FELUKA EGYPT
Ready for a Surprising Journey in Egypt?
Sail off with FELUKA EGYPT and navigate Egypt’s language and culture, starting from local sayings
FELUKA Egypt, the innovative educational learning platform to exploring Egypt’s culture and language, starting from local idioms
About FELUKA Egypt
FELUKA Egypt for whom?
Language Learners: People worldwide interested in learning Egyptian Arabic and immersing in Egyptian culture. Students who have already started learnign either Modern Standard Arabic or other dialects can also benefit from the dialect classes and the coaching program.
Cultural Travelers: Travelers who seek more than just sightseeing, wanting in-depth cultural and language experiences.
Digital Nomads/Expats: Professionals moving to Egypt who need both cultural insight and language skills to fully integrate.
And, of course, for any curious person open to be surprised by the richness of Egypt’s heritage and the beauty of Arabic!
Why the need for FELUKA Egypt?
Feluka Egypt addresses a number of interrelated issues, proposing a bottom-up approach. They include primarily:
- Bridging cultural gaps through alternative narratives and immersive experiences;
- Communicative and culture-centered appoach for effective and enjoyable learning;
- Tailor-made experiences in connection with local initiatives for genuine cultural immersion.
How did the project originate?
Feluka Egypt born out of the larger project, Al Muhit The Ocean. Launched in 2019 as an Instagram page and later evolving into a blog and book, Al Muhit The Ocean aims to explore the beauty of the Arabic language in connection with everyday life reality of Arabic-speaking countries along the southeastern Mediterranean, particularly Egypt.
After taking part into the prestigious one-year post-master fellowship programme in Higher Arabic studies at the American University in Cairo, the founder has desired to bring this project to the next level, determined to share the treasure of knowledge that Egypt has continued offering her.
That’s how the idea of an educational learning platform, exploring language, culture and places in Egypt in connection with local popular sayings has originated and is now evolving.
Why the name FELUKA?
The feluka is a traditional sailing boat that has long been used in Egypt and across the Mediterranean.
By choosing Feluka as the name of the project, we immediately connect with Egypt’s language and rich heritage, while also opening a window to the broader Mediterranean world. Just like the boat itself, Feluka Egypt is about exploration, discovery, and bridging the cultural currents across borders, inviting the public to sail off for a surprising journey
our SERVICES
Arabic courses & Language Coaching
Talking with Egyptians in the local language is our goal. We learn everyday life sentences in different contexts,from the market to sitting with friends at a local café. Local idioms are the gateway for each lesson, which integrates culture and inputs on everyday life reality in Egypt
To ensure a well-rounded skill set, we integrate Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) into our personalized coaching programs, enabling learners to confidently navigate both everyday conversations and formal contexts
For Arabic learners at all levels, we offer tailored coaching program, to enjoy an effective progress with the language, together!
culture & society
thematic courses
To complement the language courses as well as to get prepared for immersive experiences in the country, we offer thematic courses (e.g., Egyptian cinema, cuisine) that bring the socio-cultural fabric to life while teaching practical language skills.
Travel design and consultancy
Ibn ‘Arabi explains that knowledge involves both the mind and the heart. Therefore, we learn information while feeling emotions, creating a long-lasting knowledge through powerful experiences.
Our travel itinaries and courses are designed to help you have this kind of immpersive and tranformative experience, full of emotions and knowledge, all in connection with the lively local culture and civil society projects
FELUKA EGYPT is currently under development, if you are interested in joining our boat, please feel free to get in touch and you'll receive updates on the upcoming launch!
In the meantime, some info to help you familiarize with the journey of learning Arabic and travelling to Egypt!
So, once Feluka Egypt is launched, you are ready to sail with us!
The arabic alphabet
Learning the Arabic alphabet will be our first step.
Once you master the knowledge of the Arabic letters, you can start reading out and writing in a new language!
Some basics:
- 28 letters
- Writing from right to left
- Abjad writing system: the letters written are mainly consonants.
Learning how to write can take some time and requires daily exercise for each letter. Once you learn how they look like alone, in the initial, middle and final part of the word, you will be able to recognize them and read!
The egyptian dialect
Learning the alWhile you can write the Egyptian dialect with the Arabic letters, a new system has been developed, called “Franco-Arabic”. It combines Latin letters with numbers. That’s good for news for non-native Arabic speakers, making it easier for them to know how to pronounce words. Franco-Arabic system:
- Latin letters
- Additional characters to identify special letters not found in the Latin alphabet:
- 2: [‘] ﺀ
- 7: [ħ] ح
- 5/7’: [x] خ
- 4: [ʃ] ش
- 9: [sˁ] ص
- 9’: [dˁ] ض
- 6: [tˁ] ط
- 6’: [zˁ] ظ
- 3: [ʔˁ] ع
- 3’: [ʁ]غ
On text messages, social media posts and discussions, you will probably find this combination of Latin letters and numbers. Don’t worry, it’s not a secret language, it’s Franco-Arabic!
SOME FACTS
Arabic language
There are around 290 million first-language Arabic speakers in the world, according to the language publication Ethnologue. The World Arabic Language Day is on 18 December since 2012.
The Egyptian dialect
It is the most widespread dialect in the region. In fact, the Egyptian cinema, music and theatre became famous all over the region. So, if you go to other Arabic-speaking countries, you can talk in Egyptian and people will easily understand you, even though they speak another dialect.
Egypt
It is a country rich of places of interest. It attracts annually.a large amount of tourists. According to the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics (CAPMAS), 102.8 million tourists arrived in Egypt in the last ten years. Remember, beyond the traditional commercial tours, there are many surprises to discover!
PERSONAL LESSONS
I HAVE LEARNT WHILE STUDYING ARABIC
