As the Arabs Say...كـَما قالـَت العَرَب

As the Arabs Say...كـَما قالـَت العَرَب


Salaam to you all,


On the happy occasion of Eid Al-Adha (عيد الأضحى‎) tomorrow, I would like to wish everyone a blessed and joyful Eid celebration.

May I take this opportunity to introduce you to (As the Arabs Say…كـَما قالـَت العَرَب) a new project which I've initiated just recently to help Arabic learners by using carefully selected Arabic quotes, proverbs, and sayings. These quotes are recorded as podcasts which will be available soon in the iTunes Podcast directory.

For this occasion, I've recorded an Eid greeting which is also written in Moroccan calligraphy.
Quote #004: Wishing You A Blessed Eid

The site is still in its first baby-steps to build an online audio library of Arabic quotes for teachers and learners of Arabic. Any feedback or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

As the Arabs Say…كـَما قالـَت العَرَب
http://www.v-arabic.com/aas/

Again, Happy Eid to you all...

Mourad
____________________________________
Mourad Diouri | مراد الديوري
e-Learning Lecturer in Arabic Studies
Centre for the Adv. Study of the Arab World
University of Edinburgh, 19 George Square
Edinburgh, EH8 9LD, UK
e: m.diouri@ed.ac.uk, mourad.diouri@e-arabic.com
t: + (44) 131 6506615
w: casaw.ac.uk
w: eArabic Learning Portal : e-Arabic.com

As the Arabs Say...كـَما قالـَت العَرَب

As the Arabs Say...كـَما قالـَت العَرَب


Salaam to you all,
On the happy occasion of Eid Al-Adha (عيد الأضحى‎) tomorrow, I would like to wish everyone a blessed and joyful Eid celebration. May I take this opportunity to introduce you to (As the Arabs Say…كـَما قالـَت العَرَب) a new project which I've initiated just recently to help Arabic learners by using carefully selected Arabic quotes, proverbs, and sayings. These quotes are recorded as podcasts which will be available soon in the iTunes Podcast directory. For this occasion, I've recorded an Eid greeting which is also written in Moroccan calligraphy. Quote #004: Wishing You A Blessed EidThe site is still in its first baby-steps to build an online audio library of Arabic quotes for teachers and learners of Arabic. Any feedback or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. As the Arabs Say…كـَما قالـَت العَرَبhttp://www.v-arabic.com/aas/Again, Happy Eid to you all...
Mourad____________________________________Mourad Diouri مراد الديوري

m.diouri@ed.ac.uk, mourad.diouri@e-arabic.comt: + (44) 131 6506615w: casaw.ac.uk

That Wraps it up for Dubai, Then

What do I know? Reuters thinks Dubai is in a bit of a financial pickle. Dubai faces financial sheikh-up. If I was the boss, I think I'd just give the place to Abu Dhabi and bugger off to retire in Spain. Cordoba, probably, or Granada - some nice Islamic architecture there. Bits of it look like Ibn Batutta Mall. And it's sunny most of the time.

FSI Language Courses - Arabic

FSI Language Courses - Arabic

Welcome to fsi-language-courses.org, an alternate site for fsi-language-courses.com - the home for language courses developed by the Foreign Service Institute.
These courses were developed by the United States government and are in the public domain

Mirele's Mandalas - Image Heavy

This is what I've been up to lately.

Songhay and Nilo-Saharan

Following up on the preceding post, I've been looking at Greenberg's (1966) Nilo-Saharan comparisons - specifically, the 29 ones involving Songhay that have reflexes in Kwarandzyey, the Songhay language least likely to be involved in recent contact with Nilo-Saharan. Of these, 20 have comparanda in Saharan (Kanuri/Kanembu + Teda/Daza + Berti + Beria/Zaghawa), 17 in Eastern Sudanic (Nubian, Nilotic, Surmic, etc.), vs. a maximum of 13 for any other branch. (At least 7 also have plausible Mande comparisons.) Now, Saharan only consists of about 4 languages (9 by Ethnologue standards.) For Eastern Sudanic, excluding Kuliak, the Ethnologue counts 103 languages, and a huge amount of internal diversity. If Songhay were equally distant from the whole of Nilo-Saharan, you would expect far more cognates with Eastern Sudanic than with Saharan; the figures suggest that the link (whatever its nature) is primarily with Saharan, and only secondarily, if at all, with the rest of the languages he classified as Nilo-Saharan.

The grammatical comparisons that Greenberg offers are interesting but not compelling; there are only 10 of them (only 4 with Kwarandzyey reflexes), and they often incorporate misrepresentations (as Lacroix noted, for example, -ma forms verbal nouns, not relatives/adjectives, and 1sg ay < *agay, reducing the similarity to forms like Zaghawa ai.) Some of the lexical ones, however, are rather good; similarities such as Koyraboro Senni kokoši “scale (of fish)” = Manga Kanuri kàskàsí “scale (of fish)” cry out for explanation, and, though quite rare, look sufficiently numerous that chance seems unlikely. But whether they should be explained by contact or borrowing remains unclear. Either scenario would be historically interesting, since at present rather a large expanse of Tuareg and Hausa-speaking land separates Songhay from even Kanuri, and Saharan originated closer to modern-day Darfur than to Lake Chad.

Haifa Wehbe Expresses Admiration for Hassan Nasrallah

This video is of Haifa Wehbe هيفاء وهبي being interviewed and asked about who she looks up to. Her answer is the leader of Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah حسن نصر الله. I don't think I would describe him the way she did, but to each his (or in this case her) own. This dialogue is in Levantine and more specifically Lebanese Arabic. With the transcript you should be able to follow along without having exposure to this dialect because almost all of the words are found in MSA فصحى but they are said with a Lebanese accent. The spiral and the chairs coming toward each other at the beginning is kind of strange. Not sure what that's about. :)



سؤال تاني. سمي شخص بيدق قلبك إله بس إتشوفيه بس مش كحبيب و لا من افراد أسرتك

Another question. Name a person for whom your heart beats when you see him, but not as a lover and not among the members of your family.

Comments: تاني doesn't always mean "second". This could have been the 4th question.

بيدق قلبي بس شوفه بس مش كحبيب؟

My heart beats when I see him but not as a lover?

اه, بصراحة... و يمكن الحرب خلتني كمان أكثر أتأكد من هالشي. سيد حسن نصر الله. حكمته العالية جداً. روقيه بالتعامل مع كل الأوضاع إللي كانت مدمية و إللي بعدها. أكثر شغلة إللي تعجبني فيه, هالكاريزما بحواره, هالطريقة القوية إللي بتقنعني, مقنع جداً و حكيم. حكمته كتير... و طبعاً هو رجل يحتذى فيه يعني و ينضرب فيه المثل.

Ah, frankly... and maybe the war also has made me more sure of this. Mr. Hasan Nasrallah. His very high wisdom. His dignified way of dealing with all the situations that were bloody, etc. The thing that I like most about him, this charisma in his dialogue, this strong way that convinces me. He's very convincing and wise. His wisdom is very... and of course he is a model man and one the proverbs speak of.

Vocabulary:

• دق - to beat or knock
• صراحة - frankly
• خلتني - made me or let me. خليني روح means "let me go"
• شغلة - thing. Just like the word حاجة in Egyptian.
• مقنع - convincing
• حكيم - wise. Also means "doctor" in Levantine, but doesn't mean that here.
• رجل يحتذى فيه - an exemplary man, a good example of a man, role model
• ينضرب فيه المثل - "the proverb is hit in him" literally. It means basically that he is a guy like in the proverb. Maybe she has a specific proverb in mind but I don't know what it is.
  

Fairouz al Zayani Reads Al Jazeera Headlines

This clip is from November 7, 2009 and is of the Al Jazeera anchor (مذيعة) Fairouz al Zayani (فيروز الزياني ) reading the headline news. I've written out the transcript in Arabic and the translation into English. After the transcript there is a vocab list of some of the important words in the passage. I recommend listening to the passage once or twice and then going through it with the transcript making sure to note the words that are new to you. This is the main way that I learn and continue to study Arabic, having an audio source along with the transcript and just going over it until I know everything in the passage.



اهلا بكم. قالت جماعة الحوثي إنها سدت هجوم سعودي بري في جبل دخان و مناطق حدودية أخرى و اسرت عدداً من الجنون السعوديين. و كان الحوثيون قد اكّدوا تواصل الغارة الجوية السعودية على قرى يمنية حدودية. و قال مصدر رسمي سعودي إن بلاده شنت غارات جوية مكثّفة على اماكن وجود من وصفهم بمتسللين من جماعة الحوثي في مناطق داخل الاراضي السعودية

Hello and welcome. The Houthi band said that it blocked a Saudi land attack in Jebel Dukhan (Smoke Mountain) and other border areas and that they took a number of the Saudi soldiers prisoner. The Houthis confirmed that the Saudi air raids on Yemeni border villages are continuing. And an official Saudi source said that his country launched concentrated air strikes on the locations of who he described as Houthi infiltrators in areas inside Saudi lands.

قالت المعارضة اللبنانية بعد إجتماع لها في وقت متأخّر الليلة الماضية إنها اتفقت على المضي في تشكيل حكومة وحدة وطنية في البلاد وفق قواعد تم الإتفاق عليها مع رئيس الحكومة المكلف سعد الحريري. و ضم الإجتماع رئيس مجلس النواب نبيه بري و رئيس التكتل الإصلاح و التغيير ميشال عون و الامين العام لحزب الله حسن نصر الله و رئيس تيار المردة سليمان فراجية

The Lebanese opposition, after a meeting it had late last night, said that it has agreed on the execution of forming a national unity government in the country according to rules that were agreed upon with the acting president of the government Saad al Hariri. Head of the congress Nabih Berri, head of the Restoration and Change Party Michel Aoun, the secretary general of Hezbollah Hasan Nasrallah, and the head of the Marada movement Suleiman Franjieh joined the meeting.

يعقد البرلمان العراقي اليوم جلسة أخرى لبحث قانون الإنخابات المثير للجدل و من أهم المشاكل التي تعرقل إقرار قانون الإنتخابات, كيفية إجراء الإنتخابات في مدينة كركوك وسط صراع عربي كردي تركماني

Today the Iraqi Parliament is holding another meeting to discuss the controversial election law. Among the most important problems that is impeding ratification of the election law is how to carry out elections in the city of Kirkuk amidst Arabic, Kurdish, and Turkman conflict.

هذا و قد اعلن في بغداد اليوم عن تحالف الوحدة الوطنية لخوض الإنخابات البرلمانية المقبلة و ضمن التحالف الجديد عدد من التجمعات و الحركات و الشخصيات منها تجمع الوحدة الوطنية

In addition to this, an national unity alliance to hold the future parliamentary elections was announced in Baghdad today and within this new alliance are a number of groups, movements, and personalities, among them the national unity group.

قال الرئسي الروسي ديمتري مدفيديف إنه لا يمكن إستبعاد إمكانية فرض عقوبات شديد على إيران إذا لم يحدث تقدم في المفاوضات حول ملفها النووي. من ناحية أخرى قال رئيس لجنة الشؤون الخارجية في البرلمان الإيراني علاء الدين بروجردي إن إيران ترفض إرسال اليورانيوم المخصب الذي تملكه إلى الخارج لزيادة تخصيبه مقابل حصولها على وقود لمفاعل الابحاث النووي في طهران

The Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said that he can't rule out the possibility of imposing severe sanctions on Iran if no progress takes place in the negotiations about its Nuclear program (file). On the other side of the issue, the president of the committee of matters of the exterior in the Iranian Parliament Aladdin Brojardi said that Iran refuses to send its enriched uranium outside the country in order to enrich it further in exchange for receiving fuel for the nuclear research reactor in Tehran.

عقد الرئيس الامريكي باراك اوباما إجتماعاً مع مدير مكتب التحقيقات الفيدرالي لبحث حادثة إطلاق النار داخل قاعدة فورت هود في ولاية تاكساس. و عقب حادث فورت هود بساعات قتل امريكياً و جرح 6 آخرون في إطلاق نار وسط مدينة اورلاندو بولاية فلوردا

The American president Barak Obama held a meeting with the head of the federal investigations office to discuss the shooting incident inside the Ft. Hood base in Texas. Hours after the occurrence at Ft. Hood 1 American was killed and 6 were injured in a shooting in downtown Orlando Florida.

إلى اللقاء

Until we meet again.

Vocabulary:

• سد - to block, repel (as in an attack). The noun means "dam", so you can see the kind of meanings this root has.
• بري - the adjective for "ground" as in هجوم بري "ground attack"
• شن - to launch an attack
• غارة جوية - air raid
• متسللين - infiltrators
• وصف - to describe something
• مكثف - concentrated or dense
• مضي - to go ahead with, to execute, to implement
• مكلّف - to be charged with something. الطالب المكلّف بإغلاق الباب (the student who's job it is or who is charged with closing the door). Notice the shadda. Without it the word means expensive مُكلِف
  
• عقب or على أعقاب - After, on the heels of. Don't confuse with عقوبات which means sanctions
• تخصيب - literally means "to make fertile" but in the case of uranium it means "to enrich"
• مفاعل نووي - nuclear reactor
  

Innocent? Nope. Deceptive? Yup. Insanely Crazy? Absolutely.

That's how I feel about some people who are selling this bumper sticker:

It sounds like a nice sentiment. "Oh, let's pray for the President." However, if you whip out your Bibles, this is what Psalm 109:8 says:

"Let his days be few; and let another take his office."

Uh...that sounds like Secret Service material.

And then there's the next verse (Psalm 109:9):

"Let his children be fatherless, and his wife a widow."

Reminds me of a story I read just last month about a guy in California who was threatening Obama:

(10-15) 11:40 PDT SAN FRANCISCO -- A Del Norte County man has been indicted by a federal grand jury in San Francisco on charges that he threatened in an e-mail to kill President Obama and members of his family.

John Gimbel, 59, of Crescent City e-mailed a message Sept. 28 bearing a subject line that read, in part, "Kill the 'president' ... then write 'fed s-' on his chest with a felt tip," said the indictment issued Tuesday, two days before Obama's scheduled visit to San Francisco today for fundraisers at the St. Francis Hotel.

In the body of the e-mail, Gimbel allegedly wrote, "Kill that ... wife of yours," and, "Do it to his children and family first in front of him. Failure to comply. That'll teach him."

Gimbel was indicted on charges of making threats against the president, threats against the president's immediate family and threats transmitted through interstate communication.

Link

What a fun guy!

So, my question is, if John Gimbel can be arrested for this, why aren't these bumper sticker and gimme cap and t-shirt makers prosecuted? (These links may hopefully disappear soonish.) I don't know that a Bible verse should make a person any less immune from prosecution. After all, I suspect that these are the same guys who will quote the Qur'an and say, "Oooh how wicked!"

Pot. Kettle. Black. Or, to be biblical about it, mote, beam, eye. (Matthew 7:3, Luke 6:42)

Update: The bumper stickers, gimme caps, t-shirts and so on have been removed from CafePress and Zazzle.

Arabic Grammar - Learn Arabic Online

Arabic Grammar - Learn Arabic Online

How we Study Grammar
Arabic grammar is centered around a single topic; grammatical inflection. Anything studied in the language is studied only because it relates to this issue. It is a feat of staggering genius on the part of medieval grammarians that almost all aspects of the language are covered just by concentrating on the issue of grammatical inflection. We start with this topic, and it branches out to cover the entire language.

Arabic Grammar - Learn Arabic Online

Arabic Grammar - Learn Arabic Online




Arabic grammar is centered around a single topic; grammatical inflection. Anything studied in the language is studied only because it relates to this issue. It is a feat of staggering genius on the part of medieval grammarians that almost all aspects of the language are covered just by concentrating on the issue of grammatical inflection. We start with this topic, and it branches out to cover the entire language.

Arabic conversation

CONVERSATION ALASSASSI

UCCLLT Teaching Language and Cullture with Film

UCCLLT Teaching Language and Cullture with Film

Teaching Language and Cullture

Arabic Without Walls

Arabic Without Walls



Arabic Without Walls
Arabic Without Walls is now being taught and administered from UC Irvine.For general information about AWW, please see the UCLLT Website OR the page at UC Irvine's Humanities Language Learning Program The latter includes information on registering for the course and a link to the HLLP.

NMELRC | Arabic Without WallsHome

NMELRC Arabic Without WallsHome

Dear students some of you wrote to me about Arabic without Walls, that you can not access it. I thing it is the time to write to NMELRC .see contact below.

WE ARE CALLING FOR FREE EDUCATION FOR ALL.

Arabic Without Walls
With so much misunderstanding in the world, we desperately need to expand Arabic language-learning opportunities. Interest in learning Arabic has greatly increased in recent years. Although many schools, colleges, and universities have added Arabic to their curriculum, most American students do not have access to study this important world language.The U.S. Department of Education's Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary Education has awarded the University of California Consortium on Language Learning & Teaching and the National Middle East Language Resource Center a grant to develop Arabic Without Walls, an innovative distance-learning program that will allow anyone, ranging from high school students to senior citizens, to study Arabic - no matter where they live.A team of highly respected curriculum developers and experts designed Arabic Without Walls to take advantage of the latest technology, while simultaneously ensuring the critical human contact that is essential for successful language learning. In order to provide a rich learning environment that exposes learners to the depth and breadth of Arab culture, we are collecting authentic materials and engaging interviews. These interviews introduce learners to a sample of real Arabs from various regional, educational, professional, and religious backgrounds.Arabic Without Walls is based on the widely-used textbook Al-Kitaab fii Ta`alum al-Arabiyya (Brustad et al., 2nd ed., Georgetown University Press, 2004). The content and scenarios of the interviews parallel the content of the lessons in Al-Kitaab and will be used as the basis for online learning activities that help students acquire real facility in using Arabic. Our experience shows that learners respond very positively to natural and authentic materials.

Arabic Without Walls is a not a publicly
accessible resource. More details on how to become involved will be posted soon
(Nov/2009)

Please contact the NMELRC
National Middle East Language Resource Center (NMELRC)
Brigham Young University214 HRCBProvo, Utah 84602nmelrc-research@byu.eduFAX

NMELRC DirectorsDr. R. Kirk Belnap - Director Brigham Young Universitybelnap@byu.eduPhone: (801) 422-6531 / FAX: (801) 422-0382

Dr. Maggie Nassif - Administrative DirectorBrigham Young Universitymnnassif@byu.eduPhone: (801) 422-7192 / FAX: (801) 422-0382

Dr. Mahmoud Al-Batal - Associate Director for Teacher DevelopmentUniversity of Texas-Austinalbatal@austin.utexas.eduBiography

Dr. Shmuel Bolozky - Associate Director for Infrastructure BuildingUniversity of Massachusetts-Amherstshmuel.bolozky@judnea.umass.eduBiography

Dr. Erika H. Gilson - Associate Director for AssessmentPrinceton Universityehgilson@princeton.eduBiography

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NMELRC | What You Should Know about Proficiency Testing (Ray Clifford)Home

NMELRC |

What You Should Know about Proficiency Testing (Ray Clifford)Home: "What You Should Know about Proficiency Testing (Ray Clifford)
Presented by Ray T. Clifford November 2006"



Thanks to NMELRC for providing such a valuable presentation !

Al Quran Raksasa Segera Diresmikan

Penggagas Al Quran raksasa, Sofwatillah Mozaib, mengatakan bahwa Al Quran yang terbuat dari kayu tembesu ukuran panjang dua meter dan lebar 1,2 meter akan diresmikan pada 1 Muharam 1431 Hijriah (18 Desember 2009).

"Kami merencanakan peresmian Al Quran raksasa tersebut pada 1 Muharam 1431 Hijriah oleh Menteri Agama RI dan dihadiri Ketua DPR RI," katanya di Palembang, Jumat (13/11) seusai melakukan kunjungan kerja ke pemkot setempat.

Menurut Sofwatillah yang juga anggota DPR-RI utusan Sumsel itu, setelah diresmikan, kitab suci raksasa tersebut akan dipajang di Museum Al Akbar yang segera dipersiapkan pembangunannya.

"Museum Al Akbar tersebut diharapkan dalam waktu dekat bisa terealisasi yang lokasinya berada di daerah strategis di tengah Kota Palembang sehingga memudahkan pengunjung datang melihat koleksi kitab suci berukuran raksasa itu," tambah dia.

Ia mengatakan, Museum Al Akbar tersebut nantinya bukan hanya memajang Al Quran raksasa, melainkan juga menjadi tempat menyimpan Al Quran yang bersejarah, baik dari segi usia, maupun sejarah penggunanya.

"Mudah-mudahan dengan dibangunnya Museum Al Quran tersebut, umat Muslim semakin mudah mengakses pengetahuan mereka dalam upaya mendalami Islam," katanya.

Dia menjelaskan, Al Quran menjadi pegangan wajib bagi umat Islam yang didampingkan dengan Al Hadits sehingga umat Muslim semakin mudah mengakses kitab suci tersebut dan memperkuat kecintaan mereka.

"Al Quran dan Al Hadits menjadi pegangan wajib karena mengandung ajaran-ajaran Islami, baik hubungan antara manusia dan manusia, maupun dengan sang pencipta," ujar dia.

Sofwatillah menambahkan, khusus pembuatan Al Quran raksasa tersebut dilakukan oleh sejumlah ahli ukir bekerja sama dengan ulama yang menguasai secara benar tulisan kitab suci itu.

"Saat ini, Al Quran tersebut masih dipajang di Masjid Agung Palembang untuk dikoreksi ahli dan warga Palembang yang memahami betul karya putra daerah Sumatera Selatan itu," ungkapnya.

Aksara Jawa Sudah Masuk Komputer dan Diakui Dunia

Alhamdulillah. Salah satu aksara asli nusantara yaitu Aksara Jawa (hanacaraka) telah diakui dunia sejak 2 Oktober 2009, sehingga aksara Jawa kini dapat dipakai untuk komputer seperti aksara Latin, China, Arab, Jepang, dan sebagainya.

Aksara Jawa sudah diakui UNICODE (lembaga dalam naungan UNESCO yang menangani standar kode aksara pada komputer di dunia). Aksara Jawa ini didaftarkan Ki Demang Sokowaten (Yogyakarta) pada 9 September 2007, dan diakui UNICODE mulai 2 Oktober 2009 atau bersamaan pengakuan UNESCO terhadap Batik. Dengan pengakuan itu, kini kita dapat memasukkan aksara Jawa ke dalam ’font’ komputer kita.

More

Arabic Family

Let's start learning from the smallest group of society:

.

FAMILY (clan) > a-elah or solalah

.

FATHER > ab or waled

Arab children call their fathers Baba

.

MOTHER > om or waledah

Arab children call their mothers Mama

.

BROTHER > akh or shaqiq

SISTER > okht

.

HUSBAND > zawj

WIFE > zawaja

 .

SON > sabi or walad

DAUGHTER > bent

 .

>o0o<

.

GRAND FATER > jad

GRAND MOTHER > jadda

 .

GRAND SON > hafid

GRAND DAUGHTER > hafidah

.

UNCLE

(Paternal) > am

(Maternal) > khal

 .

AUNT

(Paternal) > amah

(Maternal) > khalah

 .

NEPHEW > ebnol

Brother's Son > ebnol-akh

Sister's Son > ebnol-okht

 .

NIECE > bentol

Brother's Daughter > bentol-akh

Sister's Daughter > bentol-okht

.

COUSIN (Male) > ibn elam

COUSIN (Female) > ibnt elam

.

Why Choose Montpellier France?

Montpellier is one of those special places in France that is cosmopolitan but maintains French traditions. Here we get about 300 days of sunshine and its perfectly located so that one is only about 20 mins from the sea and about 30 mins from the mountains. As its a university town, the cost of living remains stable as well as there is always something going on in the center of town.

The locals here are friendly and open to meeting people who come from other places. Montpellier is located in the department of Languedoc Rousillion which is a wine producing region. While the wines of Languedoc cant compete with those of Bordeaux, Burgundy or the Cotes du Rhone, there are some good wines to be found as well as there is almost always an excuse to have a wine tasting activity.

Outdoor activities are very popular in this region because of the diversity within the region. So its easy to go biking, hiking, river or sea kayaking, rock climbing and the list continues.

I can't say that Montpellier is a great place to visit for just the day but its the perfect place to pass some time and soak up the local culture, food, wine and of course, the sun.

GG

Al-Qurtubi: Spanish classical Maliki scholar

He was born in Cordoba, Spain and was an eminent Maliki scholar who specialised in fiqh and hadith. Many Muslims claim that the breadth and depth of his scholarship are evident in his writings. The most famous of them is his twenty-volume Tafsir al Jami' li-ahkam al-Qur'an.

He died in 1273 in Munya Abi'l-Khusavb, Egypt.

Arabic Accelerated (Total Beginners) - City University London

Arabic Accelerated (Total Beginners) - City University London

Start date(s):
Monday 18 January 2010
Class Time:
6.20-8.20pm
(Mondays and Thursdays every week for 11 weeks)
Course Fee:£320.00

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.

I will be your Tutor.

Ahmed El-Shareif.

Assi El Helani: Lebnani w/ Lyrics

The song لبناني (Lebanese) by عاصي الحلاني (Asi El Hillani) was released after the 2008 election in Lebanon and was an immediate hit. It's a nationalistic song about Lebanese heritage and how people from Lebanon should be proud to be Lebanese. To me Asi Al Hellani sounds a lot like فارس كرم (Fares Karam). They both sing in really deep voices and have the same kind of accent, but I like Fares Karam so it's not a bad thing. Here is the song along with the lyrics and translation. I'm sure you'll enjoy it... unless maybe you're Syrian. Just kidding. :P




غطي الشمس بفي جبينك
Cover the sun (light) with the shade of your brow
بيحقلك وطنك دينك
Your country and your religion are your rights
لو هالدني سألت مينك؟
قلن انك لبناني
If this world asked, "Who are you?" Tell them that you're Lebanese

بطل السلم و بطل الحرب
Hero of peace and hero of war
همزة وصل الشرق الغرب
The connector between the east and the west
تتظل تحب و تنحب
To continue loving and being loved
بيكفي انك لبناني
It's enough that you're Lebanese

لبناني و مطرح ما تروح
Lebanese and everywhere you go
حامل وطنك قلب و روح
You carry your country with your heart and soul
و منك عطر المجد يفوح
And from you the perfume of glory wafts
عطر التراب اللبناني
The perfume of the Lebanese soil

لبناني و كلما بتطل
Lebanese and whenever you appear
بتوزع حبك عالكل
You spread your love to everyone
و الإيدين عليك تدل
And your two hands point out
و تعرف انك لبناني
And know that you are Lebanese

لبناني و اسمك مكتوب
Lebanese and your name is written
ع حد السيف المسحوب
On the blade of the unsheathed sword
لون حروفه حبر قلوب
The color of its letters is the ink of hearts
كلمة وحدة لبناني
One word, Lebanese

لبناني و تسلم هالإيد
Lebanese and bless your hands
اللي بتعرف تعطي و تزيد
That know how to give and exceed
و تخلق بعد الأزمة عيد
And create a holiday after the crisis
و عيد المجد اللبناني
The holiday of the Lebanese glory

غطي الشمس بفي جبينك
Cover the sun (light) with the shade of your brow
بيحقلك وطنك دينك
Your country and your religion are your rights
لو هالدنيي سألت مينك؟
قلن انك لبناني
If this world asked, "Who are you?" Tell them that you're Lebanese

Unit 13

Learn 80 percent vocabulary of the Qur'an

Download MP3 of examples with translations for the following wordlist

Word	Transliteration	Meaning
أَحَلَّ	ahal-la	he caused to dwell
أَضَلَّ	adal-la	he led astray
أَعَدَّ	a‘ad-da	he prepared
أَذَاقَ	adhaaqa	he made someone taste
أَرَادَ	araada	he intended
أَصَابَ	asaaba	it befell
أَطَاعَ	ataa‘a	he obeyed
أَقَامَ	aqaama	he established
أَمَاتَ	amaata	he caused death
أَحْيَا	ah´yaa	he gave life
أَغْنَى	agh´naa	he enriched
أَلْقَى	al´qaa	he placed

Please visit http://www.80percentwords.com to practice these words.

learn arabic, learning arabic, arabic vocabulary, quranic arabic, understand quran, quran arabic, learn quranic arabic

Voice Mail Hell

I'd just like to rant for a minute about how there isn't a standard voice mail system in this country. Hell, there's not a standard system in the (admittedly very large) company I work for. I don't do a whole lot of calling, but when I do, I'm usually in a hurry and need to work down a list of people within a fairly short period of time. Therefore, it's not part of the plan that I should erase the voice mail message I just left. Yet, because of the way voice mail systems are configured, that's exactly what happens on occasion.

This came home to me this morning when I was calling my dentist to inquire WHY I'd gotten a phone call about a dental appointment I'd cancelled back on Tuesday. I left the message, which admittedly was a bit scattered since I couldn't remember my home telephone number (I don't call myself). Of course, there are no instructions about what to do at the end of your message. So, based on my experience at work, I pressed star (*).

The recorded voice said, "Message erased." I cursed a blue streak before the recording beeped again. I left a new message, admittedly more coherent, and pressed the pound (#) key. That got me into the message options menu and I pressed to send (1) with normal delivery (1). But I was grinding my teeth the whole time, which, since this was the dentist, may have been the intended result. (Actually, the dentist is a lovely guy with a nice chairside manner, so much so that I didn't feel like I needed to go with the gas while he was working on me.)

I wonder how many man-hours are wasted by people having to rerecord messages because voice mail systems do not have the same sets of commands? Of course, the solution is to get a live human every time, but we're all busy and that's not exactly what happens.

Hi in Arabic

As in any language, in Arabic there are many different ways to greet someone. A lot more time is spent on greetings in Arabic than is spent in English. I knew some Arabs just learning English and they were amazed at how quickly we greet each other and then move on. They thought it was kind of rude and thoughtless to give such a small amount of time to greetings. To me the length of Arabic greetings seems strange, but I accept the fact that we both have different cultures and place importance on different things.

1. السلام عليكم (assalaamu 'aleykum)
This literally means "peace be upon you". It is probably the most formal greeting in Arabic. The response is و عليكم السلام (wa 'aleykum assalaam). You hear this a lot more often during Ramadan because everyone feels more religious during that month. Also, after saying السلام عليكم you can add و رحمة الله و بركاته (wa rahmat allahi wa barakaatu). This means "and the mercy of God and his blessings", saying may those be upon you as well. This last part was very hard for me to say when I was starting Arabic.

2. اهلاً و سهلاً (ahlan wa sahlan)
This is translated as "hello and welcome". It's less formal than "peace be upon you" and used in less formal situations. You can respond to this greeting with اهلَين (ahlain) which means "two ahlans". However, that response is really only used in the Levantine region (Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Palestine).

3. مرحباً (marhaban)
This is the closest thing to "hi" that they have in Arabic. With this you can reply with مرحبتين (marhabtain) "two marhabans". People will understand everywhere, but it's only used commonly in the Levant.

4. صباح الخير (sabaah alkhair)
We translate this as "good morning". If you want to take it literally then it means "morning of the good". The response is صباح النور (sabah annour) which means "morning of the light". It doesn't make a lot of sense if you take it literally like that, so it's always just translated as "good morning".

5. مساء الخير (masaa alkhair)
Means "good evening". Like with "good morning", the response is مساء النور (masaa annour), "evening of the light".

6. تحية لك (tahia leka)
This actually means "greetings to you". It's not very common to greet someone with this just as it wouldn't be common to say "greetings to you" in English.

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ebulletin: November 2009 | Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies

ebulletin: November 2009 | Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies

ebulletin: November 2009



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