Above, screengrabs from the Aljazeera report on security breaches in Sudanese prisons, and below, opening scene from Al Arabiya’s brief headlines report on the health crisis in Khartoum.
Background to This Week’s Texts
The two texts below are an excellent resource for testing your intermediate to upper- intermediate grasp of rapid, dense, headline-based snapshot reports on security and health issues relevant to the current crisis in Khartoum.
Both texts are standard journalistic Arabic and have built-in, accurate subtitles. Try to treat them as radio texts, so cover the screen while you listen. Alternatively, use the transcriptions below as pre-listening pronunciation tests. Can you deliver the two reports with fluent, correct pronunciation and vowelling in the style of a newsreader? Another option could be to treat the texts as dictations. Check your versions against the transcripts provided afterwards.
Possible Approaches
The first text (1.5 minutes) is a lightning overview of recent events in Khartoum’s prisons. Do you have any background knowledge on this issue? If so, what do you expect to hear? If you don’t, make notes on the key developments covered.
The second text (40 seconds) is a rapid summary of health challenges facing medical staff and patients in Khartoum. It consists of five statements summarizing health issues in Khartoum arising from continued hostilities in the capital. Write down your guesses in Arabic; what will those five statements cover?
Alternatively, what do you think these numbers might refer to; 24, 50, 61%, 16 (used twice) and 8?
Lexical Focus
For pre-viewing orientation, consider the following:
Text 1 – Aljazeera The Prisons Crisis
What expressions do you predict will be used for “clashes”, “escalating”, “prison”, “prisoners”, “be released”, “evacuation”, “sites”, “video clips”, “former regime”, “contradict (statements / claims)”, “deny / denial”; “news outlets”, “security situation”, “exchange accusations / mutually accuse one another of”, “be dressed / wearing /”, “to be behind a situation”, “attack” and “coincide with/ be simultaneous”?
Text 2 Al Arabiya The Health Crisis
What terms might be used for the following:
“warning”, “catastrophe”, “medical scare / supervision”, “risks / dangers”, “to give birth”, “prevention”, “spread of epidemics”, “laboratory”, “facilities” ,”infections”, “tampering / manipulation of medical samples”, “seizure / takeover”, and “medical samples”?
Watch Report 1 Here:
Transcript with Explanatory Notes
1 literally, in the shadow (perhaps here; / context / against the backdrop) (Zill) of escalating (mutaSaa ìda) clashes (istibaakaat) between the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces, thousands of prisoners (note one of two possible plurals used in this text, sujanaa’, in a number of central prisons, have found themselves free (note the form for “free”); note also muTlaq as-siraaH could be used
See too, from Bab.la;
2 local (maHaliyya) Sudanese sites (muwaaqi`a) have published / released (nasharat) video
clips (muqaaTi`a) of prisoners at the moment of their escape (firaar) from Kober Prison in northern Khartoum. The witness goes on to say that the prisoners, note another plural form, masaajin – all of them were evacuated (tamma ikhlaa’; note he is careful to use the word for evacuation of a place, ikhlaa’, rather than escape)
3 The prison includes / contains (yaDumm) a number of the leaders; (qaada) of the former regime (a-niZaam as-saabiq), at its head, Omar Bashir, removed from office (ma`zuul) and his deputy / vice president … In the beginning news sources (al-anbaa’) were contradictory (verb; taDaarabat) in the matter of the inmates exiting prison and leaders of the former regime
4 because of the danger (associated with) the security (al-amniia) situation (al-awDaa)in the district (Hayy) of Kober and neighbouring (mujaawara) areas (munaaTiq).
However, different sources (maSaadir) have denied media (wasaa’il al- `ilaam) (reports) of Bashir’s leaving prison or any of, literally, symbols (rumuuz) of his regime, and confirmed / stressed that he has been kept (tamma taHaffuZ, note preposition) in a safe / secure (aamin) place.
The two sides (Tarfaa) in the conflict (nizaa`) have exchanged (tabaadala) accusations (al-itihaamaat)
5 literally, standing behind / being behind the release (iTlaaq siraaH) of the prisoners …with news outlets saying (warada; to be said / mentioned) that those who attacked haajamuu) the prison were dressed in (yartadii) in the clothes (zayy), here uniform of the RSF, who responded with a denial / denying (nafii) this claim and accusing the army of being behind this matter. During the past few days, thousands have left a number of prisons
6 such as …….because of the lack of provision (tawaffur) of food and water and these events coincide (bil-tazaamun) with continuing operations to evacuate (ijlaa’) ………
7 and (various countries, among them ……………) have announced their evacuation or intention (niyya) to evacuate those under their care (their citizens) for approaching 9 days consecutively
Watch Report 2 Here
Transcript with explanatory Notes
24 thousand women will give birth without medical / health supervision / care and 50 thousand children are facing real (medical) risk / dangers; are at grave medical risk
61% of health facilities manshaat) are closed and only 16% of medical amenities (muraafiq) are still practising / at work
Specialized centres for prevention of (tafashii; spread of) epidemics (plural of wabaa’ ) / disease control centres / have stopped working and there is the possibility of (waquu`; occurance) infections (iSaabaat) as a result of drinking unclean / contaminated water.
There have been 16 attacks on centres (medical organization) reported and the killing / death of 8 personnel
The seizure / requisition / takeover, note preposition, of (Khartoum’s) medical (disease / research) laboratory has raised fears of biological dangers / risks and the tampering / manipulation of samples kept / stored there
Sudanese Arabic Documentary Transcripts with English Notes 