Скачать или смотреть Bilmasri podcast episode 13: تاكسي! (Reading from Al-Khamissi's Taxi)

(Episode first posted in June 2020) In this episode I read a chapter of Khaled Al-Khamissi’s 2006 bestseller “Taxi” تاكسي – حواديت المشاوير.. a compilation of conversations which the author had with Cairo taxi drivers, reflecting their daily experiences, frustrations, hopes and political views. In the chapter I read out, the driver expresses his disappointment by the meager protests taking place on that day, and his belief that Egyptians have missed their chance of ever starting a revolution.
The original text is a mix of فصحى and عامية. The author’s narration is in MSA, but his conversation with the drivers is in Egyptian dialect. And so in the worksheet (link below), you will find the following: on the left is the English translation, taken from the translation of the book by Jonathan Wright which appeared in 2008. On the extreme right is the Egyptian, either my version of the فصحى text or the conversations which were already in عامية. And in the middle, where applicable, are the bits that were originall in فصحى.
After the reading I explain some of the idioms and expressions that occur in the text*. I realised as I listened back to the recording that I speak a bit too fast in that final bit. My apologies for that… I just had a lot to get through and didn’t want the episode to go on forever! Please let me know if it was indeed too fast, or if you were able to follow. Thanks for listening!
(*BTW I realised after recording that in English, كوارع are “cow’s trotters” 🙂 )
Link to worksheet https://drive.google.com/file/d/1tqCQ...