Hello everyone,

 

My name is Aida and I’ve put this podcast together for you to help you listen to authentic material, spoken by a native speaker in colloquial Arabic. If you’re a beginner to pre-intermediate, then this is the right place for you to be to improve your Arabic listening and speaking skills.

 

In this series, you will be listening to a different topic each time. The purpose is to provide you with the necessary vocabulary on a wide range of topics, such as family, hobbies, studying, travelling and so on.

 

Today I’m going to speak about hobbies.

 

The questions I’ll be discussing are: Why do people need hobbies? What are the most common hobbies? Does everyone have a hobby?

 

Hobbies are activities we like to do in our free time. A hobby is something we choose rather than have to do. It should be something fun and entertaining. Perhaps the hobby we choose has something to do with our talents or our artistic and physical abilities. Athletic people usually pick up a hobby in the field of sports, such as football, basketball, swimming, or gymnastics. Other people, who are less athletic but love music, might learn how to play an instrument. The most common instruments that people like to learn are the guitar, piano, violin, and the drums. People who like to draw often develop their drawing and painting abilities throughout their lives. Drawing is considered a very relaxing activity and is effective in reducing stress.

 

Other people consider learning languages a hobby. They spend most of their free time trying to improve their writing and speaking skills in the languages they already know, or continually learn new languages.

 

In advanced countries, hobbies are more common than in poorer countries. This is because people have jobs that pay better, so they can work fewer hours and have more free time. Also, some hobbies require quite a lot of money if you want to take courses and improve your skills in these hobbies.

 

Also, in some cultures, where family bonds are very strong, a lot of free time is spent with family, either to help each other or simply to enjoy each other’s company. Hobbies are less important in such cultures.

 

Generally speaking, it is both fun and a positive thing to have a hobby. Firstly, because when we have hobbies, we do not become bored and start overthinking, which might lead to sadness and emptiness. And secondly, because when we have hobbies, we are learning something new. Learning new things should be a process that continues throughout our lives, even into our old age.

 

Now let me give you an example of what people might say in reply to questions related to hobbies.

 

 

I have several hobbies. My favourite hobby is learning languages. It’s something I started when I was a child. Learning another language at school puts you on the right track to becoming multi-lingual. Coming from two different cultures already helps you to learn languages more easily. Being able to communicate in several languages allows you to speak with people from different backgrounds, which I find very interesting.

 

I also enjoy reading. I believe reading transfers us to another world where we can see the world from different perspectives. We can learn so much from reading about the experience of other people. It’s also a great way to improve vocabulary and spelling. Reading is also a great way to destress because it gives you an escape from any problems or difficulties you might be facing.

 

Listening to music and dancing is a great alternative to sports if you’re not an athletic person. It’s also lots of fun if you dance with other people who also love music. Music is what makes any party more fun and entertaining.

 

I prefer to learn languages in the morning, whereas I find reading more relaxing in the evening. Obviously, it’s easier to pursue your hobbies when you’re still young and don’t have family responsibilities. With children, you begin to give priority to other things in life. Some people with children give up their hobbies completely at this point but might resume them again later on in life.

So, that’s all for today’s episode on the topic of hobbies. I hope you’ve learnt some useful vocabulary. Please don’t forget to like this episode and subscribe to my podcast. To learn Arabic faster, try to listen to the same episode two or three times. It helps you to get used to the structure of Arabic sentences and remember the new vocabulary.

 

Thanks for listening, take care!