MBC's Turning Point (نقطة تحول)

Turning Point is a popular show on the Saudi channel MBC. I like it because it covers topics of all kinds, not just explosions and disasters like Al Jazeera and other news stations seem to cover. Turning Point takes a bit of science, art, history, and sometimes disasters, and provides a more enjoyable way to learn Arabic. When I was taking Arabic classes the word "explosion" إنفجار was one of my first words because of how often it is used in the news. Watching Al Jazeera wasn't hard to do after a few months because of the limited scope of their stories. Their news will almost always consist of

1. Explosions/Car Bombs/Suicide Bombers سيارات مفخخة ,إنفجارات
2. The Most Recent Summit Between World Leaders قمم متعددة الأبعاد
3. Any Natural Disasters Such As Floods, Famines, Earthquakes كوارث طبيعية
4. Clashes With Rebels إشتباكات عنيفة

I realize that these things are important, but when they are the only topics that the channel covers the viewers get desensitized to this death and destruction and stop caring. It's sad to say that people suffering becomes boring and people stop caring when that's all they see on TV every day, but it's true. Here is a clip from نقطة تحول. I transcribed and translated the first minute or so.



العالمة السعودية تصنع تحولات عالمية و تتفوق على رجال
The female Saudi scientist manufactures turning points and excels over men.

الطفلة في ديالى, قصة عبث طفولي صنعت تحولات مأساوية
The (female) child in Dyala. A story of childhood play causing tragic changes.

عارضات الازياء يتحولن إلى فنانات
Clothes models becoming (changing to) artists.

صوته و ألحانه و اغانيه. نقاط التحول في حياته و حياتنا, الفنان محمد عبدو
His voice, his melodies, and his songs. Turning points in his life and our life. The artist Muhammed Abdu.مساء الخير مشاهدين الكرام و اهلا بكم إلى حلقة جديدة من برنامج نقطة تحول. حلقتنا الليلة مليئة بتحولات جديدة و حافنة ايضاً بالمفاجآت. عالمات سعوديات لم يصنعن نقطة تحول في حياتهن الشخصية و في المجتمع السعودي فقط, بل صنعن اكثر من نقطة تحول في العالم. هذا التقرير يلقي الضو على مصيرة المرأة السعودية و بعدها سنلتقي مع واحدة من اهم 15 شخصية عالمية ستغير من وجه الأرض. كونوا معنا

Good evening generous viewers and welcome to a new episode of the program Turning Point. Our show tonight is filled with new turning points and also filled with surprises. Saudi (female) scientists didn't only make turning points in their personal lives and in the Saudi society, but also made more than (just) one turning point in the world. This report shines light on the destiny of the Saudi woman and after it we will with one of the 15 most important international personalities who will change the face of the world. Stay with us.

Vocabulary List

1. ألحان - melodies
2. مليئة ب - filled with
3. مصيرة - destiny, fate, path
4. عارضة - model
5. مأساوي - tragic
6. عبث - play, amusement
7. تحول - turning, changing
   

Penerjemah akan Diuji Kemampuan Bahasa

Pusat Bahasa Departemen Pendidikan Nasional (Depdiknas) bekerja sama dengan Himpunan Penerjemah Indonesia (HPI) berencana memberlakukan kewajiban bagi para penerjemah untuk mengikuti Ujian Kemahiran Berbahasa Indonesia (UKBI).

Kepala Pusat Bahasa Depdiknas Dendy Sugono mengatakan hal itu kepada Media usai membuka acara diskusi para penerjemah yang bertajuk Kualitas terjemahan, siapa yang bertanggung jawab, di Jakarta, akhir pekan lalu.

Dendy menyebutkan, nantinya hanya mereka yang mendapatkan nilai minimal pada tingkat semenjana (tingkat unggul atau menengah ke atas) saja yang berhak mendapatkan sertifikat penerjemah.

Rencana yang kini tengah dimatangkan oleh Pusat Bahasa dan HPI itu ditujukan untuk menjaga kualitas hasil terjemahan, seperti pada buku, teks film, dan terjemahan lainnya, agar tidak terjadi kekeliruan arti yang malah menyesatkan masyarakat. Saat ini masih sering ditemui kualitas terjemahan, terutama pada buku, yang masih kurang baik kualitasnya, sehingga dapat berdampak pada proses penyerapan ilmu pengetahuan.

Dendy mengatakan selama ini jika terjadi kesalahan dalam karya terjemahan, yang dipersalahkan adalah kemampuan bahasa asing si penerjemah. Padahal, jika ditilik lebih lanjut, bisa saja kesalahan terjadi karena justru penerjemah tidak menguasai bahasa Indonesia dengan baik dan benar.

"Standar berbahasa Indonesia yang cukup tinggi seharusnya segera diberlakukan kepada para penerjemah. Tindak lanjutnya, kalau ia (penerjemah) belum sampai dalam tahap itu (minimal semenjana) maka ia harus menjalani kursus berbahasa Indonesia terlebih dahulu," kata Dendy seraya menambahkan akan membawa pembicaraan tersebut ke Kongres Bahasa Indonesia yang berlangsung mulai hari ini.

Dalam hal ini, HPI yang akan menentukan standar kemampuan yang harus dimiliki oleh penerjemah. Meski tidak semua penerjemah yang menjadi anggota HPI, Dendy mengatakan HPI merupakan organisasi profesi yang memiliki wewenang untuk mengembangkan kemampuan dan meningkatkan kualitas penerjemah.

Selama ini, katanya, penerjemahan berjalan secara sporadis dan tidak terhimpun. Sehingga, untuk melakukan pengendalian terhadap mutu karya terjemahan sulit dilakukan. Karena itu, Dendy berharap agar semua penerjemah berada di bawah payung HPI. Jadi, jika memang diniatkan untuk menjadi penerjemah profesional, maka setiap penerjemah harus siap untuk melengkapi diri dengan kemampuan berbahasa yang memadai, baik untuk bahasa Indonesia atau bahasa asing.

"Secara tidak langsung, diberlakukannya UKBI bagi penerjemah ini manfaatnya akan kembali kepada mereka sendiri. Selain menjaga kualitas terjemahan yang baik, siapa yang memiliki nilai yang tinggi pasti hasil karyanya banyak dicari masyarakat yang menggunakan jasanya," tambah Dendy.

Kemampuan bervariasi
Secara umum, Dendy mengatakan kemampuan penerjemah sangat bervariasi. Ada penerjemah yang dikatakannya sudah memiliki kualitas yang sangat baik, namun di sisi lain masih ada pula yang kualitasnya kurang memadai. Ia mengatakan kalau sekadar salah bahasa, tidak terlalu mengkhawatirkan. Namun, lanjut Dendy, kalau sudah sampai pada tahap salah menerjemahkan dan merubah isi dari buku itu, maka dapat mengakibatkan kekeliruan di tengah masyarakat pembaca.

Sementara itu, guru besar bahasa dari Universitas Indonesia, Anton Moeliono, ketika dihubungi Media, kemarin, menilai rencana Pusat Bahasa untuk memberlakukan UKBI bagi penerjemah sebagai sesuatu yang wajar dan sudah seharusnya.

Ia mengatakan, sebagai penerjemah yang berkualitas, sebaiknya selain menguasai bahasa asing dengan baik, ia juga harus menguasai bahasa Indonesia. "Tidak otomatis seseorang yang berkebangsaan Indonesia lalu mampu berbahasa Indonesia dengan baik, apalagi untuk seorang penerjemah. Ia harus menguasai baik bahasa asing tertentu dan bahasa Indonesia itu sendiri," kata Anton.

Ia mengatakan, campur tangan Pusat Bahasa untuk mengawasi penggunaan bahasa Indonesia perlu ditanggapi dengan positif. Meskipun bahasa adalah milik masyarakat, bukan berarti untuk urusan pemakaian bahasa dibiarkan saja terdapat kesalahan-kesalahan.

YouTube - The Lion King - Hakuna Matata (Arabic)

YouTube - The Lion King - Hakuna Matata (Arabic)

Egyptian dialect

Laleh Bakhtiar: First American Women to Translate the Qur'an

'The Sublime Quran' by Dr Laleh Bakhtiar is the first English translation/interpretation of the Qur'an by an American woman. Dr Laleh joins Everywoman from Chicago and is joined by Dr Omima Abou-Bakr, a professor from the University of Qatar who disagrees with Dr Laleh's translation.

In this work, the author challenges the common mistranslation of the word َاضْرِبُوهُن 'idribuhunna' in verse (Q. 4:34) that feminists say have been used to justify the abuse of women. Dr Bakhtiar reverts “to beat” back to its original interpretation meaning “to go away”.


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SNHU teaches Arabic

Southern New Hampshire University just began its second foray into teaching Arabic through its continuing education department. SNHU graduate and Morocco native Imane Naji Amrani teaches the 16-week course that lasts until March 3. She will introduce students to modern standard Arabic and will focus on basic language skills, along with simple conversations and awareness of the Arabic culture and traditions.

Some of Naji Amrani’s students took a previous 8-week course offered a year ago with a different instructor, but SNHU hopes the longer format will offer more in-depth study. One student has business associates in Morocco; another just got back from Iraq and still has friends there. Naji Amrani held the first class on Oct. 31, also her first day teaching English as a Second Language. She has the help of Said Alabri, a graduate assistant from Oman.

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“Work with Quran easier than ever”

Al-Quran Explorer is a digital reference for Al-Quran and it contains Al-Quran text, translations and tafsir. You could easily refer for a verse, or make a search over its translation and tafsir. The software aims to help professional Muslim user such as lawyers, Muslim/Syariah judges, journalist, columnist, editors, book authors, lecturers, religious researchers and students to work with Quran easier than ever.

The application contains hierarchal view of all verses in Quran, either sorted by Surah (chapters), Juzu' (parts) or Editable Maudhu' (Subject). This software also equipped with advanced search tool, advanced multiple verse lookup.

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Translation Movement

One night in Baghdad, the 9th century Caliph Al-Mamun was visited by a dream. The philosopher Aristotle appeared to him, saying that the reason of the Greeks and the revelation of Islam were not opposed. On waking, the Caliph demanded that all of Aristotle’s works be translated into Arabic, and they were.

Over the next 200 years (about 800 A.D. to 1150 A.D.) major works in philosophy, medicine, engineering and mathematics in Greek, Syriac, Sanskrit, Pahlavi and other languages were translated into Arabic. This endeavour became known as the 'translation movement'.

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Art experiments

This is something I did yesterday. I think it's about 8 inches by 8 inches. It's white BFK Rives paper that has been hand torn and then very lightly gessoed. Then I dropped black acrylic ink and fluid acrylic (some old quinacridone gold) and then I folded it. Oh yeah, and it was rinsed off at one point and more ink and acrylic applied. The combination of water, ink, acrylic and folding got me this.

Here's the back side. You might see some penciled numbers on there. That's because I need to number the folds to make sure that I don't get a lopsided arrangement.

BFK Rives paper is a nice printmaking paper useful for lots and lots of different things. Last year, I bought a carton of 100 sheets from Lenz Arts for about $230. I've got a TON of little pieces of what I call Go Out And Play abstract black ink drawings done on this paper. It's just easy to take a little piece of this, put on some music and just empty my head for a while.

Product Review: Arabic Genie

One of the biggest things that makes Arabic seem so daunting is its alphabet. It basically just looks like a bunch of squiggles and dots before you learn it, as you can see in this screen cap from the South Park episode Imaginationland. Learning the alphabet is an essential first step when learning Arabic. Without knowing it you can't start to learn anything else about the language. One of the most difficult aspects of the Arabic alphabet is the fact that simply adding a dot to a letter, in many cases, makes it a totally different letter. You have ب ,ي ,ن ,ت ,ث which are all the same except for the number of dots they have and whether those dots are above or below. Many people confuse these similar letters for a long time when learning Arabic. You really need a way to distinguish the Arabic letters from each other and remember what sounds they make. That is why the Arabic Genie program is so nice. It offers memory aids for each letter and dozens of exercises that cement the sound and shape of each letter in your mind. It teaches you how to spell English words with the Arabic letters, a method which connects the new Arabic letters to something that you are familiar with and have been using all your life.Once you go through the program and learn the sounds and shapes of each letter, the book introduces you to Arabic calligraphy. I find certain Arabic calligraphy very difficult to read. I remember when I was first learning Arabic I asked my teacher what the logo on the Al Jazeera channel said. My teacher laughed at me and told me that it said "Al Jazeera". It took me months to figure out where each of the letters were in the logo, which dots went with which letter, and which markings were just for decoration. I had to figure it out on my own, but Arabic Genie points out where each letter is in several calligraphies, a tactic which you will be able to apply to all Arabic calligraphy you come into contact with in the future.

Arabic Genie turned out to be a much better program than I expected. It takes things that make total sense to Arabs, but not so much sense to English speakers, and explains them in a way that is perfectly logical and simple. If I ever hit my head and forget Arabic I know where to turn to start relearning it. To buy a copy of the Arabic Genie, click here.

This 'n' that

Here's an update on my foot: It's fine. You can see how fine it is in the post below. It didn't turn purple. I was so disappointed.

I also went to the dentist yesterday and had my teeth prepped for two crowns. Right now I have two temporary acrylic crowns in my mouth. I was rather surprised, as previous experiences with the dentist have been less than thrilling. However, the dentist and his assistant have a fabulous chairside manner and everything went well. The hygienist, however...it's not her fault, but I nearly jumped out of my skin more than once as she worked on my mouth. I asked her if anyone had ever bit her when she was working on her mouth. Yes, she said, a seven year old girl did. She was helping another dental assistant to get x-rays of the kid's mouth, and holding the x-ray in the kid's mouth (of course you can't trust a kid to hold it for you) and the girl chomped right down. It opened a gash down to her second knuckle and took two months to heal. Yikes.

I go back in two weeks to get the permanent crowns put in. Then I have to make a decision about how much more work I want to do this year, since my dental insurance is, like most American dental insurance, uh, less than adequate. I'm thinking one more crown and then I'll do the rest of the work next year.

Clown Barf

I work at home three days a week and two days I drive 25 miles (or so) into the office. When I first started working in this group, people had to dress up (as in suits and ties) but that ended about three weeks after I started. This was back in 2006. Now, people are pretty laid back. Not as laid back as when I worked at the help desk (which was what my then-boss called, "Casual, casual, CASUAL"), but still pretty laid back.

On days I go into work, I usually wear slacks, usually black or khaki colored. Black is the fat woman's friend. If the dress is cut well, it can be really slimming. Well, I'd gotten a dress earlier this year (and, frankly, not cut as well as I'd like) and thought that I'd really like to wear some funky dyed tights with it. So I got a pair of hand-dyed footless tights from We Love Colors. These tights, in fact, #7202 (scroll down), although I'd NEVER be caught dead wearing a dress like that.

Apparently word quickly flew around the office that I'd shown up wearing dyed tights, as related to me by a senior manager. I wasn't surprised, my office is a hotbed of gossip. Me, I had to hop on the phone the instant I got there and work on a communication to the entire enterprise.

Anyway, here are the tights, which I got because I liked the color combination. It wasn't until later that I realized they looked like clown barf. Oh well.

Arabic loanwords in "proto-Nilo-Saharan"

Ehret 2001 (or see Nostratic.ru) looks at first sight like an astonishingly detailed reconstruction of Nilo-Saharan, with nice binary splits and loads of technology-related words for archeologists and anthropologists to sink their teeth into. Why shouldn't specialists take advantage of this amazing opportunity to correlate historical developments to linguistic ones?

I just found a handy answer to that question. Bender (1997:175ff) gives the 15 cognate sets in Ehret 2001 that are represented in the most sub-families of Nilo-Saharan. 3 of the 15 look distinctly like Arabic loans.

1387 *wàs “to grow large”: Fur wassiye “wide” and Songhay wásà “to be wide” are both from Arabic wāsi`- واسع. The other items cited – Ik “stand”, Kanuri “yawn”, Kunama “increase, augment”, and Uduk “to tassel, of corn” – are scarcely obvious candidates for being related to one another in the first place.

1297 *là:l “to call out (to someone)”: Kanuri làn “to abuse, curse” and Songhay láalí “to curse” are obviously from Arabic la`an- لعن; Kunama lal- “to denigrate” might be from the same source. That only leaves Uduk “to persuade, incite to do something” and Proto-Central-Sudanic “to call out”.

718 *t̪íwm “to finish, complete”: almost certainly Songhay tímmè “to be finished”, very likely Uduk t̪ím “to finish”, Ocolo t̪um “to finish”, and maybe even Fur time “total”, are from Arabic tamm- تمّ (impf. -timm-), as Bender (ibid:177) considers probable. That leaves Proto-Central-Sudanic, Kunama, and Maba “all”, Kanuri “ideophone of dying animal” (!), and Proto-Kuliak “buttocks”. The “all” set looks rather promising – the whole etymology, not so much.

There are plenty of other Arabic loanwords in Ehret's “Proto-Nilo-Saharan” – a particularly egregious example is Kanuri zàmzàmíyɑ̀ “leather bottle-shaped water vessel for journeys” (#1223 *zɛ̀m “to become damp, moist”), and other especially clear-cut cases include #1173 < sawṭ, #1185 < šamm – but the fact that they include a significant proportion of the best cognate sets is what really strikes me. If a reconstruction attempt can't distinguish a widely distributed recent loan from a cognate set that split more than eleven thousand years ago, any information it gives about readily diffused items like technologies is completely unreliable. For another review from a similar perspective, try Blench 2000 (not sure why it appeared a year before the book's nominal publication date...)

The more I read about Nilo-Saharan, the less convinced I am that it exists (much less that Songhay belongs to it.) That means the classification of the languages of quite a lot of Africa is basically up for grabs. It would be great to have a reexamination of the area.

Arabic Accelerated (Total Beginners) - City University London

Arabic Accelerated (Total Beginners) - City University London

Taught mostly in Arabic (Standard), this is a one-term course for total beginners. It is a two-evening-per-week introduction to the language and way of life for the purpose of practical communication. Whether you are studying for travelling, working abroad or with foreign companies, or broadening your horizons, the course will enable you to communicate confidently, socialise and not feel out of place in the country you are visiting. This course will introduce symbols to read and write in Arabic.

My faith in humanity is restored

...when I read articles like this.

The 'youngest headmaster in the world'

Around the world millions of children are not getting a proper education because their families are too poor to afford to send them to school. In India, one schoolboy is trying change that. In the first report in the BBC's Hunger to Learn series, Damian Grammaticas meets Babar Ali, whose remarkable education project is transforming the lives of hundreds of poor children.

At 16 years old, Babar Ali must be the youngest headmaster in the world. He's a teenager who is in charge of teaching hundreds of students in his family's backyard, where he runs classes for poor children from his village.
The story of this young man from Murshidabad in West Bengal is a remarkable tale of the desire to learn amid the direst poverty.

Babar Ali's day starts early. He wakes, pitches in with the household chores, then jumps on an auto-rickshaw which takes him part of the 10km (six mile) ride to the Raj Govinda school. The last couple of kilometres he has to walk.
The school is the best in this part of West Bengal. There are hundreds of students, boys and girls. The classrooms are neat, if bare. But there are desks, chairs, a blackboard, and the teachers are all dedicated and well-qualified.

As the class 12 roll-call is taken, Babar Ali is seated in the middle in the front row. He's a tall, slim, gangly teenager, studious and smart in his blue and white uniform. He takes his notes carefully. He is the model student.

Babar Ali is the first member of his family ever to get a proper education.

"It's not easy for me to come to school because I live so far away," he says, "but the teachers are good and I love learning. And my parents believe I must get the best education possible that's why I am here."

Raj Govinda school is government-run so it is free, all Babar Ali has to pay for is his uniform, his books and the rickshaw ride to get there. But still that means his family has to find around 1,800 rupees a year ($40, £25) to send him to school. In this part of West Bengal that is a lot of money. Many poor families simply can't afford to send their children to school, even when it is free.

Chumki Hajra is one who has never been to school. She is 14 years old and lives in a tiny shack with her grandmother. Their home is simple A-frame supporting a thatched roof next to the rice paddies and coconut palms at the edge of the village. Inside the hut there is just room for a bed and a few possessions.

Every morning, instead of going to school, she scrubs the dishes and cleans the homes of her neighbours. She's done this ever since she was five. For her work she earns just 200 rupees a month ($5, £3). It's not much, but it's money her family desperately needs. And it means that she has to work as a servant everyday in the village.

"My father is handicapped and can't work," Chumki tells me as she scrubs a pot. "We need the money. If I don't work, we can't survive as a family. So I have no choice but to do this job."

But Chumki is now getting an education, thanks to Babar Ali. The 16-year-old has made it his mission to help Chumki and hundreds of other poor children in his village. The minute his lessons are over at Raj Govinda school, Babar Ali doesn't stop to play, he heads off to share what he's learnt with other children from his village.

At four o'clock every afternoon after Babar Ali gets back to his family home a bell summons children to his house. They flood through the gate into the yard behind his house, where Babar Ali now acts as headmaster of his own, unofficial school.

Lined up in his back yard the children sing the national anthem. Standing on a podium, Babar Ali lectures them about discipline, then study begins.

Babar Ali gives lessons just the way he has heard them from his teachers. Some children are seated in the mud, others on rickety benches under a rough, homemade shelter. The family chickens scratch around nearby. In every corner of the yard are groups of children studying hard.

Babar Ali was just nine when he began teaching a few friends as a game. They were all eager to know what he learnt in school every morning and he liked playing at being their teacher.

Now his afternoon school has 800 students, all from poor families, all taught for free. Most of the girls come here after working, like Chumki, as domestic helps in the village, and the boys after they have finished their day's work labouring in the fields.

"In the beginning I was just play-acting, teaching my friends," Babar Ali says, "but then I realised these children will never learn to read and write if they don't have proper lessons. It's my duty to educate them, to help our country build a better future."

Including Babar Ali there are now 10 teachers at the school, all, like him are students at school or college, who give their time voluntarily. Babar Ali doesn't charge for anything, even books and food are given free, funded by donations. It means even the poorest can come here.

"Our area is economically deprived," he says. "Without this school many kids wouldn't get an education, they'd never even be literate."

Seated on a rough bench squeezed in with about a dozen other girls, Chumki Hajra is busy scribbling notes.

Her dedication to learning is incredible to see. Every day she works in homes in the village from six in the morning until half past two in the afternoon, then she heads to Babar Ali's school. At seven every evening she heads back to do more cleaning work.

Chumki's dream is to one day become a nurse, and Babar Ali's classes might just make it possible.

The school has been recognised by the local authorities, it has helped increase literacy rates in the area, and Babar Ali has won awards for his work.

The youngest children are just four or five, and they are all squeezed in to a tiny veranda. There are just a couple of bare electric bulbs to give light as lessons stretch into the evening, and only if there is electricity.

And then the monsoon rain begins. Huge drops fall as the children scurry for cover, slipping in the mud. They crowd under a piece of plastic sheeting. Babar Ali shouts an order. Lessons are cancelled for the afternoon otherwise everyone will be soaked. Having no classrooms means lessons are at the mercy of the elements.

The children climb onto the porch of a nearby shop as the rain pours down. Then they hurry home through the downpour. Tomorrow they'll be back though. Eight hundred poor children, unable to afford an education, but hungry for anything they can learn at Babar Ali's school.

There's also a couple of videos at the link. All of this reminds me of how insanely privileged I am.

Childrens Song اسناني واوا Asnani Wawa

This is another song by the Birds of Paradise طيور الجنة, a really popular group that sings songs for kids. This انشودة (hymn) has about 4 million views on YouTube. The dialect is Syrian and the lyrics along with translation and explanations are below the video. It's about cavities and brushing your teeth!



يا بابا اسناني واوا
Dad, my teeth hurt

Explanation: واوا is basically the equivalent of the English term "boo boo". It's a word used by children for a small wound or some pain. Haifa Wehbe has a song called ليك الواوا (Look at the boo boo).

وديني عند الطبيب
Take me to the doctor.

ما عاد بدي شوكولاته بس بدي اشرب الحليب
I don't want chocolate anymore but I want to drink milk.

Explanation: ما عاد means "no longer". It is used in MSA as well.

السوسة نخرت في سناني
The worm has decayed my tooth

Explanation: سوسة means "woodworm". Back in the day people believed that when your teeth decayed it was worms eating your teeth. The word تسوّس means "worm eaten" or as we would translated it in English "cavitied".

اه يا اسناني
Ahhhhh, oh my teeth.صورلي الدكتور سني
The doctor took a picture of my tooth for me.

فرجاني ست السوسة
He showed me the cavity.

Explanation: ست means "woman" and sometimes "grandmother". Here I just translated ست السوسة to mean cavity, but it means literally "the lady worm". It's a kids' song, can't take it too literally :)

قاعدة جوى مبسوطة
It (the cavity) was sitting inside happily

بسيطة يا بسبوسة
It's a simple matter, sweetie.

Explanation: They say بسيطة when something can be taken care of easily. It just means "simple". بسبوسة is a Middle Eastern dessert.

والله لا اكل تفاح
I swear I won't eat an apple.

و رح انسى هالحلويات
And I will forget sweets.

رح اكل خضرا و حليب
I will eat vegetables and (drink) milk.

ما بدنا شبس و غازات
We don't want chips or soft drinks.

Explanation: غازات means "soft drinks". It comes from the English word "gas" since the drink are carbonated.

بالسواك و المعجون انا عندي حملة تنظيفات
With a miswak and with toothpaste I have a cleaning procedure

Explanation: سواك is a stick that Muhammad used to clean his teeth and it's mentioned in the Koran so lots of Muslims use it. The English word for it is "miswak" which I hadn't heard of until now. The word حلمة means "campaign" most of the time, as in حملة إنتخابية (election campaign), but here "cleaning campaign" wouldn't make much sense in English so I said "procedure". This is something that a lot of people never understand when learning a language. Each word in the foreign language does not always have an exact translation into another language. You have to translate the word into your language in a way that makes sense and conveys the right meaning. You can't always give the word the definition that you find in the dictionary or in a word list.

Modern Languages Conference - International House London

Modern Languages Conference - International House London

Modern Languages Conference
International House London hosts the third annual conference for Modern Language Teachers of Arabic, French, German, Italian and Spanish.

On Saturday 7 November 2009 the third annual conference for Modern Languages teachers will be held in central London. International House London and International House World Organisation (IHWO), in collaboration with foreign language publishers Editions Maison des Langues, Ernst Klett Sprachen and Difusión, are hosting the event at International House London's school near Covent Garden.

Teachers of Arabic, French, German, Italian and Spanish are invited

An Age Limit for Teaching Abroad?

There are several questions that I get asked by many individuals over 50;

1. Can I be accepted to your course if I am of a certain age?
2. Will I be the oldest person on your course?
3. Will I be able to find work if I'm over a certain age?

I want to take the time to say to everyone that in the world of TESOL/TEFL there is NO age limit. The Language House has no age limits for accepting individuals and because of that every course always has a wide range of age groups. The oldest trainee we had was 78 and the last time I spoke with her, she was teaching English in Senegal. Lastly but most importantly, one can find work teaching English abroad no matter what age as long as said person is healthy, responsible and of course has a TEFL/TESOL Certificate.

Noo Age Woo leads to deaths

I live not far from Sedona, which is like the capital of the World of Woo. You can find just about every variety of spiritual practice there, including, I'm sure, some I've never heard of. (Sedona is also home to a plethora of overpriced art galleries.)

Like this "Spiritual Warrior" thing, presided over by a guy named James Arthur Ray, that took the lives of two people. (A third is in critical, another two are still in hospital.) A total of 21 people had to be transported in an area that is sparsely settled and not exactly packed with emergency facilities. It should be noted that James Arthur Ray has spread his crapzilla around all over the place, including on Oprah Winfrey's show.

While this has made national and international news, the most local newspaper, the Verde News, has been providing the best coverage of this tragic event. Here are two articles:

Friday article

Saturday article

Basically, this is what happened. Participants paid $9,000 to James Arthur Ray for several days of spiritual enlightenment in the lovely red rocks of Sedona. Additionally, they paid $1,600 to the owners of Angel Valley Ranch, which rented the place out. Apparently there were 50 paying participants, for a cool take of $450,000 to Ray. However, based on the information in the "Spiritual Warrior Participant Guide" (which has now disappeared from Ray's website, but which I saved copies of), in addition to the usual clothes and suchlike, the following were required items. (Typed from the PDF. Don't lock these things down, I can type 100 wpm.)

An integral element of the program will rely upon group use of Holosync technology. If you would like to learn more about this technology, please visit the Centerpointe Research Institute website at www.centerpointe.com. If you have not yet invested in this technology, you will need to do so prior to Spiritual Warrior. The first program, Awakening Prologue, is available for purchase through the Centerpointe Research Institute website at www.centerpointe.com/links.php?ad=30830.

If you have already attended Quantum Leap, you will also need to bring your Power Generator, Wealth Ignition, and Reclaiming Your Full Energy and Vitality CD programs. If you have attended Quantum Leap and you have not yet invested in these programs, you may do so at Spiritual Warrior. We will have copies available for purchase at the event.

So far, we have this for costs:

• $9,000.00 for Spiritual Warrior
• 1,600.00 for Angel Valley, which provided food and lodging
• 179.00 for Holosync Awakening Prologue
• ?????.?? for Power Generator, Wealth Ignition, and Reclaiming Your Full Energy, but Quantum Leap costs $3,995.00

That comes to $10,779.00 (not including airfare or any other junk you've previously purchased from James, etc., etc.)

There are also these somewhat bizarre items (from page 7):

• Bag of chewing tobacco
• Six feet of string (approximately dress shoe lace size, preferably red, but color not critical)
• Seven 3" x 3" squares of fabric

And, even though you're paying $1,600 for board and lodging, you should bring "Toilet paper (1 roll)."

Pages 11-14 are two releases. The first is a "hold harmless," basically, "if anything baaaad happens to you, you're screwed." Oh yeah, and while YOU can't tape or film yourself, the second release is a waiver of your right of publicity and compensation. So undoubtedly James Arthur Ray was filming or taping at least some of this.

So after getting together your supplies and getting to Angel Valley, there are several days of various Noo Agey type things, including a "vision quest" and, finally, a "sweat lodge." It's here that the incident occurred.

The lodge was, according to the Verde News, approximately 415 feet square. But it was also not very high, in that it was 30 inches on the side and 53 inches in the center. So nobody, unless you happen to be a child or short-statured, could actually stand up in this thing. It was covered by blankets, comforters and tarps. And, apparently, there were 50 participants, plus assistants and Ray himself. There may have been up to 68 people in the "lodge." Along with 58 rocks, some of which were described as "cantaloupe-sized." These were put on the fire. Oh yeah, there was a fire.

Let's assume that there were 55 people in the"lodge." According to my calculations, that works out to 7.5 square feet for every participant, not including any space taken out for the fire, the "cantaloupe-sized" rocks and so on. This is less than a three foot by three foot area (nine square feet). People were crammed into that thing like sardines. Because you couldn't STAND UP. You had to sit down or kneel. I have claustrophobia, and I can just about guarantee you I would have been out of there in no time flat.

(Fair Use picture from KNXV to illustrate. Just look at how small that thing was and then imagine 50-60 people in it.)

So, there were all these people in this "lodge," it was hot, there was a fire going, they were all crammed in there, no idea what was happening inside...my guess is that extreme hypoxia or anoxia set in. They ran out of oxygen and their bodies started shutting down. But the autopsies will tell us with more certainty.

I can't stop shaking my head.

Except for this. F****** New Age WooMeisters. Some dimwitted "Law of Attraction" nutbar named Giovani had this to say on the Positive Intentions forum:

Hi!

Thanks, for the opportunity to send some good vibes to some people who'll appreciate them! :O)

Aw, come on, though! "Scam?" How does one figure? Isn't it interesting how much people value a means of coming together with spiritual intent? Didn't everybody know there were risks in this, as with all else?

I prefer outright steam baths to saunas of any kind, but the sweat lodge is an ancient & honorable practice. What a wonderful way to go, if you ask me! In the midst of blissful open focus in the company of others who value this, as well. How powerful those two are!

More ventillation? Good idea. That way, those who intend to live through this will be a bit more comfortable--notice how eight out of the ten intended to live. Clearly, their will means they'll be fine in no time. I recognize the freshness within them. Let's not be like those who know nothing of the Law Of Attraction & who morn and panic over such a thing.

All is clearly well with the Universe--this not even resembling an exception! :D

Sunshine & Blessings,
Giovani

Oh yeah, I'm sure the families of the two dead people are so thrilled their loved ones are dead. And what a way to go...dying of oxygen starvation. FAIL.

After comprehensive medical care...

We need comprehensive dental care.

Let's just say that the insurance provided by my employer to cover dentistry Ain't Worth Much More Than The Paper It's Printed On. Most employers' dental insurance plans are like that.

So, when I finally decided I needed to get my teeth looked at (yes, it's been a VERY long time), I knew (a) it was going to be expensive and (b) I was going to be pay the lion's share of the cost. But, we have to factor in (c), which is If I had a major dental disaster, I'd never live it down. That's because I'd pointed out a few weeks ago that a sibling had lost a tooth, and said sibling was hacked at me. Very hacked. So, when one of my teeth started feeling a tiny bit *soft*, I thought I might just better go and get them looked at.

I need five crowns and the rest of the fillings need replacing and some other, more minor stuff. This estimate is not quite like buying a car, but it's not cheap either.

Now I need to decide if I should call my doctor and ask for a tranquilizer so I can sit in the dental chair without going berserk. Needles aren't so much the problem anymore, it's the claustrophobia of someone working in my mouth.

Shocked, just shocked

I was shocked to wake up and hear that President Obama had won the Nobel Peace Prize. My first response was, "For what?" We're still in two wars, we still don't have a comprehensive medical plan like most other civilized nations and (if you take U6 as the real estimate of employment) well over 15 percent of Americans are unemployed or underemployed. To say nothing of the housing crisis, etc., etc.

Anyway, I'm thinking that the Nobel Committee's thinking went like this: "He's not That Last Guy. We want to Encourage him. Plus, it will be funny to watch Wingnut Heads Asplode." (And that they have most certainly done.)

I voted for the guy, but, frankly, this is a bit premature. Let's see some concrete results first.

Bab al Hara - Syrian Dialect Lengthening Words

Bab al Hara باب الحارة (The Neighborhood's Gate) is a very popular show in the Arabic world. The setting is a neighborhood حارة in Damascus during the beginning of the French control of Syria at then end of the Ottoman rule . It's in the Syrian dialect and to me the way they speak sounds really funny. They often lengthen the last word of their sentences. Syrian is the only dialect I've noticed that does this. They don't even do it in Lebanon right next door to Syria. You can see examples in this clip from the show.
At 00:05 and 00:14 listen to how he says حارة. And at 00:23 how he says ابو غالب. It basically sounds like he's saying ابو غالييييب. At 01:35 is also a good example. Listen to كذاب. And the whole conversation starting at 01:37 is full of it. Anyway, you get the idea. Not every Syrian does this but quite a lot do, so if you ever are wondering where a person is from, if they're lengthening their words then it's a safe bet that they are Syrian.

Here's the theme song from the show. I really like it.

Nuclear UAE

Yikes, they're doing it! This is wrong on so many levels. The money spent building a nuclear power station would be better used in developing solar power. The risk of terrorist attack is high, but the risk of another Chernobyl or Three Mile Island catastrophe is greater (based on past experience of how the power sector in the UAE has performed). It's just too scary for words: I wonder which Northern Emirate will be lucky enough to play host to this baby.

Story here.

Basic Arabic Lesson

Assalaam Alaikum - Peace be upon you

To which the reply is:

Wa Alaikum assalaam - And peace be upon you

This phrase will be used in many different contexts when meeting people.

Marhabbah - Hello

to which the reply is:

Marhabbteen - Hello

This is probably the equivalent of saying Hi!

Sabah al khair - Good Morning

To which the reply is:

Sabah al noor

Masah al khair - Good Afternoon / Evening

To which the reply is:

Masah al noor

Shukran (jazeelan) - Thank you (very much)

To which the reply is:

Aafwaan - You're welcome

An alternative to Shukran is Mushkoor

Ahlan wa sahlan -Welcome

To which the reply is:

Ahlan beek (to a male)

Ahlan beech (to a female)

Ahlan beekum (to a group)

- Welcome to you

This is usually used in introductions

Keef haluk? - How are you?

Sometimes shortened to Keefak

To which the reply is:

Al hamdu lillah (bi khair) - Praise be to Allah (well)

This should be the usual reply.

You could use:

Ana bikhayr, shukran - I am fine, thank you

Weyn inta - Literally, Where are you?

But probably equivalent to Long time no see

Occasionally you will hear:

Shu-ukhbaarak - What's your news?

- which you would reply to in the normal way

Aysh ismuk - What is your name?

Ismi Jason - My name is Jason

Titakellem ingleezi - Do you speak English?

Ana la atakellem al arabi - I don't speak Arabic

Terrref arabi? - Do you know Arabic

Atakullum inglieezi - I speak English

Inta min weyn? - Where are you from?

Ana min ingliterra - I'm from England

Umreeka - USA

Oostraaalia - Australia

Al imaraaat - UAE

Wa inta? - And you?

Maasalaamah - Goodbye

To which the reply is:

Fi aman allah or Maasalaamah

Inshallah - If Allah wishes

This phrase is used in reference to a future, since all things are at Allah's will.

So if you say, see you tomorrow, you might be replied with Inshallah.

Indeed, it is used in numerous contexts.

You'll send me the report tomorrow? - Inshallah.

Maashallah - What Allah wishes

This is used when complimenting something, usually in the context of family or health.

Mabrook - Congratulations

This is used in any congratulatory context, more so than you would use in English.

Naam - Yes

Aywa - Yeah/OK

La - No

Min fudluk - Please

Shoo? - What?

Shoofi mafi? - What's up? or What's the matter?

Shoo hada? - What is this?

Mafi mushkil - No problem

Itfudul - Be my guest / My pleasure

Tamaam - Perfect

Baadin - Later

Dilwaati - Now

Ilyoum - Today

Bukra - Tomorrow

Ashoofook bukra - See you tomorrow

Aadhi - It's normal

Jebli shai - Bring me some tea

Kallemni - Call me / Talk to me

Ma adhri - I dont know

Maa-i-khussni - It's not my problem

Inta kida - Thumbs up

Intaa tabaan - Thumbs down

Areed areef - I want to know

Mumken asaduq - Can I help you?

Sida - Straight

Yasar - Left

Yameen - Right

Tabaan - Of course

Andi - I have

Kam - How much

Affwaan - Excuse me

Kull - Everything

When you sneeze you say

Al hamdu lillah

To which someone will say

Yer humkullah

And you will say again

Yer hamna wa yer humkum

Kalas - Finish

واحة المعلقات

واحة المعلقات

Advanced level:

Arabic Poetry:Listen how the poet reads the poem in Arabic,clear voice and clear sound recording as well.

واحة المعلقات

واحة المعلقات

Listen how the poet reads the poem in Arabic,
clear voice and clear sound recording as well.


More:
http://www.myarabicwebsite.com/arabicpoetry15751604158815931585157516041593158515761610.html

learn arabic

learn arabic

Hakuna Matata in Arabic
have fun !!!

عربي : دليل المصطلحات | Arabic: Vocabulary Guide

عربي : دليل المصطلحات Arabic: Vocabulary Guide

Clik and learn

My Arabic Website , Learn Arabic for Free موقع لتعليم اللغة العربية

My Arabic Website , Learn Arabic for Free موقع لتعليم اللغة العربية

From the author:
I established this web site to help students in my community learning the Arabic language as a second language and to post our community cultural activities online..Serving my community, immigrants, schools, universities and others who are interested in learning Arabic

My Arabic Website , Learn Arabic for Free موقع لتعليم اللغة العربية

My Arabic Website , Learn Arabic for Free موقع لتعليم اللغة العربية

Learn Arabic | ArabicPod Beginner Lessons

http://www.arabicpod.net/learnarabic

Learn Arabic ArabicPod


What is ArabicPod?
ArabicPod is a website dedicated to providing the most innovative and effective methods for learning Arabic.
Where is it based?
ArabicPod is based in London. .
Is it free?
All of audio podcasts can be freely listened to and downloaded.For most of the other content (Video), there is a subscription fee.
Arabic Levels@ ArabicPod:
Beginner :http://www.arabicpod.net/learnarabic
Lower Intermediate:http://www.arabicpod.net/learnarabic/lowerIntermediate
Intermediate:http://www.arabicpod.net/learnarabic/intermediate
Upper intermediate:http://www.arabicpod.net/learnarabic/upperIntermediate
Advanced:http://www.arabicpod.net/learnarabic/advanced
Dictionary:http://www.arabicpod.net/dictionary

The Green Apple: Health Program on MBC

The Green Apple التفاح الأخضر is a show on MBC about heath, nutrition, and beauty. The dialect is Egyptian, but at times it's MSA with only a hint of Egyptian. Even though a show may be in a dialect there are levels to the amount of slang they can use. Since MBC is a Saudi channel and they get viewers from all over the Arabic world the shows don't have so much regional slang that not all viewers would be able to understand. This definitely isn't the same as the language you hear on the news though. I transcribed the first minute of the clip and wrote out the difficult vocab words.




اهلا بكل مشاهدي التفاح الاخضر و ساعة كاملة من نصائح جديدة و مفيدة للصحة و التغذية و الجمال. و نتواصل معكم من خلال الانترنت تبعتولنا مشاكلكم و نرد عليها من خلال الحلقة او كمان نستضفكم معنا في الإستوديو. ضيوف كثير بعتولنا حاجات و استضفناهم معنا في الإستوديو و حلينا مشاكلهم قدر إستطاعي

Hello to all the viewers of The Green Apple and a complete hour of new and beneficial advice for health, nutrition, and beauty. We keep in touch with you through the internet. You send us your problems and we reply to them throughout the episode and also we host you with us in the studio. Many guests have sent us things and we hosted them with us in the studio and we solved their problems as much as we were able to.

Comments: You'll notice that at the beginning it doesn't say مشاهدين . The nun is dropped when anything plural ending in ين is in an idafa. بعت is how they say "send" in Egyptian. In MSA the word is بعث. And قدر إستطاعي means "as well as I could".انهاردة هنشوف الالوان و الورود ازايها حلو مشكلة مدام ليلى ابازا إللي بتعاني من صداع و توتر و عصبية شديدة جدا في العمل.

Today we will see how colors and roses solved the problem of Madame Laila Abaza who suffered from headaches, tension, and severe stress in her work.

ممكن الدريسنج يحول طبقة سلطة الخفيف لوجبة دسمة جدا. هنقوللكم النهاردة على سر الدريسنج الخفيف و اللذيذ.

It's possible for dressing to change a light plate of salad to a very fattening meal. Today we will tell you about the secret of light and delicious dressing.

السيدة مؤمنة محمد من السعودية بعتت تسألنا تعمل أيه لان هي و ابنها الرضيع بيسافروا كثير ع الطيارة و بيعانوا من الم في الأذن إثناء صعود و هبوط الطيارة.

Mrs. Mumina Muhammad from Saudi Arabia sent in asking us what she should do because she and her infant son travel a lot on planes and suffer from pain in the ear during the take off and landing of the plane.

تثائبي او ابتلعي لعابك او امضغي علكة و بعض الحلوى.

Yawn or swallow your saliva or chew gum and some candy.

Comment: This is the written text on the screen.

Vocabulary List:

• نصيحة/نصائح - advice and the plural
• تغذية - nutrition
• بعث - send
• حاجة - thing
• انهاردة - today
• توتر - tension (وتر is a guitar or bow string, so you can see where the word comes from)
• تثاؤب - yawn (noun)
• لِعاب - saliva
• عِلكة - gum
  

Accident

I slid down the stairs last night. Don't ask me how I did it. It was one of those things that happened and was over within a few seconds. I got rug rash on my left leg and (apparently) part of my right foot got folded under the rest of my foot. Today the folded part is bruising up. I rather hope it turns purple. Back in 1989 I fell and damaged my left ankle AND THEN WALKED A MILE TO WORK. My foot turned the most beautiful shade of purple. I didn't get any pictures. I'd like to get a picture this time.

Ways of knowing

Sometimes, just Googling or looking it up on Wikipedia isn't enough. You want to see a picture. Not only that, you want to see a lot of pictures. Just so you can get a flavor, or an idea for the next piece of art or whatever you might be doing.

Google image is ok, but for real, hard-core picture hunting, I go to one of the photo sites. And, over time, that's turned out to be Flickr, because it's easier to use than some of the others (like Photobucket). So, for example, if I want to look at Siamese cats or quilling (a strange little paper art I've never gotten into) or raku pottery or dichroic glass, I go to Flickr and look at pictures. I'll narrow down my searches or expand them as the case may be.

It's not just to look at pictures of art, too. For example, down here on the border between Mexico and the USA, we have a lot of drug trafficking. One of the patron saints of Mexican drug runners (but not not not recognized by the Catholic church) is la Santa Muerte. In fact, it's to the point where the local policia have decided enough is enough and have taken to bulldozing roadside shrines to her. This is serious business, but it's also a spiritual devotion.

Going to the Wikipedia link above, or the newspaper article will give you a taste, but suppose you want a real flavor of what it's all about? Flickr, my friends. (Or your own favorite photo site.) Plug in Santa Muerte and you get pictures. Like this one, Altar a la Santa Muerte (Altar to Saint Death), with the acerbic comment below, "Aparentemente La Santa Muerte también acepta dólares." ("Apparently Saint Death also accepts dollars.") If you don't know the language, Google Translate is good at giving a very rough translation.

Anyway, that's a way of knowing, which is to root through other people's pictures and see what they find valuable. If you never think you're going to get out to Tunguska, Siberia, to see the site of whatever it was that exploded overhead in 1908 (meteor or comet, scientists are still not sure), you can go look at pictures. And learn.

Arabic as a foreigner language, what to teach dialect or MSN or both ?

Language Resource Center - Arabic

Living Arabic ISBN 13: 09780974484341
Dr Munther Younes the outher of the above text book wrote in his text book page IX ( I DAY believe that teaching a spoken dialect for everyday conversation and MSN for reading, writing, and formal speaking is the most effective way to prepare students to function in Arabic. I also believe that if a student masters any Arabic dialect well enough, he /she will be able to function in other dialects, just as native speakers from different area of the Arab world do.)

I met Dr Munther Younes in Madrid Arabela 09 where he explained how he teach his methods: dialects and MSN side by side.
Arabs from different parts of the Arab world speak different dialect, but MSN is virtually the same everywhere.However students who learn to speak only MSN they may use it in conversation,and they may hear the answer with local dialect hence they will find it difficult to understand what is being said to them.
I beginning to agree with Dr Munther Younes, above all Dr Al Batal in his new issues of (al-kittab) introduced THREE new dialect in addition to the Egyptian. In my visit to Texas University this year I saw how the students speak MSN mixed with Egyptian dialect* I was very impressed.
*By the way Dr al-batal is not Egyptian contrary to some believe.

But the question is in what stage should we teach the dialect?

Also reed about Amia (In my Blog end of September):
http://www.shorouknews.com/ContentData.aspx?id=122882

In this link you well hear and see the Levantine Arabic.
http://lrc.cornell.edu/medialib/ar

http://lrc.cornell.edu/medialib/ar/aei1
http://lrc.cornell.edu/medialib/ar/aei2

Al-Kitaab part1

http://arabicwithoutwalls.ucdavis.edu/aww/syllabus.html
Course Content

Arabic Without Walls contains materials for three separate components broken down under the Course Content into Al-Kitaab, Interviews, and Culture. While each component may stand by itself and therefore may be studied independently, the three are designed to complement each other in Arabic Without Walls. The course syllabus will help you go back and forth between the textbooks, the DVDs, and the Web materials as you proceed in a given chapter. For review purposes, however, or when you choose to concentrate on a single element of the Web-based course, you will find it useful to go to Course Content and select the relevant component.
Preparatory Lessons Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15

Arabic materials for listening comprehension.

من دول العالم

http://www.laits.utexas.edu/aswaat/video_s.php#

Welcome to Aswaat cArabiyya "Arabic Voices," a web site designed for learners and teachers of Arabic seeking materials for listening comprehension. We hope that you will find this site beneficial and that it will inshaa'allah help you to listen, learn, and further enjoy your experience with Arabic.
Aswaat cArabiyya provides listening materials and accompanying activities that are intended for the various levels of proficiency from Novice to Superior. These listening materials have been selected from television stations throughout the Arab world and they treat a wide variety of topics and listening genres.
Each listening unit contains a segment ranging in length between one and ten minutes along with pre-listening, listening and post-listening questions and activities. The questions are presented in PDF format so as to allow learners and teachers to use them for in-class or homework activities. In addition, each unit provides some help tools designed to facilitate listening and comprehension.
We invite you to tour this site and explore its various components. If you have questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us. Meanwhile, listen, learn and enjoy!

من دول العالم

من دول العالم

Welcome to Aswaat cArabiyya "Arabic Voices," a web site designed for learners and teachers of Arabic seeking materials for listening comprehension. We hope that you will find this site beneficial and that it will inshaa'allah help you to listen, learn, and further enjoy your experience with Arabic.

Aswaat cArabiyya provides listening materials and accompanying activities that are intended for the various levels of proficiency from Novice to Superior. These listening materials have been selected from television stations throughout the Arab world and they treat a wide variety of topics and listening genres.

Each listening unit contains a segment ranging in length between one and ten minutes along with pre-listening, listening and post-listening questions and activities. The questions are presented in PDF format so as to allow learners and teachers to use them for in-class or homework activities. In addition, each unit provides some help tools designed to facilitate listening and comprehension.

We invite you to tour this site and explore its various components. If you have questions or suggestions, please do not hesitate to get in touch with us. Meanwhile, listen, learn and enjoy!


http://www.laits.utexas.edu/aswaat/video_s.php

Al Jazeera News with Transcript

This is a short clip of the summary of the news on 9/20/2009 read by Iman Ayyad إيمان عياد. The transcript will help with recognizing words when you hear them. I remember when I was first learning Arabic one of my biggest problems was that I had trouble telling where one word ended and another began. It was especially a problem when they were putting the fatha, kasra, and damma at the end of all the words like they do on Al Jazeera. What really helped me was having transcripts of audio and video clips that I could used to parse out where the individual words were. The vocab list at the end are words that I thought might be new or difficult.



أهلاً بكم, أعلن البيت الأبيض أن الرئيس الأمريكي باراك اوباما سيلتقلي الرئيس الفلسطيني محمود عباس و رئيس الوزراء الإسرائيلي بنيامين نتانياهو بعد غداً الثلاثاء. و أوضحت الرئاسة الأمريكية أن هذه القمة الثلاثية ستسبقها لقاءات ثنائية على هامش إجتماعات الجمعية العامة للأمم المتحدة في نيويورك.

Hello and welcome. The White House announced that the American president, Barack Obama, will meet the Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas and the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu the day after tomorrow, Tuesday. The American presidency clarified that this tri-party summit will be preceded by bi-party meetings on the margin of meetings of the UN general assembly in New York.

و كان رئيس الحكومة الفلسطينية المقالة إسماعيل هنية قال إن مقترحات الإدارة الأمريكية الجديدة لا تختلف في جوهرها عن مقترحات الإدارات الأمريكية السابقة, مأكداً انه لا أحد مخول بتوقيع أي إتفاقاً نيابتاً عن الشعب الفلسطيني.

And the displaced president of the Palestinian government, Ismail Haniyeh, said that the proposals of the new American administration and no different at their core from the proposals of the last American administration, stressing that no one is authorized to sign an agreement in place of the Palestinian people.

قالت مصادر محلية في محافظة صعدة شمال اليمن إن عشرات الأشخاص سقطوا بين قتيلاً و جريح في مواجهات بين قوات الجيش و
مسلحين من جماعات الحوثي.

Local sources in the district of Sa'dah in northern Yemen said that 10's of people fell among the dead and injured in confrontations between the army forces and gunmen from the Houthi squads.يحتفل أكثر من مليار مسلم في مختلف انحاء العالم اليوم بأول ايام عيد الفطر المبارك. يذكر ان معظم الدول العربية اعلنت ان اليوم الأحد هو أول ايام العيد بعد ما ثبتت فيها رؤية هلال شهر شوال.

More than 1 billion Muslims in various parts of the world celebrate today the first days of Eid Al-Fitr Al-Mubarak. It's worth mentioning that most of the Arabic countries announced that Sunday is the first day of the feast after it was proved that the crescent (moon) of Shawwal was seen.

تواعد زعيم الحزب الإسلامي في الصومال شيخ حسن طاهر اويس بمزيد من العمليات التفجيرية ضد قوات الإتحاد الافريقي اذا لم تنسحب من بلاده.

The leader of the Islamic party in Somalia, Sheik Hassan Tahir Uways, promised more explosion operations against the forces of the African Union if they don't withdraw from his country.

قال الرئيس الافغاني حامد كرزاي انه سيطلق في حال اعلان فوزه رسمياً بإنتخابات الرئاسة محادثات سلام مع قادة حركة طالبان.

The Afghan president Hamid Karzai said, in the case of his winning the presidential elections, that he will launch peace talks with the leaders of the Taliban movement.

إلى اللقاء

Until next time.

Vocabulary:

• أوضح - to make clear, clarify (it's measure IV)
• مقالة - dismissed (Ismail Haniyeh was the previous Palestinian president)
• مقترحة - proposal, suggestion
• جوهر - essence, content, can also mean "jewel"
• إدارة - administration
• نيابتاً عن - in place of, representing (نائب is a representative)
• مخول - authorized
• رؤية - vision, sighting
• هلال - crescent (الهلال الأحمر is the Red Crescent, the Middle East equivalent of the Red Cross)
• قادة - leaders (usually words ending in ة are singular. This is a rare exception. قائد is the singular.)