Juba Arabic: A Distinct Dialect
If you ever thought that Arabic Juba, the lingua franca spoken in Equatoria Region, South Sudan is just Arabic spoken badly, then you just got another fact about Sudan very wrong!
According to a certain Ashari Ahmed Mahmud (PhD) Juba Arabic or Arabe Juba is a distinct dialect. I happen to agree with this doc.
Although not much is published in Juba Arabic, it still continues to be spoken among communities from south Sudan living in Khartoum, as well as communities in Diaspora. A dictionary has been published and with NGO’s rushing to the south, the book is becoming popular.
In Australia, you can call and get assistance in Juba Arabic. And here you could read some idioms and a story here.
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I love Arabe Juba!
It’s all shades of cute.
My mom has a way of switching whenever she’s around friends from Juba, to speak “their language” as she says. LOL And I have to sit in a corner and try to behave, because I really just want to laugh myself into a heart attack.
De kalaam sah!
When I am in Khartoum, you try hard to up grade your Arabic so that the Mundukuru can atleast understand you. What a relief it always was to get to Juba and start speaking your mind in Arabi Juba!
I remember the first time we moved to Khartoum, the family we stayed with had never been to Juba and does not undertans a word we spoke! It was hilarious to find a South Sudanese like you who couldnt understand your language.
I would love to put my hand on the dictionary, because every one seems to have their own spelling of the phonetics in Arabic Juba. It will atleast get the lingua franca written down.
Ana hibu Arabi taana ta Juba de shedid seysey
That is for you, Dalu!
Thanks Dr. K. K.
So are you from Juba? Or are you just living in Juba? lol My mom yesterday actually mentioned Konyokonyo but she was poking fun.
Anyway, yea I’m from Wau, our arabic is generally different. But I suppose it’ll still be pretty hard to understand us.
…I guess.
Dalu, I was born and raised up in Juba. It is the only place I know, besides going to Uni in Khartoum. Juba Arabic is pretty fun to speak.
We always had a big laugh too about the Arabic version fom Wau: while Juba Arabic makes everyone masculine, the Wau version makes them feminine!
@msdalu
Arabe Juba is fun indeed and very practical. The grammar is pretty straight forward and almost everything is musculine. You could be ‘Om ras’ in wau but in Juba that does not make sense. You will just be called ‘Abu ras’. If want to describe a lady blessed with some ‘jabat’, u just say ‘biniya abu jabat de’.
@DKK
lol. Because I get tired when trying to talk or discuss in the normal Sudanese Arabic, I’ve now made it a point to just talk in Arabe Juba…
…
guys, it’s monday and my mind does not want to accept that yet… DKK, how do i reboot this matter between my ears?
how cool….I heard some arabi juba when I was in sudan and I also heard it in some songs pretty cool indeed and fun. I tried to check out the idioms website but it gave me an error message…laih ya returnee????
@Sudan Returnee – ‘biniya abu jabat de’ hahaha
You are always on, aren’t you?
@Daana, wa’alla ana ma arufu le! It seems the site is down or something… I go there frequently and will let you know if it’s up again. Atlanta treating u well?
@msdalu, what can I say? I’m just an admirer of the great artist, sculpturer and comedian called God.
i just learned that in wau it’s ‘om solub’, right?
Oh sudan, yes, you are right. LOL
arabi juba is a lingo of my childhood foundation. i still practise it when i chit chat with my family and friends though i live in Australia. kede rabuna bariku jemee.. its alright hey?
I try so hard to learn arabi juba but faild many times its very diffiecult indeed but in the same time very intersting because southeren people are my countrymates.
I love Juba Arabic. I actual wrote some of the idioms and the story at Imatong website, some other items. You will find them in scribd.
BREAKING NEWS: UNDP SOUTHERN SUDAN GROSS ABUSE OF AUTHORITY & SEXUAL EXPLOITATION OF SUDANESE WOMEN
Story by Albino Deng (albinodeng63@hotmail.com)
The UNDP Office of Audit and Investigation based in New York has sent a team of investigators led by Elizabeth Gilbert and Nardos Asseffa to investigate serious allegations of “Gross Abuse of Authority and Sexual Exploitation of Local Sudanese Women” by UNDP International Staff. The chief suspect under investigation is Mr. Kun Vee Lee, Head of Operations UNDP Southern Sudan.
It is alleged that Mr. Kun Vee Lee a married man is having inimate sexual relations with Mrs. Josephine Baruch-Tucker, the Procurement Specialist who reports to Mr. Kun Vee Lee in violation of UNDP policy. More horrendous is the fact that Mrs. Josephine Baruch-Tucker who is a married woman is also having intimate sexual relations with two other married men working in UNDP Southern Sudan office, identified as Mr. Nassariudin Shah – Chief of Finance, Mr. Nadir Nassih – Procurement Officer. Mrs. Josephine Baruch-Tucker is a sexual maniac and behaves like a bitch on heat. She wastes no time in luring men to have sexual orgy with her despite the fact that she is a married woman. This has become a matter of concern to the local staff and they have reported the case to the new UNDP Head of Office, Mr. Yucer Onder, who wasted no time in inviting the investigation team from New York to investigate the rot that is eating into the moral fabric of Southern Sudan.
It is significant to note that earlier Mrs. Josephine Baruch-Tucker was having intimate sexual relations with Mr. Richard Okura – Procurement Engineering Adviser but when this was discovered by her supervisor boyfriend Mr. Kun Vee Lee, she changed the story and claimed that Mr. Richard Okura has attempted to rape her in the office. This resulted in the immediate dismissal of Mr. Richard Okura and the total removal of the Procurement Engineering Unit, which is credited with doing a very good job of vetting all construction related procurement contracts and saving UNDP and the Government of Southern Sudan a lot of money.
It is understood that Mrs. Josephine Baruch-Tucker used her sexual influence the promotion of Mr. Nadir Nassih who has now secured a very attractive UNDP contract as a Senior Assets Manager. The award of this job was done secretly without open advertisement by Mr. Kun Vee Lee, Mrs. Josephine Baruch-Tucker and Mr. Nassariudin Shah contrary to UNDP policy of transparency in hiring people to senior jobs. There is a lot of corruption going on at UNDP Southern Sudan touching on employment, procurement, missappropriation of funds and sexual abuse.
It has also emerged that some of the UNDP International Staff are expoloiting young Southern Sudanese women by giving them lots of money to sleep with them in the UNDP compound. One notorious International Staff Mr. Nelson Mbu – Project Manager from Cameroon has now impregnated Ms. Venesia Saidi a young Southern Sudanese woman and her parents are demanding that Mr. Nelson Mbu must marry their daughter because the pregancy is very advanced, but Mr. Nelson Mbu has been persuading the woman to have an abortion instead. Those who are familiar with the story say that this is the third Southern Sudanese woman to be impregnated by Mr. Nelson Mbu. For the other two named as Ms. Elizabeth Achayo and Ms. Fatima Abdalla he paid for them cash to have an abortion at a private clinic in Atla-Bara “C” near Juba University.
The recent sacking of Dr. Daniel Kabira – Head of HIV/AIDS by Mr. George Conway the UNDP Deputy Head of Office supported by Mr. Kun Vee Lee has shocked all the African International Staff. Dr. Kabira was sacked for refusing to release funds from the Global Fund to service an American NGO whereas the funds were meant for Southern Sudanese children living with HIV/AIDS. This is a matter of concern for the Government of Southern Sudan who have demanded that the UNDP office must be headed by a person of African origin who can identify with the aspirations of Southern Sudan.