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Any Arabic speakers here? Come waffle with me.

6 replies

UnderTheDesk · 23/06/2022 21:54

If so, can you tell me what the story is with the Kh/R thing, please?
A friend of my husband is called Khaled. Perfectly normal, easily pronounced name, I thought. Except I was talking to a(n Arab) friend of Khaled tonight, and she pronounced his name something like Raalid.
Which reminded me of another friend-of-a-friend some years ago, whose name we pronounced Raa-doojj but the spelling of it was something like Khadajgi. Well, it wasn't that, but something like it.
Anyway...on to my question...is Kh pronounced like R in Arabic or ...what? Talk to me about the nuances of your language, please.

I'm Irish myself, so used to anglophones pondering how on earth "mh" is pronounced as a 'vee' sound (and "bh" is a very slight variation of that vee sound), for example.

OP posts:
Theala · 23/06/2022 21:57

TLDR: Does 'Kh' make an 'r' sound in Arabic?

Laanet · 23/06/2022 22:23

No, the 'kh' sound in Arabic is nothing like 'r'. The closest way I can explain the 'kh' sound is a bit like the 'ch' sound in the Scottish pronunciation of 'Loch'. Not sure where the pronunciation you heard came from!

Shitscared123 · 23/06/2022 22:30

Nope kh does not make the r sound. First time I’ve heard this. There are regional differences, of course, however that’s quite a big one.

Mollypolly2610 · 23/06/2022 22:35

GH as in Ghada is pronounced Rada

UnderTheDesk · 24/06/2022 06:23

Oh. God knows what I heard then. 🤔

Thanks!

OP posts:
DefiniteTortoise · 24/06/2022 06:26

Is the friend from a northern Arabic country, like Syria or Iraq? Apparently Syrians have a tendency to soften the more guttural sounds, so she might have softened a kh to a r accordingly.

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