🎒 What you need

the shared phone, about 20 minutes
headphones if possible
your hand on your throat

✋ Do this

Listen to ع and ح side by side ten times before attempting either. They are made in the same place; ح is voiceless and breathy, ع is voiced and tight.
Hand on throat. Say ح — a hard whispered h with the throat narrowed. No buzz under your hand. Then ع — same narrowing, but now with voice, so you feel the buzz.
Now ق. Make a k as far back as you can, at the very root of the tongue, not where English k sits. Say قلب — qalb — heart — ten times.
Say ص in صديق — ṣadīq — friend. It is an s with the whole back of the tongue raised, giving it a dark, heavy sound.
Record yourself saying عربي, حياة, خير, قلب and صديق. Compare each with the model and rank them best to worst.
Re-record only your worst two until they are closer, then stop.

💡 Why it works

These consonants distinguish real words from each other, so getting them wrong changes meaning, not just accent. They also cannot be learned from any written description — the physical feedback of a hand on the throat plus a model voice is the only reliable route.

🔥 Challenge

Say ح and ع at a friend and ask which one they can feel a buzz in when they copy it.

📖 New words

عربي ʿarabīArabic; Arab

حياة ḥayātlife

خير khayrgood; goodness

قلب qalbheart

صديق ṣadīqfriend

🎙️

Back Of Throat

Tap when you have finished this module.