab countries will (inconsistently) display this mixed with {{Engrish}}, the default dialect of the non-Anglophone countries.