Lebanese Lesson: Lost Dubbed in Arabic

When learning a new language it's often helpful to watch movies and TV shows that you know from your native language dubbed (مدبلج) in the target language. That way you know can more easily absorb new words since you know the plot and what's happening even when it's not obvious from the characters' behaviors. I finished watching the first season of the TV show Lost (الضياع) a few weeks back and it was good for me because I first watched that season in English about 4 years ago so there was a lot I didn't remember which kept me interested.

Alas I don't think my favorite movies and shows like Star Wars and Star Trek have dubbed versions in Arabic. I don't know why but it seems like Arabs generally don't like sci-fi. It would have helped me immensely when learning if I had been able to watch shows that I actually liked which is why I think learning something like Chinese, Japanese, or Korean would be easier for me. They seem to like the same kinds of things that I like, video games, space, technology. I'm sure I'm generalizing with that statement but that's the way I see it. I was actually very surprised when I found Lost dubbed because it's one of the few shows that I actually enjoy that I've found in Arabic (aside from Disney movies). I know I shouldn't complain. Imagine if you were learning a language like Mongolian or Kurdish. I doubt you'd find much at all in the way of dubbed media.

Lost is actually dubbed in Lebanese which is rare because most of the time shows are dubbed in Syrian. If you've watched Lost before you know that there's an Iraqi character named Sa'id سعيد. Everyone on the island speaks Lebanese except for him. He speaks Iraqi dialect :). That's a dimension of authenticity you don't get with the American version. Here's a clip from season 2 where John Locke first enters the hatch and meets Desmond. As usual the transcript and a vocabulary list are below.