Sara Gaballa Gubara (Sara Jadallah Jubara) – A Sudanese Sports and Cinema Legend
Background to This Week’s Text
This week’s 6-minute NUUAR Media interview with the Sudanese film director and sporting legend, Sara Gadalla Gubara, allows us to step into the creative life and world view of a most remarkable woman. Sara Gadalla Gubara enjoys the enduring respect of both young and old and remains a figure of powerful political, artistic and social relevance.
The text is straightforward, lower-intermediate colloquial Sudanese, interspersed with occasional English phrases. You will probably come across few new words but the natural, spontaneous delivery and intonation, as well as Sudanese dialect sentence structure make this a useful consolidation text.
The text appears with automatically generated and often inaccurate English subtitles. Resist the temptation to access them!
After working on this week’s text, learn more in the longer, accurately (English) subtitled Ted Talk given by Sara here:
See too Sara Gadalla, My Story
https://www.africanews.com/2016/07/25/making-the-remnants-of-sudan-s-cinematography-matter/
Learn more about the artistic legacy of Sara Gadalla Gubara’s father in Frédérique Cifuentes’ moving documentary;
https://www.sudanmemory.org/cms/91/
Possible Approaches to the Text
If you would like to use this week’s text as consolidation, why not try to imitate Sara’s intonation and turns of phrase by reading the text aloud as naturally and as quickly as possible? Alternatively, try to use some of the expressions in the interview to describe how you took up a hobby or activity, where you feel most at home or how you feel about a social / cultural issue that concerns you.
If you are not familiar with Sara Gadalla’s life story or that of her father, why not watch the interview without accessing the specific comprehension questions and lexical focus provided below. Make notes on any aspects of her life that you would like to learn more about. Then open the links above to learn more. If you are familiar with Sara Gadalla Gubara’s life story, what questions would you ask her if you had the chance? How many are included in the interview? Do any of the interview questions surprise you?
If you would like specific comprehension areas to focus on, then consider:
Why did she feel so at home in the water? What’s her family background? What physical disability did she learn to overcome and how? How does she define her father’s legacy? How does she see the situation for people with disabilities in Sudan? What is a source of sadness for her? What is her message for the furtherance of women’s rights? What role does the cinema play in defining identity? What’s her view of Sudanese young people today? What’s the story behind her use of the expressions “a palace”, “a mud house”, “The Nile”, and “to die heartbroken”?
If you would like to practice your Sudanese Arabic question forms, write down how you would ask the following questions in Sudanese colloquial and then compare your accuracy with the written questions that appear on the screen:
What was it that led to you / made you / become a swimmer? What inspires you? What / Who are you most grateful to? Was his contribution given its rightful place / given its due? What keeps you going / carrying on? What gives you hope?
Lexical Focus
You can expect to hear expressions for the following ideas:
“film directing / film director”, “I caught / got a disease”, “treat / cure a disease”, Sudanese colloquial for “to go all round the world”, “muscles”, “polio”, “become hooked on a hobby / activity”, “stick to / persevere with a job”, “a contribution to be given the recognition it deserves”, “intelligence forces”, “courage” and “Olympic champions”.
You can also expect to hear words for “swimmer and to swim”, “cycle”, “people with special needs”, “people with disabilities”, “plan for change”, “train (athletes)”, “act / become actors”, “make a stand / stand up for / against and to stand with someone”, “from personal experience”, “consideration for”, “human being”, and “roots”.
Watch the Interview Here:
Transcript
Transcript with Explanatory Notes
1 ikhraaj; (film) directing
2 perhaps here; that set me on the road to
3 mukhrija; film director
4 note the colloquial structure and expressions used in this question and echoed by Sara in her answer; What led you to / made you become a swimmer (sabbaaHa)?
5 I got / caught (note the construction jaani shalal) (childhood) polio
6 here; my father went all round the world, laffa, (i) bii; to tour / go about. Also laffa can mean to turn / coil, wind; laffa da-waraan, to move in circles, laffa wa dawwar; to go round a topic; laffa bi, also to wrap. Note also laflaf; to scour a place, go from shop to shop laflafeenaa as-suug kullo; we scoured the whole market, (looking for…)
7 i `laaj; cure
8 cycle (tarkib ‘ ajala) and swim (ta` uumii)
9 so that the muscles; `aDalaat
10 it` allaga bii; perhaps here, and I stuck to it / became hooked; literally to cling to, get attached to sth
11 biHis bii; I feel that; Hassas; (taHsiis), Hassa bi-milal; to feel bored / Hassa bii, also be aware of
12 murtaaHa; relaxed, at ease, comfortable
13 What inspires (ilhaam; inspiration) you?
14 bitgiif fii; to stick to it
15 bishakl mubaashir; directly / in a direct way
16 What (what’s the thing you are) are you most grateful (mumtana) for?
17 because I find my soul / spirit (ruuH) in it
18 abdi`; create / be creative
19 an expression meaning here; was his contribution (musaahamaat) given the place / merit it deserved / was it recognized; akhadat Haggaha
20 maat bi Hasrati; an expression meaning to die heartbroken; Hasra; heartbreak
21 istakhbaaraat; the intelligence forces
22 military housing, housing for officers; DubbaaT; plural of DaabiT, officer
23 (from the subtitles) if you plan for it
24 planned; see 23); mukhaTiT and in next line, find the support (da `am) that you found when you are young
25 yatamarrinu; to train / exercise (tarrama),verbal noun, tamriin), train, exercise, drill
26 biTaDarr; feel obliged to / forced to
27 taSruf `ala; spend money on / support financially; also receive salary and to cash a cheque
28 act / become actors
29 `ala Hisaab; at the expense of their family
30 we need to make a stand
31 real Olympic champions (abTaal; plural of baTal )
32 those with special needs; iHtiiyaajaat khaaSSa
33 muraa`aa; consideration for the
mu` aagiin; disabled
34 from personal experience, `an tajruba shakhSiyya
35 why did you turn out to be a girl!
36 I’m a normal person
37 note this expression (beni aadam) for “I’m human being”
38 Why is documenting important?
39 huwiyya; identity
40 simply put / to put it simply; bilbasiiT kida
41 What keeps you going / makes you carry on?
42 Perhaps here, I see myself as the completion / continuation (takmila) of my father’s dream; also complement and sequel in other contexts
43 not being able to realize / fulfil my dreams
44 banbasiT; from mabsuuTa; I am content / happy when
45 amazing mudhish(iin) poets shu` araa’
46 despite the suffering (`aanaa)
47 tanjiz injaazaat; literally to achieve / accomplish great achievements
48 because I just can’t leave / go abroad
49 roots ( judhuur)
50 all they need is for us to stand with them
Sudanese Arabic Documentary Transcripts with English Notes 