Do you want to study Arabic?
Take advantage of this special offer
10% off (£21.50), the booking can be done online entering REBQ310 code by Wednesday the 8th of July.
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Learn Arabic at IH London
http://www.ihlondon.com/learn-arabic-19/
Do you want to study Arabic?
Take advantage of this special offer
Do you want to study Arabic?
Take advantage of this special offer
Monday, June 29, 2009
FloodLight Course Guide (Arabic)
For Arabic Courses in London see the link below;
http://london.floodlight.co.uk/london/courses-classes-lessons/best-arabic-courses/qualification/study/region/16180339/220706/100/domain.html
on the left hand column;
1 click Arabic (or another language).
2 click study mode, evening etc.
3 click the type of qualification.
4 click the area of London that you are able to study in.
http://london.floodlight.co.uk/london/courses-classes-lessons/best-arabic-courses/qualification/study/region/16180339/220706/100/domain.html
on the left hand column;
1 click Arabic (or another language).
2 click study mode, evening etc.
3 click the type of qualification.
4 click the area of London that you are able to study in.
Michael Jackson
I was shocked to hear that Michael Jackson had died, young at 50. (When you're 49, you can say that.)
Something to think about here. Death is coming.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
And here's a question. If you go look on Amazon.com, you'll see that the top-selling CDs right now are by Michael Jackson or the Jackson 5. They're selling like crazy. Well, I heard that Billy Mays, legendary TV pitchman, died today. Will there be runs on his most famous product, OxyClean, now that he's dead?
(Yes, I have a sick sense of humor. So sue me.)
A lot of thoughts have raced through my head, along with an amazing background soundtrack of MJ songs from the last 40 years or so. Yes, I said 40. He's been around for a very long time. For you young'uns who only know the MJ of Thriller or Bad, I knew the MJ of "A B C" and "Got to Be There" and "Rockin' Robin" and "Ben." And then there is my favorite MJ album, Off the Wall. It's the album of my coming of age. But even in the laughter intro to the "Off the Wall" single, you hear the hint of the Thriller to come.
From the accounts I've read, it appears that MJ must have died instantly. I hope that was the case. And it also sounds like he'd had a great practice for his London performances the night before.
But this is a reminder to all of us that death comes, sometimes you see death coming, but a lot of time you don't. Death sneaks up on so many of us, particularly those of us who are even in good health and takes us away to our eternal fate. It's worth pondering upon.
Other people will quote the Bible, let me be different and quote the Qur'an:
Every human being is bound to taste death, [and] in the end unto Us shall all be brought back: whereupon unto those who have attained to faith and wrought good works We shall most certainly assign mansions in that paradise through which running waters flow, therein to abide: how excellent a reward for those who labour-those who are patient in adversity and in their Sustainer place their trust!
(Surah 29 The Spider verses 57-59)
Something to think about here. Death is coming.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
And here's a question. If you go look on Amazon.com, you'll see that the top-selling CDs right now are by Michael Jackson or the Jackson 5. They're selling like crazy. Well, I heard that Billy Mays, legendary TV pitchman, died today. Will there be runs on his most famous product, OxyClean, now that he's dead?
(Yes, I have a sick sense of humor. So sue me.)
Sunday, June 28, 2009
The Language Show 2009
The Language Show 2009
http://www.eco.co.uk/visitors/whatson/consumer/2009/the-language-show-09/
Date: 30th October-1st November 2009
Venue: Olympia two
Times: 10:00am-17:00pm
Cost: £10: per Adult children under 16 enter for free.
Tel: 0207 288 6463
www.thelanguageshow.co.uk
http://www.eco.co.uk/visitors/whatson/consumer/2009/the-language-show-09/
Date: 30th October-1st November 2009
Venue: Olympia two
Times: 10:00am-17:00pm
Cost: £10: per Adult children under 16 enter for free.
Tel: 0207 288 6463
www.thelanguageshow.co.uk
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Jon + Kate & 8 little piles of ca$$$$$$$$h
It's been all over the news the last few days: Jon and Kate Gosselin, famous only for being the parents of a set of twins and a set of sextuplets, and turn that fame into a cable TV "reality" show, have announced their divorce. I'm not going to rehash all that here.
Apparently the TV show is also going on hiatus until early August. There had been plans to churn out 40 (forty!) shows this "season." I'm old enough to remember when TV shows had 26 shows a season, ran all 26, then ran them as reruns until the next September rolled around. But J&K+8$$$$$$$$ had just finished up their season in early April and started the next "season" in late May. They've been on TV since 2007 and they have had five such "seasons," each with an increasing number of episodes. That wouldn't have anything to do with the fact that J&K are getting $50K to $75K per episode, no?
Note I said "J&K." There's no evidence that the children upon whose backs this TV show are most firmly placed have any say in where the money that they've earned for their parents goes. Granted, they are rather young, but if they lived in a more child actor-friendly state, like California, J&K would have to set some of the money aside. However, in Pennsylvania, apparently J&K can turn their kids into tiny TV slaves, the 21st century version of the Dionne Quintuplets. (Quintland was Canada's largest attraction during the Great Depression, where approximately 3 million people went to see the five Dionne girls in their natural environment. Yes, they were an attraction, rather like Niagara Falls. Now 10.6 million people tune in on an evening to see J&K announce their divorce.)
Since I make a point of NOT watching this trainwreck, if only because I believe children should not have their childhoods used by their parents for money-making purposes, I believe that Kate Gosselin has said the show musts go on. Well, considering that sitting back and directing her kids as she collects her eight little piles of cash has been her job for the last few years, I can see that. It beats being a dialysis nurse.
But for the children, who are put on display for the sake of Jon, Kate, The Loser Channel (TLC), the paparazzi, the gossip mags and webs, as well as for the almighty ratings, well, nobody seems to really care about them. I do. A lot of other people do. I've been reading "Gosselins without Pity" and "Musings from the Moon" for several months and people are bringing these issues to the fore.
If you want to help these kids, don't watch the show. Don't buy the stuff advertised on the show. Encourage your friends to do the same. Free the kids from the unblinking eye of the television camera. We have known for nearly four decades, since PBS (!) showed the first family-based "reality" series "An American Family," that this is the case. As the late Lance Loud, one of the subjects of that series said, "Television ate my family."
Television has claimed another family as victims in front of its unblinking eye.
Tools for teaching (Find this word)
http://www.wordle.net/create
Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.
Wordle is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
Languages of the wider world
previous seminars :
Globalisation and Language Teaching Dr David Block (Institute of Education, University of London)
Watch the Video
Globalisation and Language Teaching Dr David Block (Institute of Education, University of London)
Watch the Video
Monday, June 22, 2009
Arabic Free Downloads
Arabic Free Downloads
Message from the author:
Here and upon many requests from students and researchers of Arabic language and Middle Eastern studies, I would like to offer you -my guests- free samples from my books (still working on them). I hope you'll find them useful, and please feel free to give them away to any one interested. Naturally, I will appreciate any feedback, especially from specialists and teachers even if they disagree. I know, writing about Arabic is like in Europe when they started to translate and re-interpret the bible some six or seven centuries ago!
The downloads are mostly files in "pdf" format. This means you need the program Acrobat Reader to open them. If you don't have it, click here to download it. For us, the best thing in this file format is that, unlike word processors or text editors that need Arabic version to read Arabic, it can read Arabic without having the Arabic version of the program.
Problems of Spoken-Written Arabic
A basic analysis of the problems of the Arabic language duality that started in the nineteenth century. The analysis includes the difficulties which non-natives face when learning Arabic along with historical, political and cultural background explanation. It also includes dialects map and vocabulary and language comparison.
Arabic Plural System
It includes Spoken and Written, regular and irregular, nouns and adjectives etc.
Grammatical Comparison
A basic comparison includes Verb conjugation, personal pronouns, demonstrative pronouns and question markers.
The Arabic Keyboard
How to type the extra Arabic letters, symbols and vowels that are not written on the keyboard buttons.
Cultural Duality
Aspects of Cultural Duality in the Arab World.
Vocabulary Analysis
Separation between Form and Functions
Words Blending
words blending and synthesis are produced by combing parts of other words, as in English Smog and Smoke and Fog, it is found in Arabic as well as many other world languages.
The Arabic Idioms
Maybe the best in this list. It is originally from my dictionary The Art Of Speech.
Key Expression in the Arab Press
Message from the author:
Here and upon many requests from students and researchers of Arabic language and Middle Eastern studies, I would like to offer you -my guests- free samples from my books (still working on them). I hope you'll find them useful, and please feel free to give them away to any one interested. Naturally, I will appreciate any feedback, especially from specialists and teachers even if they disagree. I know, writing about Arabic is like in Europe when they started to translate and re-interpret the bible some six or seven centuries ago!
The downloads are mostly files in "pdf" format. This means you need the program Acrobat Reader to open them. If you don't have it, click here to download it. For us, the best thing in this file format is that, unlike word processors or text editors that need Arabic version to read Arabic, it can read Arabic without having the Arabic version of the program.
Problems of Spoken-Written Arabic
A basic analysis of the problems of the Arabic language duality that started in the nineteenth century. The analysis includes the difficulties which non-natives face when learning Arabic along with historical, political and cultural background explanation. It also includes dialects map and vocabulary and language comparison.
Arabic Plural System
It includes Spoken and Written, regular and irregular, nouns and adjectives etc.
Grammatical Comparison
A basic comparison includes Verb conjugation, personal pronouns, demonstrative pronouns and question markers.
The Arabic Keyboard
How to type the extra Arabic letters, symbols and vowels that are not written on the keyboard buttons.
Cultural Duality
Aspects of Cultural Duality in the Arab World.
Vocabulary Analysis
Separation between Form and Functions
Words Blending
words blending and synthesis are produced by combing parts of other words, as in English Smog and Smoke and Fog, it is found in Arabic as well as many other world languages.
The Arabic Idioms
Maybe the best in this list. It is originally from my dictionary The Art Of Speech.
Key Expression in the Arab Press
Arabic and middle east studies-program for non- natives
Arabic and middle east studies-program for non- natives
Message from the Author:
Here and upon many requests from students and researchers of Arabic language and Middle Eastern studies, I would like to offer you -my guests- free samples.I hope you'll find them useful, and please feel free to give them away to any one interested.
Naturally, I will appreciate any feedback, especially from specialists and teachers even if they disagree.
I know, writing about Arabic is like in Europe when they started to translate and re-interpret the bible some six or seven centuries ago!
Problems of Spoken-Written Arabic
A basic analysis of the problems of the Arabic language duality that started in the nineteenth century. The analysis includes the difficulties which non-natives face when learning Arabic along with historical, political and cultural background explanation. It also includes dialects map and vocabulary and language comparison.
Arabic Plural System
It includes Spoken and Written, regular and irregular, nouns and adjectives etc.
Grammatical Comparison
A basic comparison includes Verb conjugation, personal pronouns, demonstrative pronouns and question markers.
The Arabic Keyboard
How to type the extra Arabic letters, symbols and vowels that are not written on the keyboard buttons.
Cultural Duality
Aspects of Cultural Duality in the Arab World.
Vocabulary Analysis
Separation between Form and Functions
Words Blending
words blending and synthesis are produced by combing parts of other words, as in English Smog and Smoke and Fog, it is found in Arabic as well as many other world languages.
The Arabic Idioms
Maybe the best in this list. It is originally from my dictionary The Art Of Speech.
Key Expression in the Arab Press
Message from the Author:
Here and upon many requests from students and researchers of Arabic language and Middle Eastern studies, I would like to offer you -my guests- free samples.I hope you'll find them useful, and please feel free to give them away to any one interested.
Naturally, I will appreciate any feedback, especially from specialists and teachers even if they disagree.
I know, writing about Arabic is like in Europe when they started to translate and re-interpret the bible some six or seven centuries ago!
Problems of Spoken-Written Arabic
A basic analysis of the problems of the Arabic language duality that started in the nineteenth century. The analysis includes the difficulties which non-natives face when learning Arabic along with historical, political and cultural background explanation. It also includes dialects map and vocabulary and language comparison.
Arabic Plural System
It includes Spoken and Written, regular and irregular, nouns and adjectives etc.
Grammatical Comparison
A basic comparison includes Verb conjugation, personal pronouns, demonstrative pronouns and question markers.
The Arabic Keyboard
How to type the extra Arabic letters, symbols and vowels that are not written on the keyboard buttons.
Cultural Duality
Aspects of Cultural Duality in the Arab World.
Vocabulary Analysis
Separation between Form and Functions
Words Blending
words blending and synthesis are produced by combing parts of other words, as in English Smog and Smoke and Fog, it is found in Arabic as well as many other world languages.
The Arabic Idioms
Maybe the best in this list. It is originally from my dictionary The Art Of Speech.
Key Expression in the Arab Press
Faysal al-Qassem Talks About the Arab Condition
In this interview with Faysal al-Qassem, the host of الإتجاه المعاكس, he talks about difficulties with freedom of speech in the Arabic world as well as other issues. I've written the transcription of the conversation and a few key words below.
نحن لدينا مشكلة , العرب. يعني بالإنجليزية يقولون هوليير ذان ذاو يعني دائما نتشدق بالحضارة و بالأخلاق و بأنه لا ينفع لنا هذا النوع من البرامج و نحن أكثر تقدما. أنا أجيب على هاؤلا الأشخاص الذين يتهمونا بالغوغائية و إلى ما هنالك من هذا الكلام, أسألهم سؤالا. أقول لهم, يا جماعة أنظرو إلى التاريخ العربي منذ الجاهلية حتى الآن. هو تاريخ دماء و ذبح. ثلاثة من خلفائنا الراشدين ماتوا ذبحا و الرابع, كما يقولون, مات مسموما. إذا نتحدث عن زعماء العصرين الأموي و العباسي أيضا كله... ليس لدينا في الثقافة العربية "الرئيس السابق" إلا في لبنان. ثقافة تقوم على الصراع و على الذبح. نحن العرب, كنا نصفي معظم خلافاتنا بالرصاص, بالنار, بالحديد, إلى ما هنالك, فلنصفيها فور اه تشانج ...
حتى في الحوار؟
فلنصفيها على الأقل بصراخ. نصرخ على بعض أسهل بكثير و أقل كلفة من أن نتقاتل. يعني... لنقل... يعني ماذا تتوقعين من هذا العالم العربي عالم عربي مكبوت مقموع؟ يعني هناك مقولة لأحد الصحفيين العرب الكبار يقول بالله عليه هناك شخص يضع يده على فمك لمدة 50 عاما و فجأتا يزيل يده. ماذا تتوقع من هذا الشخص؟ تتوقع أن ينفجر, أن يقول أشياء كثيرة. بما أنه ليس لدينا ثقافة الحوار و إلى ما هنالك من هذا الكلام, فوجدنا صعوبة جدا في هذا النوع من البرامج في البداية في إيجاد شخصيات تتلاقى مع بعضها البعض. ثانيا يعني شعب عربي مقموع لا يستطيع ان يتحدث عن اسعار الفجل و الخس و البطاطة المعفنة من دون إذن من الأمن أو المخابرات لأن ذلك قد يهدد الأمن القومجي أو إلى ما هنالك من هذا الكلام. لا تستطيع أن تتحدث حتى عن اسعار المأكولات. يمنعونك. فلهذا السبب هناك شح في الشخصيات التي تستطيع أن تتحدث في القضايا المصيرية و القضايا ال
Here's a list of some of the key words in the passage:
نحن لدينا مشكلة , العرب. يعني بالإنجليزية يقولون هوليير ذان ذاو يعني دائما نتشدق بالحضارة و بالأخلاق و بأنه لا ينفع لنا هذا النوع من البرامج و نحن أكثر تقدما. أنا أجيب على هاؤلا الأشخاص الذين يتهمونا بالغوغائية و إلى ما هنالك من هذا الكلام, أسألهم سؤالا. أقول لهم, يا جماعة أنظرو إلى التاريخ العربي منذ الجاهلية حتى الآن. هو تاريخ دماء و ذبح. ثلاثة من خلفائنا الراشدين ماتوا ذبحا و الرابع, كما يقولون, مات مسموما. إذا نتحدث عن زعماء العصرين الأموي و العباسي أيضا كله... ليس لدينا في الثقافة العربية "الرئيس السابق" إلا في لبنان. ثقافة تقوم على الصراع و على الذبح. نحن العرب, كنا نصفي معظم خلافاتنا بالرصاص, بالنار, بالحديد, إلى ما هنالك, فلنصفيها فور اه تشانج ...
حتى في الحوار؟
فلنصفيها على الأقل بصراخ. نصرخ على بعض أسهل بكثير و أقل كلفة من أن نتقاتل. يعني... لنقل... يعني ماذا تتوقعين من هذا العالم العربي عالم عربي مكبوت مقموع؟ يعني هناك مقولة لأحد الصحفيين العرب الكبار يقول بالله عليه هناك شخص يضع يده على فمك لمدة 50 عاما و فجأتا يزيل يده. ماذا تتوقع من هذا الشخص؟ تتوقع أن ينفجر, أن يقول أشياء كثيرة. بما أنه ليس لدينا ثقافة الحوار و إلى ما هنالك من هذا الكلام, فوجدنا صعوبة جدا في هذا النوع من البرامج في البداية في إيجاد شخصيات تتلاقى مع بعضها البعض. ثانيا يعني شعب عربي مقموع لا يستطيع ان يتحدث عن اسعار الفجل و الخس و البطاطة المعفنة من دون إذن من الأمن أو المخابرات لأن ذلك قد يهدد الأمن القومجي أو إلى ما هنالك من هذا الكلام. لا تستطيع أن تتحدث حتى عن اسعار المأكولات. يمنعونك. فلهذا السبب هناك شح في الشخصيات التي تستطيع أن تتحدث في القضايا المصيرية و القضايا ال
Here's a list of some of the key words in the passage:
- تشدق - to boast
- نفع - to be a benefit or be useful
- الغوغائية - demagogy
- الجاهلية - the time before Islam was introduced
- ليس لدينا في الثقافة العربية "الرئيس السابق" إلا في لبنان - We don't have in the Arabic culture "the previous president" except in Lebanon. (meaning that they were all deposed by being killed)
- صفّى - to settle a dispute
- مكبوت - repressed
- مقموع - repressed
- إلى ما هنالك من هذا الكلام - this is a way of saying "etcetera"
- تتلاقى مع بعضها البعض - to get along with each other
- الفجل - radish
- المعفنة - rotten
- الأمن القومجي - This is a derogatory way of saying الأمن القومي (national security).
- شح - a lack of (this word is used a lot of the time to refer to water supply in the middle east)
Arabic Art Festival 2009
http://www.arabicartsfestival.co.uk/
Date: 17th-19th July 2009
see website for more details
http://www.arabicartsfestival.co.uk/
enquiries> info@bluecoat.org.uk 0151 702 5324
Venue: multiple; around Liverpool city centre.
Al Ghazali Centre, Earle Road, Liverpool.
Date: 17th-19th July 2009
see website for more details
http://www.arabicartsfestival.co.uk/
enquiries> info@bluecoat.org.uk 0151 702 5324
Venue: multiple; around Liverpool city centre.
Al Ghazali Centre, Earle Road, Liverpool.
Do Not Taunt Happy Fun Cult
I'd heard whispers about this, but last night the whispers became reality. The St. Petersburg Times, newspaper of the Tampa-St. Pete area, dumped a huge package of stories and videos about the Happy Fun Cult, also known as Scientology.
You might think that the headline is overkill, but it's not, given the nuclear nature of the revelations therein. The star witnesses are two guys who were widely considered to be enforcers for the current head of Scientology, David Miscavige (aka DM), back in the 90s and early 00s: Mike Rinder and Marty Rathbun. They've since "blown" (left) Scientology.
For those of us who were involved in the rather lonely business of exposing Scientology's bad deeds to the world back in the 90s and early 00s, these two guys were up there in trying to make US look bad. So it's something of a shock now to hear them talk about what a creep DM was.
For those of us who were involved in the rather lonely business of exposing Scientology's bad deeds to the world back in the 90s and early 00s, these two guys were up there in trying to make US look bad. So it's something of a shock now to hear them talk about what a creep DM was.
Especially when these revelations managed to provoke AMAZING responses from the Co$:
This article documents not only the meltdown that Tommy Davis, son of "celebrity Scientologist" Anne Archer, had, but also that all the stuff that comes out in alleged confessionals and put into your "Ethics" folders is just "fair game" when it comes to smearing those DM considers to be his enemies.
There's so much incredible stuff here to go through. It really is amazing to see on the other side of the mirror and realize, yup, it was crazy in there. Scientology deserved and deserves to be exposed for the money-hoovering operation it really is (not a religion).
Sunday, June 21, 2009
Haifa Wehbe: Laik El Wawa
Another popular song by Haifa Wehbe with some nice vocab and sayings. She's a babysitter and her boyfriend comes over and they have to take the kid out with them to a party. If there are any questions or anything you'd like explained better please ask. I try to comment on the things people might find difficult, but sometimes I miss some things that were difficult or didn't make sense for me when I was first learning but that now I understand.
ليك الواوا بوس الواوا خلي الواوا يصح - Look at the boo boo, kiss the boo boo, let the boo boo heal.
ليك - look
بوس - kiss
خلي الواوا يصح - let the boo boo get better
لما بست الواوا شيلتو صار الواوا بح - When you kissed the boo boo you removed it. The boo boo disappeared.
لما - When
صار - became
بح - gone, vanished, disappeared
بقربك خبيني غمرني و دفيني - Hide me close to you, cover me and keep me warm.
بقربك - in your proximity (close to you)
انا من دونك انا بردانة اح - Without you I am cold. Ah!
من دون - without
ليك الواوا ليك - Look at the boo boo, look!
الليلة احلى سهرة عند حبابي - Tonight there's the greatest party at my boyfriend's
سهرة - the verb سهر means "to stay up all night". A سهرة is a party where you stay up all night.
عند - this literally means "at" but if you wanted to say "at my friend's house" you could say عند صديقي without saying house, بيت
الليلة - you'll notice that she says الليلي . In Levantine they change the ة to a ي in many (but not all) words. The word for "a kiss" is بوسة but they say بَوسي
بدو ياني البس احلى تيابي - He wants me to wear my nicest clothes.
بدو - in MSA this means Bedouin, but in Levantine this means "he wants". بدي would be "I want".
ياني - me
بلبس لعيونك يا حبيبي كل جديد و دح - I'll wear them for your eyes, my baby, all new and nice.
دح - nice, good
بوثق فيك و بدي تبقى حدي - I trust in you and want you to stay by my side.
بوثق - she says بوسق which is common. In Levantine (and Egyptian) they change the ث to a س in a lot of words. Another example would beثابت
انت بين الناس الاغلى عندي - Among the people you are the most precious to me.
و آخر همي شو ما يقولوا غلط ولا صح - And my last concern is what they (people) say, whether it's wrong or right.
ما - in a lot of places ما means "don't" or "not" like in ما بدي "I don't want", but in other situations, like this one, it isn't a negation. It means "that" or "what". Another example is عمل شو ما بدك "do whatever you want". It's kind of confusing but after hearing it many times you get used to when it means "not" and when it means "that" or "what".
ولا - or. They used this a lot more commonly in the dialects than أو
Saturday, June 20, 2009
Learning Arabic 1
First of all, I want readers to know that Arabic is kicking my kiester. It is, without a doubt, one of the hardest classes I have EVER taken. Probably the only class that even comes close to that in hardness was the environmental law class I took in law school. And the class was hard not so much beacause of the law, but because I didn't have the science background to understand the nuances of the law. And my grade showed it (I got a C).
The one thing that I believe is saving me from a total flaming crash and burn in Arabic class is that I had a reasonably good grasp of the alphabet before I went in. Interestingly enough, there are a number of books and websites that will teach you Arabic, but virtually every one assumes you know the alphabet first. There's a reason for that as a lot of kids in Islamic countries learn the Arabic alphabet so they can learn Quranic suras for recitation during the daily prayers. So they can read the Qur'an, but they don't know the Arabic. (That's just weird to me.)
So, prior to taking this class, I did a LOT of searching around the Internet to find (free) resources that I could use to learn the alphabet. And by that, I mean more than just alphabet songs on YouTube. That's because Arabic is a totally foreign alphabet for those of us whose languages are based on Greco-Roman alphabets. I am a native English speaker, I know enough Spanish to get myself in trouble, I can read French. I learned a smattering of Latin and Russian and koine Greek. Even though Russian and koine Greek both have slightly strange looking alphabets, most of the letters are similar enough to the Latin alphabet and you can pick up the other ones.
Arabic is not like that at all.
The Latin alphabet, familiar to English readers:
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz
Arabic
ا ب ت ث ج ح خ د ذ ر ز س ش ص ض ط ظ ع غ ف ق ك ل م ن ه و ي
Oh, and those are just the letters by themselves. Most of these letters change form in one way or another when they get smushed together with another letter OR, worse yet, they're one of the several letters that don't connect on the left side to the next letter. Like this:
(I did mention that Arabic is read right-to-left, didn't I?) And then I also didn't mention that while in Classical Arabic (i.e., the language used in the Qur'an and some religious books) the writing uses certain diacritical marks that indicate the "short" vowels, this does not generally exist in modern Arabic for the most part. This has been one reason why I've gotten my kiester pounded in some of the exams, because the program we're using to learn Arabic uses the "harakat" aka diacritics, while the tests do not. ARGH.
Ok, so if I haven't totally scared you off from learning Arabic, which, by the way is a fantastic language with a 1400+ year history, a language in which people were writing high-level grammars at the same time some of my ancestors were sitting in the mead hall and chanting Beowulf, a language that literate Arabic readers can read the ancient documents in from 1400 years ago and DO on a regular basis, a language with some of the most fabulous and fantastic calligraphy out there (and you do want to know what those squiggles say, right?), then let me give you some suggestions and tools on how you can learn the alphabet.
- Noorani Qaidah
The first of these tools is a computerized version of an old standby in the Indo-Pak world, the Noorani Qaidah. In its paper form, it's been used by millions of moms and teachers all over the Indian subcontinent for decades or longer, it's basically a chart of the letters, then the letters with the harakats, then the letters and harakat combined together into words and finally, pronouncing the Arabic in accordance with Quranic recitation.
This link will get you to the first page, which is the alphabet:
Subsequent pages will take you though various aspects of how to pronounce Arabic. It will introduce the various harakat (fathah, kasrah, dammah, etc.) and how they sound. This tool is (unfortunately) best accessed with Internet Explorer (Exploder). By the time you get to page 15, if you've hit all these pages and worked with them, you should have a really good idea of what the Arabic language sounds like, plus you should be able to identify the letters and the harakat. Pages 15 and 16 talk about alif madd, which is a type of alif (letter A) with a squiggle like a Spanish tilde on top. You can probably skip those pages if you're in a hurry, because at that point, this is more a finer point of how to recite the Qur'an rather than learning Arabic. But I still think listening to the words is useful.
- Basic alphabetic explanation
In conjunction with the Noorani Qaidah, above, you also need to read over some VERY basic alphabetic explanation. The Noorani Qaidah introduces these harakat (the little symbols over the letters) and doesn't tell you that one sounds like short A, another like short I, or another like short O/U. You need to read this to get an idea of what's going on here, so I'd strongly suggest at least SKIMMING through this set of lessons. (I'm still looking for a less complex set that used to be out on the web, but this will do.)
More to come.
Friday, June 19, 2009
Subject & Cost
Cost:
Quranic Arabic/Recitaion= free (subject to availability).
Online sessions= free to £10 GBP per hr.
pre-GCSE Arabic= £15 GBP per hr.
GCSE / A'Level Arabic= £15 GBP per hr to £25 GBP per hr.
The above prices are a rough guide and the exact fee is dependent on distance / location, level and hours required.
Group & Class price may vary according to size.
(online payments via paypal, you do not need a paypal account to make payments, otherwise alternative payment arrangements available).
Quranic Arabic/Recitaion= free (subject to availability).
Online sessions= free to £10 GBP per hr.
pre-GCSE Arabic= £15 GBP per hr.
GCSE / A'Level Arabic= £15 GBP per hr to £25 GBP per hr.
The above prices are a rough guide and the exact fee is dependent on distance / location, level and hours required.
Group & Class price may vary according to size.
(online payments via paypal, you do not need a paypal account to make payments, otherwise alternative payment arrangements available).
Personal Descrption.
I am an Arabic and native English speaker with a passion for the Arabic-speaking world and its culture. A teacher and student of Arabic for many years and living in the Middle East (Syria) for four years as well as existing Arab contact’s has not only given me a good understanding of the different Arabic dialects but also deepened my understanding of Arabic societies, politics and religions. Arabic works on a totally different structure and logic to English which is what makes studying it such a rich and rewarding experience but not one without its challenges. To study the language involves a lot of commitment and determination and above all else, passion!
I enjoy Arabic and I am currently in the process of furthering my qualifications in this area of study. I am a strong believer in the saying 'seek knowledge until old age', so I am not the type to retire from studying so long as I can keep going. I am never bored because I have so much to do and even more to read.
I enjoy Arabic and I am currently in the process of furthering my qualifications in this area of study. I am a strong believer in the saying 'seek knowledge until old age', so I am not the type to retire from studying so long as I can keep going. I am never bored because I have so much to do and even more to read.
Tutoring Experience.
My teaching experience over the last 8 years has included both private tuition from beginner to intermediate level, offering individual and group courses, and working in schools both in the UK and abroad. Teaching English to Arabs and Arabic to Europeans has further enabled me to pin-point some of the major (and minor) difficulties in moving between the very contrasting European and Semitic languages and to develop methods to target such problems head on. I am currently employed by a school in South London teaching Arabic Language GCSE (MSA) to teenagers. I also run online sessions.
Tutoring Approach
As a teacher I am aware that every individual has their own learning style, along with their personal strengths and weaknesses. It is my job as a teacher to discover these aspects of a students learning and adjust or create material accordingly that will best help them to excel. I am also aware that variety is the spice of life and the key to good learning, and for this reason I always try and take a creative approach to my lessons; using different methods of study to keep it fun and interesting and always challenging!
Qualifications
- Certificate of Arabic & Jurisprudential Studies, Al-Murtaza Institute, Damascus, Syria.
Availability & Contact.
Saturdays/Sundays & some weekday slots.
References Available: Yes
CRB Check: Yes
Skype: MrHaroona
Areas Covered; Central London, Lambeth, Croydon, Sutton, Merton, Wandsworth, Bromley, as well as others.
Contact: :mrharoona@hotmail.co.uk
Location: South London, England.
In UK Tel: 0044 (0)7944062548
In Syria Tel: 00963-
http://learn-basic-arabic.blogspot.com/
References Available: Yes
CRB Check: Yes
Skype: MrHaroona
Areas Covered; Central London, Lambeth, Croydon, Sutton, Merton, Wandsworth, Bromley, as well as others.
Contact: :mrharoona@hotmail.co.uk
Location: South London, England.
In UK Tel: 0044 (0)7944062548
In Syria Tel: 00963-
http://learn-basic-arabic.blogspot.com/
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
I have an indent in the bridge of my nose
Yesterday, my junior cat startled me so much that I caught my glasses with the edge of one hand and flung them into a corner of the room with great force. How great a force I didn't realize until today, when I realized the bridge of my nose hurts. A lot. I started feeling around and realized I have an indentation on the right side of the bridge of my nose, where the hard plastic nosepad dug into my face in the split second that the whole incident took to occur. Wow. I looked and I don't have a bruise, but that's likely because there's not a bit of fatty tissue there (probably the only place on my body I can honestly say that about). Yikes. Ouch.
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
Sunday, June 14, 2009
I need to go back on vacation
I'm exhausted AGAIN. Plus my furry felines (wait, make that one furry feline) are driving me crazy. I'm trying to type and Xena is purring, meowing at me and rubbing my face.
(courtesy icanhascheezburger)
My ex was here yesterday and he agreed with another one of my friends that has cared for Xena in the past: she is undoubtedly the most self-centered cat around. The world is supposed to revolve around Xena. And no matter how many times I pick her up and put her on the floor (gently, she's an old kitty) not a minute later she's back. And she wants to wrap herself around my shoulder for a ride. In fact, I started typing the previous sentence and she decided she needed a ride. So now I have a furry Siamese wrapped around my neck, demanding a ride.
See you later.
P.S.
(courtesy icanhascheezburger)It's not Xena, but the attitude is all that.
Common Female Names Written in Arabic
إن شاء الله ستجد اسمك في هذه القائمة
AGNES - اغنيس
ALICE - اليس
ALICIA - اليسيا
ALLISON - اليسون
ALMA - الما
AMANDA - اماندا
AMBER - امبر
AMY - ايمي
ANA - انا
ANDREA - اندريا
ANGELA - انجلا
ANITA - انيتا
ANN - ان
ANNA - انا
ANNE - ان
ANNETTE - انيت
ANNIE - اني
APRIL - ابريل
ARLENE - ارلين
ASHLEY - اشلي
AUDREY - اودري
BARBARA - باربرا
BEATRICE - بياتريس
BECKY - باكي
BERNICE - برنيس
BERTHA - بيرثا
BESSIE - باسي
BETH - بيث
BETTY - باتي
BEVERLY - بافيرلي
BILLIE - بيلي
BOBBIE - بابي
BONNIE - بوني
BRANDY - براندي
BRENDA - بريندا
BRITTANY - بريتاني
CARLA - كارلا
CARMEN - كارمن
CAROL - كارول
CAROLE - كارول
CAROLINE - كارولين
CAROLYN - كارولين
CARRIE - كاري
CASSANDRA - كاساندرا
CATHERINE - كاثرين
CATHY - كاثي
CHARLENE - شارلين
CHARLOTTE - شارلوت
CHERYL - شارل
CHRISTINA - كريستينا
CHRISTINE - كريستين
CHRISTY - كرستي
CINDY - سيندي
CLAIRE - كلاير
CLARA - كلارا
CLAUDIA - كلاوديا
COLLEEN - كولين
CONNIE - كوني
CONSTANCE - كونستانس
COURTNEY - كورتني
CRYSTAL - كريستل
CYNTHIA - سينثيا
DAISY - دايسي
DANA - دانا
DANIELLE - دانييل
DARLENE - دارلين
DAWN - دون
DEANNA - ديانا
DEBBIE - ديبي
DEBORAH - ديبرا
DEBRA - ديبرا
DELORES - دولورس
DENISE - دينيس
DIANA - ديانا
DIANE - ديان
DIANNE - ديان
DOLORES - دولورس
DONNA - دونا
DORA - دورا
DORIS - دوريس
DOROTHY - دورثي
EDITH - إيديث
EDNA - إدنا
EILEEN - أيلين
ELAINE - إيلاين
ELEANOR - إلينور
ELIZABETH - اليزابيث
ELLA - الا
ELLEN - الين
ELSIE - إليس
EMILY - إميلي
EMMA - إما
ERICA - أريكا
ERIKA - أريكا
ERIN - ارين
ESTHER - استر
ETHEL - اثل
EVA - إيفا
EVELYN - افيلين
FELICIA - فيليسيا
FLORENCE - فلورنس
FRANCES - فرانسس
GAIL - غايل
GEORGIA - جورجيا
GERALDINE - جيرالدين
GERTRUDE - غيرترود
GINA - جينا
GLADYS - غلاديس
GLENDA - غليندا
GLORIA - غلوريا
GRACE - غرايس
GWENDOLYN - غويندولين
HAZEL - هايزل
HEATHER - هاذر
HEIDI - هايدي
HELEN - هيلين
HILDA - هيلدا
HOLLY - هولي
IDA - أيدا
IRENE - أيرين
IRMA - ارما
JACKIE - جاكي
JACQUELINE - جاكيلن
JAMIE - جايمي
JANE - جاين
JANET - جانيت
JANICE - جانيس
JEAN - جين
JEANETTE - جانيت
JEANNE - جين
JENNIE - جيني
JENNIFER - جينيفر
JENNY - جيني
JESSICA - جيسيكا
JESSIE - جيسي
JILL - جيل
JO - جو
JOAN - جون
JOANN - جوان
JOANNE - جوان
JOSEPHINE - جوسيفين
JOY - جوي
JOYCE - جويس
JUANITA - جانيتا
JUDITH - جودث
JUDY - جودي
JULIA - جوليا
JULIE - جوليا
JUNE - جون
KAREN - كارين
KATHERINE - كاثرين
KATHLEEN - كاثلين
KATHRYN - كاثرين
KATHY - كاثي
KATIE - كايتي
KATRINA - كاترينا
KAY - كاي
KELLY - كيلي
KIM - كيم
KIMBERLY - كيمبرلي
KRISTEN - كريستن
KRISTIN - كريستن
KRISTINA - كريستينا
LAURA - لارا
LAUREN - لارن
LAURIE - لوري
LEAH - ليا
LENA - لينا
LEONA - ليونا
LESLIE - ليسلي
LILLIAN - ليليان
LILLIE - ليلي
LINDA - ليندا
LISA - ليسا
LOIS - لويس
LORETTA - لوريتا
LORI - لوري
LORRAINE - لوراين
LOUISE - لويز
LUCILLE - لوسيل
LUCY - لوسي
LYDIA - ليندا
LYNN - لين
MABEL - مايبل
MAE - ماي
MARCIA - مارسيا
MARGARET - مارغاريت
MARGIE - مارغي
MARIA - ماريا
MARIAN - ماريان
MARIE - ماري
MARILYN - ماريلين
MARION - ماريون
MARJORIE - مارجوري
MARLENE - مارلين
MARSHA - مارشا
MARTHA - مارثا
MARY - ماري
MATTIE - ماتي
MAUREEN - مورين
MAXINE - ماكسين
MEGAN - ميغان
MELANIE - ميلاني
MELINDA - ميليندا
MELISSA - ميليسا
MICHELE - ميشيل
MICHELLE - ميشيل
MILDRED - ميلدريد
MINNIE - ميني
MIRIAM - ميريام
MISTY - ميستي
MONICA - مونيكا
MYRTLE - ميرتيل
NANCY - نانسي
NAOMI - نايومي
NATALIE - ناتالي
NELLIE - نيلي
NICOLE - نيكول
NINA - نينا
NORA - نورا
NORMA - نورما
OLGA - اولغا
PAMELA - باميلا
PATRICIA - باتريسيا
PATSY - باتسي
PAULA - بولا
PAULINE - بولين
PEARL - بيرل
PEGGY - بيغي
PENNY - بيني
PHYLLIS - فيليس
PRISCILLA - بريسيلا
RACHEL - رايتشيل
RAMONA - رامونا
REBECCA - ريبيكا
REGINA - ريجينا
RENEE - ريناي
RHONDA - روندا
RITA - ريتا
ROBERTA - روبيرتا
ROBIN - روبين
ROSA - روزا
ROSE - روز
ROSEMARY - روزماري
RUBY - روبي
RUTH - روث
SALLY - سالي
SAMANTHA - سامانثا
SANDRA - ساندرا
SARA - سارا
SARAH - سارا
SHANNON - شانون
SHARON - شارون
SHEILA - شيلا
SHELLY - شيلي
SHERRI - شيري
SHERRY - شيري
SHIRLEY - شيرلي
SONIA - سونيا
STACEY - ستايسي
STACY - ستايسي
STELLA - ستيلا
STEPHANIE - ستيفاني
SUE - سو
SUSAN - سوزن
SUZANNE - سوزان
SYLVIA - سيلفيا
TAMARA - تامارا
TAMMY - تامي
TANYA - تانيا
TARA - تارا
TERESA - تيريسا
TERRI - تيري
TERRY - تيري
THELMA - ثيلما
THERESA - تيريسا
TIFFANY - تيفاني
TINA - تينا
TONI - توني
TONYA - تونيا
TRACEY - ترايسي
TRACY - ترايسي
VALERIE - فاليري
VANESSA - فانيسا
VELMA - فيلما
VERA - فيرا
VERONICA - فيرونيكا
VICKI - فيكي
VICKIE - فيكي
VICTORIA - فيكتوريا
VIOLA - فيولا
VIOLET - فيوليت
VIRGINIA - فرجينيا
VIVIAN - فيفيان
WANDA - واندا
WENDY - ويندي
WILLIE - ويلي
WILMA - ويلما
YOLANDA - يولاندا
YVONNE - إيفون
AGNES - اغنيس
ALICE - اليس
ALICIA - اليسيا
ALLISON - اليسون
ALMA - الما
AMANDA - اماندا
AMBER - امبر
AMY - ايمي
ANA - انا
ANDREA - اندريا
ANGELA - انجلا
ANITA - انيتا
ANN - ان
ANNA - انا
ANNE - ان
ANNETTE - انيت
ANNIE - اني
APRIL - ابريل
ARLENE - ارلين
ASHLEY - اشلي
AUDREY - اودري
BARBARA - باربرا
BEATRICE - بياتريس
BECKY - باكي
BERNICE - برنيس
BERTHA - بيرثا
BESSIE - باسي
BETH - بيث
BETTY - باتي
BEVERLY - بافيرلي
BILLIE - بيلي
BOBBIE - بابي
BONNIE - بوني
BRANDY - براندي
BRENDA - بريندا
BRITTANY - بريتاني
CARLA - كارلا
CARMEN - كارمن
CAROL - كارول
CAROLE - كارول
CAROLINE - كارولين
CAROLYN - كارولين
CARRIE - كاري
CASSANDRA - كاساندرا
CATHERINE - كاثرين
CATHY - كاثي
CHARLENE - شارلين
CHARLOTTE - شارلوت
CHERYL - شارل
CHRISTINA - كريستينا
CHRISTINE - كريستين
CHRISTY - كرستي
CINDY - سيندي
CLAIRE - كلاير
CLARA - كلارا
CLAUDIA - كلاوديا
COLLEEN - كولين
CONNIE - كوني
CONSTANCE - كونستانس
COURTNEY - كورتني
CRYSTAL - كريستل
CYNTHIA - سينثيا
DAISY - دايسي
DANA - دانا
DANIELLE - دانييل
DARLENE - دارلين
DAWN - دون
DEANNA - ديانا
DEBBIE - ديبي
DEBORAH - ديبرا
DEBRA - ديبرا
DELORES - دولورس
DENISE - دينيس
DIANA - ديانا
DIANE - ديان
DIANNE - ديان
DOLORES - دولورس
DONNA - دونا
DORA - دورا
DORIS - دوريس
DOROTHY - دورثي
EDITH - إيديث
EDNA - إدنا
EILEEN - أيلين
ELAINE - إيلاين
ELEANOR - إلينور
ELIZABETH - اليزابيث
ELLA - الا
ELLEN - الين
ELSIE - إليس
EMILY - إميلي
EMMA - إما
ERICA - أريكا
ERIKA - أريكا
ERIN - ارين
ESTHER - استر
ETHEL - اثل
EVA - إيفا
EVELYN - افيلين
FELICIA - فيليسيا
FLORENCE - فلورنس
FRANCES - فرانسس
GAIL - غايل
GEORGIA - جورجيا
GERALDINE - جيرالدين
GERTRUDE - غيرترود
GINA - جينا
GLADYS - غلاديس
GLENDA - غليندا
GLORIA - غلوريا
GRACE - غرايس
GWENDOLYN - غويندولين
HAZEL - هايزل
HEATHER - هاذر
HEIDI - هايدي
HELEN - هيلين
HILDA - هيلدا
HOLLY - هولي
IDA - أيدا
IRENE - أيرين
IRMA - ارما
JACKIE - جاكي
JACQUELINE - جاكيلن
JAMIE - جايمي
JANE - جاين
JANET - جانيت
JANICE - جانيس
JEAN - جين
JEANETTE - جانيت
JEANNE - جين
JENNIE - جيني
JENNIFER - جينيفر
JENNY - جيني
JESSICA - جيسيكا
JESSIE - جيسي
JILL - جيل
JO - جو
JOAN - جون
JOANN - جوان
JOANNE - جوان
JOSEPHINE - جوسيفين
JOY - جوي
JOYCE - جويس
JUANITA - جانيتا
JUDITH - جودث
JUDY - جودي
JULIA - جوليا
JULIE - جوليا
JUNE - جون
KAREN - كارين
KATHERINE - كاثرين
KATHLEEN - كاثلين
KATHRYN - كاثرين
KATHY - كاثي
KATIE - كايتي
KATRINA - كاترينا
KAY - كاي
KELLY - كيلي
KIM - كيم
KIMBERLY - كيمبرلي
KRISTEN - كريستن
KRISTIN - كريستن
KRISTINA - كريستينا
LAURA - لارا
LAUREN - لارن
LAURIE - لوري
LEAH - ليا
LENA - لينا
LEONA - ليونا
LESLIE - ليسلي
LILLIAN - ليليان
LILLIE - ليلي
LINDA - ليندا
LISA - ليسا
LOIS - لويس
LORETTA - لوريتا
LORI - لوري
LORRAINE - لوراين
LOUISE - لويز
LUCILLE - لوسيل
LUCY - لوسي
LYDIA - ليندا
LYNN - لين
MABEL - مايبل
MAE - ماي
MARCIA - مارسيا
MARGARET - مارغاريت
MARGIE - مارغي
MARIA - ماريا
MARIAN - ماريان
MARIE - ماري
MARILYN - ماريلين
MARION - ماريون
MARJORIE - مارجوري
MARLENE - مارلين
MARSHA - مارشا
MARTHA - مارثا
MARY - ماري
MATTIE - ماتي
MAUREEN - مورين
MAXINE - ماكسين
MEGAN - ميغان
MELANIE - ميلاني
MELINDA - ميليندا
MELISSA - ميليسا
MICHELE - ميشيل
MICHELLE - ميشيل
MILDRED - ميلدريد
MINNIE - ميني
MIRIAM - ميريام
MISTY - ميستي
MONICA - مونيكا
MYRTLE - ميرتيل
NANCY - نانسي
NAOMI - نايومي
NATALIE - ناتالي
NELLIE - نيلي
NICOLE - نيكول
NINA - نينا
NORA - نورا
NORMA - نورما
OLGA - اولغا
PAMELA - باميلا
PATRICIA - باتريسيا
PATSY - باتسي
PAULA - بولا
PAULINE - بولين
PEARL - بيرل
PEGGY - بيغي
PENNY - بيني
PHYLLIS - فيليس
PRISCILLA - بريسيلا
RACHEL - رايتشيل
RAMONA - رامونا
REBECCA - ريبيكا
REGINA - ريجينا
RENEE - ريناي
RHONDA - روندا
RITA - ريتا
ROBERTA - روبيرتا
ROBIN - روبين
ROSA - روزا
ROSE - روز
ROSEMARY - روزماري
RUBY - روبي
RUTH - روث
SALLY - سالي
SAMANTHA - سامانثا
SANDRA - ساندرا
SARA - سارا
SARAH - سارا
SHANNON - شانون
SHARON - شارون
SHEILA - شيلا
SHELLY - شيلي
SHERRI - شيري
SHERRY - شيري
SHIRLEY - شيرلي
SONIA - سونيا
STACEY - ستايسي
STACY - ستايسي
STELLA - ستيلا
STEPHANIE - ستيفاني
SUE - سو
SUSAN - سوزن
SUZANNE - سوزان
SYLVIA - سيلفيا
TAMARA - تامارا
TAMMY - تامي
TANYA - تانيا
TARA - تارا
TERESA - تيريسا
TERRI - تيري
TERRY - تيري
THELMA - ثيلما
THERESA - تيريسا
TIFFANY - تيفاني
TINA - تينا
TONI - توني
TONYA - تونيا
TRACEY - ترايسي
TRACY - ترايسي
VALERIE - فاليري
VANESSA - فانيسا
VELMA - فيلما
VERA - فيرا
VERONICA - فيرونيكا
VICKI - فيكي
VICKIE - فيكي
VICTORIA - فيكتوريا
VIOLA - فيولا
VIOLET - فيوليت
VIRGINIA - فرجينيا
VIVIAN - فيفيان
WANDA - واندا
WENDY - ويندي
WILLIE - ويلي
WILMA - ويلما
YOLANDA - يولاندا
YVONNE - إيفون
Perkemahan Pramuka Santri Nusantara 2009
Perkemahan Pramuka Santri Nusantara 2009 yang akan diikuti oleh 5.923 santri dari seluruh Indonesia akan digelar di bumi perkemahan Letjen Mashudi Sumedang, Jawa Barat 15-20 Juni 2009.Hal itu dikemukakan Dirjen Pendidikan Islam (Pendis) Mohammad Ali dalam keterangan pers kegiatan tersebut di Dep.Agama, Jumat (11/6/2009).
Menurut Mohammad Ali, kegiatan ini sangat bermanfaat bagi para santri dalam mendorong dan menumbuhkembangkan kesadaran bela negara,menolong sesama dan ikut serta membangun masyarakat."Kita berharap kegiatan ini dapat menggalang persaudaraan, menambah pengalaman, pengetahuan, ketrampilan dan meningkatkan pengabdian masyarakat," ujarnya.
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Open to interpretation
Songhay's lexical economy - the way it keeps its lexicon rather smaller than its neighbours' by using a single word to fulfill the functions of what in most languages would be several different words - has attracted the attention of several of those who have written about the language from the 1850s onwards. While Kwarandzyey (Korandje) is so full of Berber and Arabic loanwords that the size issue probably no longer applies, it still has many striking examples of polysemy. Take "open", for example.
fya (from Songhay *feeri) is best translated as "open" (its commonest sense). Of course, to open one's mouth can be to start eating - hence the frozen compound fya-mmi "open-mouth" means "breakfast". But opening is also what you do to release something from an enclosed space; hence to "open water (for something)" (fya iri), or just "open", is to irrigate, and to "open for an animal or person" is to release them. Likewise, to "open a rope (for something)" is to untie it. To release something from your grasp is to let it fall - hence to "open for something" is also to drop it. And for a man to release his wife from her obligations towards him is to end the marriage - hence to "open for a woman" is to divorce her.
We can map the connections between these easily enough, making it clear that they form a coherent network of meaning:
But not only will any single English translation applied literally and consistently yield ludicrous results for at least some of these cases - translating it differently in different circumstances will force you to choose a single meaning in cases where the text is ambiguous. "He opened for the woman" probably means he divorced her, but in principle it could mean he released her (eg from prison), or untied her, or (literally) dropped her; in fact, since Songhay has no gender distinctions in pronouns, it should even be able to mean "It (eg an automatic door) opened for her". And of course, this kind of ambiguity can be deliberately exploited for effect, as in puns.
In Kwarandzyey, this is never likely to cause serious ambiguity - the language is almost never written down, and it's a small enough community that the context is usually known to everyone anyway. But imagine worrying about this kind of thing in a millennia-old text in a language that no one today speaks natively, and you can really see why even the most literal translation of such a text is unavoidably an act of interpretation.
fya (from Songhay *feeri) is best translated as "open" (its commonest sense). Of course, to open one's mouth can be to start eating - hence the frozen compound fya-mmi "open-mouth" means "breakfast". But opening is also what you do to release something from an enclosed space; hence to "open water (for something)" (fya iri), or just "open", is to irrigate, and to "open for an animal or person" is to release them. Likewise, to "open a rope (for something)" is to untie it. To release something from your grasp is to let it fall - hence to "open for something" is also to drop it. And for a man to release his wife from her obligations towards him is to end the marriage - hence to "open for a woman" is to divorce her.
We can map the connections between these easily enough, making it clear that they form a coherent network of meaning:
breakfast untie
\ / \
open - release
\ / \
irrigate divorce
But not only will any single English translation applied literally and consistently yield ludicrous results for at least some of these cases - translating it differently in different circumstances will force you to choose a single meaning in cases where the text is ambiguous. "He opened for the woman" probably means he divorced her, but in principle it could mean he released her (eg from prison), or untied her, or (literally) dropped her; in fact, since Songhay has no gender distinctions in pronouns, it should even be able to mean "It (eg an automatic door) opened for her". And of course, this kind of ambiguity can be deliberately exploited for effect, as in puns.
In Kwarandzyey, this is never likely to cause serious ambiguity - the language is almost never written down, and it's a small enough community that the context is usually known to everyone anyway. But imagine worrying about this kind of thing in a millennia-old text in a language that no one today speaks natively, and you can really see why even the most literal translation of such a text is unavoidably an act of interpretation.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Arabic Ta3reeb.
About ta3reeb
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I use ta3reeb to type in Arabic?
How do I correct and edit words?
How do I use the on-screen Arabic keyboard?
Does my system support ta3reeb?
Will transliteration work even without internet connectivity?
Which other languages do you support?
How can I add Google ta3reeb to my website?
How can I add Google ta3reeb to Google Custom Search?
How can I use Google ta3reeb on any website?
Is ta3reeb available in other Google services?
I have suggestions for product improvements. How do I let you know?
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I use ta3reeb to type in Arabic?
How do I correct and edit words?
How do I use the on-screen Arabic keyboard?
Does my system support ta3reeb?
Will transliteration work even without internet connectivity?
Which other languages do you support?
How can I add Google ta3reeb to my website?
How can I add Google ta3reeb to Google Custom Search?
How can I use Google ta3reeb on any website?
Is ta3reeb available in other Google services?
I have suggestions for product improvements. How do I let you know?
Google ta3reeb FAQ
Google ta3reeb FAQ
About ta3reeb
Google ta3reeb (Arabic transliteration) offers an option for converting Roman characters to Arabic characters. This lets you type Arabic words phonetically in English script and still have them appear correctly in Arabic. Note that this is not the same as translation -- it is the sound of the words that are converted from one alphabet to the other, not their meaning. For example, typing "ta3reeb" transliterates into Arabic as: "تعريب".
Because of the nature of this system, there is no single "correct" way to write an Arabic character (e.g., "ج" might be transliterated as "j" or "g"). Normally, Arabic letters are represented by a letter (or a combination of letters) that are phonetically equivalent (or nearly equivalent) in English. For example, "ب" can be well represented as "b", "ت" as "t", "ث" as "th", and some may represent "ط" as "t". Arabic letters that do not have a close phonetic approximate in the Latin alphabet are often represented using numerals, or numerals followed by an apostrophe(`) or a single quote ('). These numerals are chosen so that they graphically approximate the corresponding Arabic letters (e.g., "ع" is represented using the numeral "3"). The following table summarizes those special numerals:
About ta3reeb
Google ta3reeb (Arabic transliteration) offers an option for converting Roman characters to Arabic characters. This lets you type Arabic words phonetically in English script and still have them appear correctly in Arabic. Note that this is not the same as translation -- it is the sound of the words that are converted from one alphabet to the other, not their meaning. For example, typing "ta3reeb" transliterates into Arabic as: "تعريب".
Because of the nature of this system, there is no single "correct" way to write an Arabic character (e.g., "ج" might be transliterated as "j" or "g"). Normally, Arabic letters are represented by a letter (or a combination of letters) that are phonetically equivalent (or nearly equivalent) in English. For example, "ب" can be well represented as "b", "ت" as "t", "ث" as "th", and some may represent "ط" as "t". Arabic letters that do not have a close phonetic approximate in the Latin alphabet are often represented using numerals, or numerals followed by an apostrophe(`) or a single quote ('). These numerals are chosen so that they graphically approximate the corresponding Arabic letters (e.g., "ع" is represented using the numeral "3"). The following table summarizes those special numerals:
Liaison magazine | Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies
Publication from the Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies (LLAS).
Liaison magazine Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies
Liaison magazine Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies
ebulletin: June 2009 | Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies
This month's ebulletin is now available on the subject centre website at:
ebulletin: June 2009 Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies
ebulletin: June 2009 Subject Centre for Languages, Linguistics and Area Studies
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
Voodoo Statistics
aka Six Sigma.
I can't say much about it, but I will say this: If I, a person with a bachelor's degree and a juris doctor, do not understand what your voodoo statistics are saying, then there is a serious problem with your voodoo statistics. And that's all I have to say about it.
Tuesday, June 9, 2009
Common Male Names Written in Arabic
I always see people online asking how to write their name in Arabic so I figured I'd take some English names and spell them in Arabic. This is a list of 300 of the most common male names in the US. I'll make a post soon with common female names. Probably the hardest name on this list is Earl. Most Arabs have a hard time with the English "r" and saying things that sound like Earl, squirrel, and girl so there's really no perfect way to write that name. There just isn't an Arabic letter that quite expresses the English "r". Anyway, hopefully you can find your name on here. If not, just leave a comment and I'll let you know how yours is spelled.
AARON - آرون
ADAM - آدم
ADRIAN - أيدريان
ALAN - آلن
ALBERT - ألبرت
ALBERTO - ألبيرتو
ALEX - آلكس
ALEXANDER - ألكسندر
ALFRED - ألفريد
ALFREDO - ألفريدو
ALLAN - آلن
ALLEN - آلن
ALVIN - ألفن
ANDRE - أندري
ANDREW - أندرو
ANDY - أندي
ANGEL - أنجل
ANTHONY - أنثوني
ANTONIO - أنتونيو
ARMANDO - أرماندو
ARNOLD - أرنولد
ARTHUR - أرثور
BARRY - باري
BEN - بِن
BENJAMIN - بنجامين
BERNARD - برنارد
BILL - بيل
BILLY - بيلي
BOB - بوب
BOBBY - بوبي
BRAD - براد
BRADLEY - برادلي
BRANDON - براندون
BRENT - برينت
BRETT - بريت
BRIAN - براين
BRUCE - بروس
BRYAN - براين
BYRON - بايرون
CALVIN - كالفين
CARL - كارل
CARLOS - كارلوس
CASEY - كايسي
CECIL - سيسل
CHAD - تشاد
CHARLES - تشارلز
CHARLIE - تشارلي
CHESTER - تشيستر
CHRIS - كريس
CHRISTIAN - كريستيان
CHRISTOPHER - كريستوفر
CLARENCE - كلارِنس
CLAUDE - كلود
CLAYTON - كلايتون
CLIFFORD - كليفرد
CLIFTON - كليفتون
CLINTON - كلينتون
CLYDE - كلايد
CODY - كودي
COREY - كوري
CORY - كوري
CRAIG - كرايغ
CURTIS - كورتِس
DALE - دايل
DAN - دان
DANIEL - دانيل
DANNY - داني
DARRELL - داريل
DARREN - دارِن
DARRYL - داريل
DARYL - داريل
DAVE - دايف
DAVID - دافيد
DEAN - دين
DENNIS دينِس
DEREK - دارك
DERRICK - دارك
DON - دون
DONALD - دونالد
DOUGLAS - دوغلِس
DUANE - دواين
DUSTIN - دوستِن
DWAYNE - دواين
DWIGHT - دوايت
EARL (this is a very hard sound to make for native Arabs) - إرل
EDDIE - إدي
EDGAR - إدغار
EDUARDO - إدواردو
EDWARD - إدوارد
EDWIN - إدوين
ELMER - إلمر
ENRIQUE - إنريكَي
ERIC - إريك
ERIK - إريك
ERNEST - إرنست
EUGENE - يوجين
EVERETT - إفيريت
FELIX - فيلِكس
FERNANDO - فرناندو
FLOYD - فلويد
FRANCIS - فرانسيس
FRANCISCO - فرانسيسكو
FRANK - فرانك
FRANKLIN - فرانكلن
FRED - فريد
FREDDIE - فريدي
FREDERICK - فريدرِك
GABRIEL - غابرييل
GARY - غاري
GENE - جين
GEORGE - جيورج
GERALD - جارلد
GILBERT - غيلبرت
GLEN - غلين
GLENN - غلين
GORDON - غوردون
GREG - غريغ
GREGORY - غريغوري
GUY - غاي (If your name is Guy and you plan on getting a tattoo of you name in Arabic I have to recommend against that as the word gay would be spelled the same way. But if you're gay and your name is Guy then I guess it works out perfectly!)
HAROLD - هارولد
HARRY - هاري
HARVEY - هارفي
HECTOR - هيكتور
HENRY - هينري
HERBERT - هربرت
HERMAN - هرمان
HOWARD - هاورد
HUGH - هيو
IAN - إين
ISAAC - أيساك
IVAN - أيفن
JACK - جاك
JACOB - جايكب
JAIME - جايمي
JAMES - جايمس
JAMIE - جايمي
JARED - جاريد
JASON - جايسون
JAVIER - هافيير
JAY - جاي
JEFF - جيف
JEFFERY - جيفري
JEFFREY - جيفري
JEREMY - جاريمي
JEROME - جيروم
JERRY - جاري
JESSE - جيسي
JESSIE - جيسي
JESUS - هايسوس (if you want the name of the Bible guy it's جيزس)
JIM - جيم
JIMMIE - جيمي
JIMMY - جيمي
JOE - جو
JOEL - جول
JOHN - جون
JOHNNIE - جوني
JOHNNY - جوني
JON - جون
JONATHAN - جوناثن
JORDAN - جوردن
JORGE - جورج
JOSE - هوساي
JOSEPH - جوسيف
JOSHUA - جاشوا
JUAN - وان
JULIAN - جوليان
JULIO - هوليو
JUSTIN - جستن
KARL - كارل
KEITH - كيث
KELLY - كالي
KEN - كين
KENNETH - كينيث
KENT - كينت
KEVIN - كيفن
KIRK - كيرك
KURT - كورت
KYLE - كايل
LANCE - لانس
LARRY - لاري
LAWRENCE - لاورنس
LEE - لي
LEO - ليو
LEON - ليون
LEONARD - ليونارد
LEROY - ليروي
LESLIE - ليسلي
LESTER - ليستر
LEWIS - لويس
LLOYD - لويد
LONNIE - لوني
LOUIS - لويس
LUIS - لويس
MANUEL - مانيويل
MARC - مارك
MARCUS - ماركوس
MARIO - ماريو
MARION - ماريون
MARK - مارك
MARSHALL - مارشل
MARTIN - مارتن
MARVIN - مارفن
MATTHEW - ماثيو
MAURICE - موريس
MAX - ماكس
MELVIN - ميلفين
MICHAEL - مايكل
MICHEAL - مايكل
MIGUEL - ميغيل
MIKE - مايك
MILTON - ميلتون
MITCHELL - ميتشل
MORRIS - موريس
NATHAN - نايثان
NATHANIEL - ناثانيال
NEIL - نيل
NELSON - نيلسون
NICHOLAS - نيكولاس
NORMAN - نورمان
OSCAR - أسكر
PATRICK - باتريك
PAUL - بول
PEDRO - بايدرو
PERRY - بيري
PETER - بيتر
PHILIP - فيليب
PHILLIP - فيليب
RAFAEL - رافييل
RALPH - رالف
RAMON - رامون
RANDALL - راندل
RANDY - راندي
RAUL - راوول
RAY - راي
RAYMOND - رايموند
REGINALD - ريجينولد
RENE - ريناي
RICARDO - ريكاردو
RICHARD - ريتشارد
RICK - ريك
RICKY - ريكي
ROBERT - روبرت
ROBERTO - روبيرتو
RODNEY - رودني
ROGER - روجر
ROLAND - رولاند
RON - رون
RONALD - رونالد
RONNIE - روني
ROSS - روس
ROY - روي
RUBEN - روبن
RUSSELL - روسيل
RYAN - راين
SALVADOR - سالفادور
SAM - سام
SAMUEL - ساميول
SCOTT - سكوت
SEAN - شون
SERGIO - سيرجيو
SETH - سيث
SHANE - شاين
SHAWN - شون
SIDNEY - سيدني
STANLEY - ستانلي
STEPHEN - ستيفن
STEVE - ستيف
STEVEN - ستيفن
TED - تيد
TERRANCE - تارنس
TERRENCE - تارنس
TERRY - تاري
THEODORE - ثيودور
THOMAS - توماس
TIM - تيم
TIMOTHY - تيموثي
TODD - تود
TOM - توم
TOMMY - تومي
TONY - توني
TRACY - ترايسي
TRAVIS - ترافس
TROY - تروي
TYLER - تيلر
TYRONE - تيرون
VERNON - فيرنون
VICTOR - فيكتور
VINCENT - فينسينت
VIRGIL - فيرجل
WADE - وايد
WALLACE - والس
WALTER - والتر
WARREN - وارن
WAYNE - واين
WESLEY - ويسلي
WILLARD - ويلرد
WILLIAM - ويليام
WILLIE - ويلي
ZACHARY - زاكري
AARON - آرون
ADAM - آدم
ADRIAN - أيدريان
ALAN - آلن
ALBERT - ألبرت
ALBERTO - ألبيرتو
ALEX - آلكس
ALEXANDER - ألكسندر
ALFRED - ألفريد
ALFREDO - ألفريدو
ALLAN - آلن
ALLEN - آلن
ALVIN - ألفن
ANDRE - أندري
ANDREW - أندرو
ANDY - أندي
ANGEL - أنجل
ANTHONY - أنثوني
ANTONIO - أنتونيو
ARMANDO - أرماندو
ARNOLD - أرنولد
ARTHUR - أرثور
BARRY - باري
BEN - بِن
BENJAMIN - بنجامين
BERNARD - برنارد
BILL - بيل
BILLY - بيلي
BOB - بوب
BOBBY - بوبي
BRAD - براد
BRADLEY - برادلي
BRANDON - براندون
BRENT - برينت
BRETT - بريت
BRIAN - براين
BRUCE - بروس
BRYAN - براين
BYRON - بايرون
CALVIN - كالفين
CARL - كارل
CARLOS - كارلوس
CASEY - كايسي
CECIL - سيسل
CHAD - تشاد
CHARLES - تشارلز
CHARLIE - تشارلي
CHESTER - تشيستر
CHRIS - كريس
CHRISTIAN - كريستيان
CHRISTOPHER - كريستوفر
CLARENCE - كلارِنس
CLAUDE - كلود
CLAYTON - كلايتون
CLIFFORD - كليفرد
CLIFTON - كليفتون
CLINTON - كلينتون
CLYDE - كلايد
CODY - كودي
COREY - كوري
CORY - كوري
CRAIG - كرايغ
CURTIS - كورتِس
DALE - دايل
DAN - دان
DANIEL - دانيل
DANNY - داني
DARRELL - داريل
DARREN - دارِن
DARRYL - داريل
DARYL - داريل
DAVE - دايف
DAVID - دافيد
DEAN - دين
DENNIS دينِس
DEREK - دارك
DERRICK - دارك
DON - دون
DONALD - دونالد
DOUGLAS - دوغلِس
DUANE - دواين
DUSTIN - دوستِن
DWAYNE - دواين
DWIGHT - دوايت
EARL (this is a very hard sound to make for native Arabs) - إرل
EDDIE - إدي
EDGAR - إدغار
EDUARDO - إدواردو
EDWARD - إدوارد
EDWIN - إدوين
ELMER - إلمر
ENRIQUE - إنريكَي
ERIC - إريك
ERIK - إريك
ERNEST - إرنست
EUGENE - يوجين
EVERETT - إفيريت
FELIX - فيلِكس
FERNANDO - فرناندو
FLOYD - فلويد
FRANCIS - فرانسيس
FRANCISCO - فرانسيسكو
FRANK - فرانك
FRANKLIN - فرانكلن
FRED - فريد
FREDDIE - فريدي
FREDERICK - فريدرِك
GABRIEL - غابرييل
GARY - غاري
GENE - جين
GEORGE - جيورج
GERALD - جارلد
GILBERT - غيلبرت
GLEN - غلين
GLENN - غلين
GORDON - غوردون
GREG - غريغ
GREGORY - غريغوري
GUY - غاي (If your name is Guy and you plan on getting a tattoo of you name in Arabic I have to recommend against that as the word gay would be spelled the same way. But if you're gay and your name is Guy then I guess it works out perfectly!)
HAROLD - هارولد
HARRY - هاري
HARVEY - هارفي
HECTOR - هيكتور
HENRY - هينري
HERBERT - هربرت
HERMAN - هرمان
HOWARD - هاورد
HUGH - هيو
IAN - إين
ISAAC - أيساك
IVAN - أيفن
JACK - جاك
JACOB - جايكب
JAIME - جايمي
JAMES - جايمس
JAMIE - جايمي
JARED - جاريد
JASON - جايسون
JAVIER - هافيير
JAY - جاي
JEFF - جيف
JEFFERY - جيفري
JEFFREY - جيفري
JEREMY - جاريمي
JEROME - جيروم
JERRY - جاري
JESSE - جيسي
JESSIE - جيسي
JESUS - هايسوس (if you want the name of the Bible guy it's جيزس)
JIM - جيم
JIMMIE - جيمي
JIMMY - جيمي
JOE - جو
JOEL - جول
JOHN - جون
JOHNNIE - جوني
JOHNNY - جوني
JON - جون
JONATHAN - جوناثن
JORDAN - جوردن
JORGE - جورج
JOSE - هوساي
JOSEPH - جوسيف
JOSHUA - جاشوا
JUAN - وان
JULIAN - جوليان
JULIO - هوليو
JUSTIN - جستن
KARL - كارل
KEITH - كيث
KELLY - كالي
KEN - كين
KENNETH - كينيث
KENT - كينت
KEVIN - كيفن
KIRK - كيرك
KURT - كورت
KYLE - كايل
LANCE - لانس
LARRY - لاري
LAWRENCE - لاورنس
LEE - لي
LEO - ليو
LEON - ليون
LEONARD - ليونارد
LEROY - ليروي
LESLIE - ليسلي
LESTER - ليستر
LEWIS - لويس
LLOYD - لويد
LONNIE - لوني
LOUIS - لويس
LUIS - لويس
MANUEL - مانيويل
MARC - مارك
MARCUS - ماركوس
MARIO - ماريو
MARION - ماريون
MARK - مارك
MARSHALL - مارشل
MARTIN - مارتن
MARVIN - مارفن
MATTHEW - ماثيو
MAURICE - موريس
MAX - ماكس
MELVIN - ميلفين
MICHAEL - مايكل
MICHEAL - مايكل
MIGUEL - ميغيل
MIKE - مايك
MILTON - ميلتون
MITCHELL - ميتشل
MORRIS - موريس
NATHAN - نايثان
NATHANIEL - ناثانيال
NEIL - نيل
NELSON - نيلسون
NICHOLAS - نيكولاس
NORMAN - نورمان
OSCAR - أسكر
PATRICK - باتريك
PAUL - بول
PEDRO - بايدرو
PERRY - بيري
PETER - بيتر
PHILIP - فيليب
PHILLIP - فيليب
RAFAEL - رافييل
RALPH - رالف
RAMON - رامون
RANDALL - راندل
RANDY - راندي
RAUL - راوول
RAY - راي
RAYMOND - رايموند
REGINALD - ريجينولد
RENE - ريناي
RICARDO - ريكاردو
RICHARD - ريتشارد
RICK - ريك
RICKY - ريكي
ROBERT - روبرت
ROBERTO - روبيرتو
RODNEY - رودني
ROGER - روجر
ROLAND - رولاند
RON - رون
RONALD - رونالد
RONNIE - روني
ROSS - روس
ROY - روي
RUBEN - روبن
RUSSELL - روسيل
RYAN - راين
SALVADOR - سالفادور
SAM - سام
SAMUEL - ساميول
SCOTT - سكوت
SEAN - شون
SERGIO - سيرجيو
SETH - سيث
SHANE - شاين
SHAWN - شون
SIDNEY - سيدني
STANLEY - ستانلي
STEPHEN - ستيفن
STEVE - ستيف
STEVEN - ستيفن
TED - تيد
TERRANCE - تارنس
TERRENCE - تارنس
TERRY - تاري
THEODORE - ثيودور
THOMAS - توماس
TIM - تيم
TIMOTHY - تيموثي
TODD - تود
TOM - توم
TOMMY - تومي
TONY - توني
TRACY - ترايسي
TRAVIS - ترافس
TROY - تروي
TYLER - تيلر
TYRONE - تيرون
VERNON - فيرنون
VICTOR - فيكتور
VINCENT - فينسينت
VIRGIL - فيرجل
WADE - وايد
WALLACE - والس
WALTER - والتر
WARREN - وارن
WAYNE - واين
WESLEY - ويسلي
WILLARD - ويلرد
WILLIAM - ويليام
WILLIE - ويلي
ZACHARY - زاكري
Monday, June 8, 2009
Complaining about conditions in jail
Apparently Scott Roeder does not like it in jail. He's the guy being held on $5 million bail as the accused murderer of George Tiller, a notorious doctor in Wichita. Anyway, the local fishwrap featured a story on its front page about Roeder's complaints, as well as his warning that more violence is coming if abortion remains legal.
What's weird about this is that Roeder apparently spent more than a year in prison back in the mid-1990s after being caught with explosives in his car. His ex-wife says he was on the way to blow up an abortion clinic.
On the subject of jails, Roeder says:
In two separate calls to AP on Sunday morning, Roeder was far more talkative about his treatment at the Sedgwick County jail and the "deplorable conditions in solitary" where he was kept during his first three days there.link
Roeder said it was freezing in his cell.
"I started having a bad cough," he said. "I thought I was going to have pneumonia."
He said he called AP because he wanted to emphasize the conditions in the jail so that in the future suspects would not have to endure the same conditions.
What's weird about this is that Roeder apparently spent more than a year in prison back in the mid-1990s after being caught with explosives in his car. His ex-wife says he was on the way to blow up an abortion clinic.
I'm wondering if Roeder isn't in fact delusional, believes that he should be celebrated as a hero for killing the doctor and is going through an "I really shouldn't be here so I'll whine about just about everything to the AP" phase. It doesn't make sense to me. But seriously, if he is this delusional, it's worth reminding whatever readers I may have that vigilante justice is not justice.
The other thing that caught my attention was this:
"I know there are many other similar events planned around the country as long as abortion remains legal," Roeder said. He would not elaborate.Now what the hey does that mean? I said above that I thought the guy was delusional. Maybe he is and he's cooked up the notion that there are "similar events" going to happen around the country. On the other hand, some of his fellow travelers (Randall Terry, I'm looking at YOU) have been less than temperate in their use of language following the murder. The radical pro-life community would have people to believe that they don't go out and kill people, but there's a lot of suspicion now and perhaps Roeder's playing into that. I don't know. I'm thinking that combined with his statements about jail, the guy's delusional. Maybe he's trying to make himself into Something. I'm thinking that since he's got to pony up $500 grand before he's going to get out of the barry place, he's probably going to be staying there for a while.
Dana Halabi: 100/100
As I've said before listening to songs is a great way to learn a language. Songs are meant to be catchy and stick in your mind. This song by دانا حلبي is in Egyptian even though she is from Lebanon. Lots of pop singers start out singing in Egyptian even if they aren't from Egypt since that way they'll get the largest audience. Then once they have a big audience they can go back to singing in their dialect too. Singers like this help break the stereotype of Arabs. They don't all wear غترة و عقال و برقع. They can be just as sexy as US pop stars! Horray! The singing doesn't start until 1:31.
بالحب انا والله لسة استاهل واحد على خمسة - In love I still only deserve 1/5
استاهل - "I deserve". The MSA equivalent is استحق
لسة - still
واحد على خمسة - imagine that she's being graded on a scale of 1 to 5. She gets a 1/5 in the test of love.
باللعب شاطرة وشقية و انا واخدة 100/100 - In playing around I'm skilled and naughty and I get 100/100
لعب - playing around
شاطرة - clever, skilled
واخدة - the root is أخذ in MSA. It means to take.
لما ارقض انا وانت تبص حأرقص لك على وحدة ونص - When I dance and you are watching, I will dance for you in the 1 and 1/2 time.
وحدة و نص - this is a kind of time in Arabic music. In western music we have 2/2 and 4/4 and 6/8 measures. You'll know what I mean if you've ever played sheet music.1 and 1/2 time is most popular in Egyptian belly dancing.
و اغني غنوة شقية و تديني 100/100 - and I'll sing a naughty song and you'll give me 100/100
تديني - you give me. In MSA تهديني from the word هدية meaning gift. I guess they just drop the ه in Egyptian.
مدرسة الحب انا خشتها دروس الحب انا نستها - I went to the school of love, but I forgot the lessons (of love).
خش - means to enter. Very common word. Make sure you know it!
باللعب قالوا دي هيه دندونة البنت اللعبية - in fooling around they say, "That's her! Dandoun. The best player of the game."
دندونة - this is a nickname. Arabs do this a lot and this girl does it even more. She also calls herself دودو which she might decide against if she knew the meaning in English lol. I watch a show called تامر و شوقية and شوقية has the nickname شوشو. It's a common thing to have nicknames in the Arab world. More common than in the US.
دوق دوق قرب دوق ملبن طيب مش محروق - taste, taste, come closer and taste a tasty marshmallow that isn't burned
This is my favorite line of the whole song because it rhymes lol.
دوق - in MSA it's ذوق and it means taste
ملبن - I've seen this translated as marshmallow and Turkish delight among other things. If you type ملبن into Google you'll get an idea as to what it is.
مش رح تعرف غير ما تدوق وتديني 100/100 - you won't know unless you taste and you'll give me 100/100
بالحب انا والله لسة استاهل واحد على خمسة - In love I still only deserve 1/5
استاهل - "I deserve". The MSA equivalent is استحق
لسة - still
واحد على خمسة - imagine that she's being graded on a scale of 1 to 5. She gets a 1/5 in the test of love.
باللعب شاطرة وشقية و انا واخدة 100/100 - In playing around I'm skilled and naughty and I get 100/100
لعب - playing around
شاطرة - clever, skilled
واخدة - the root is أخذ in MSA. It means to take.
لما ارقض انا وانت تبص حأرقص لك على وحدة ونص - When I dance and you are watching, I will dance for you in the 1 and 1/2 time.
وحدة و نص - this is a kind of time in Arabic music. In western music we have 2/2 and 4/4 and 6/8 measures. You'll know what I mean if you've ever played sheet music.1 and 1/2 time is most popular in Egyptian belly dancing.
و اغني غنوة شقية و تديني 100/100 - and I'll sing a naughty song and you'll give me 100/100
تديني - you give me. In MSA تهديني from the word هدية meaning gift. I guess they just drop the ه in Egyptian.
مدرسة الحب انا خشتها دروس الحب انا نستها - I went to the school of love, but I forgot the lessons (of love).
خش - means to enter. Very common word. Make sure you know it!
باللعب قالوا دي هيه دندونة البنت اللعبية - in fooling around they say, "That's her! Dandoun. The best player of the game."
دندونة - this is a nickname. Arabs do this a lot and this girl does it even more. She also calls herself دودو which she might decide against if she knew the meaning in English lol. I watch a show called تامر و شوقية and شوقية has the nickname شوشو. It's a common thing to have nicknames in the Arab world. More common than in the US.
دوق دوق قرب دوق ملبن طيب مش محروق - taste, taste, come closer and taste a tasty marshmallow that isn't burned
This is my favorite line of the whole song because it rhymes lol.
دوق - in MSA it's ذوق and it means taste
ملبن - I've seen this translated as marshmallow and Turkish delight among other things. If you type ملبن into Google you'll get an idea as to what it is.
مش رح تعرف غير ما تدوق وتديني 100/100 - you won't know unless you taste and you'll give me 100/100
Saturday, June 6, 2009
Church fail, crash & burn
No matter what you think about abortion, which is a hugely touchy subject in the USA, some things are beyond the pale. Like this:
My mom wonders why I stopped going to church. Do I really need to explain it further? If you're going to follow Jesus, then follow Jesus. But don't be celebratory about your enemies being murdered and then claim you follow Jesus. It just doesn't work.
(Spirit One Christian Center is located in Wichita and the pastor, Mike Holick, has been active in pro-life circles there.)
So I wrote a letter to Spirit One Christian Church.
To whom it may concern:
I saw the sign (and, in my Googling, other signs used in the past) that you all put up in the wake of George Tiller's murder. And I have to ask, why are you ignoring the plain words of Jesus?
"But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust." - Matthew 5:44-45
Or, in light of your pastor's reported remarks about "why was George Tiller allowed in a church?" we have these words of Jesus:
And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. -- Mark 2:16-17
What I'm trying to get across to you is independent of my views on abortion. What I'm trying to say here is that you all and your allegedly pro-life fellow travelers is that you're not following the words of your Savior. Instead, you're acting out of your very human and very vindictive natures. You love that vengeance has been visited upon George Tiller, forgetting the following:
Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. -- Romans 12:19
Your triumphalist attitude betrays you; from my perspective it doesn't appear you all are much into following Jesus. I guess I can mark you all Exhibit #1,319,407 as to why left the church.
Regards, blah blah blah (but I really did send off the e-mail)
My mom wonders why I stopped going to church. Do I really need to explain it further? If you're going to follow Jesus, then follow Jesus. But don't be celebratory about your enemies being murdered and then claim you follow Jesus. It just doesn't work.
[Edited to include Mark 2:16, which gives a bit more context. It was not included in the original e-mail.]
Friday, June 5, 2009
Hey, whatcha got in there?
My cat Xena Warrior Princess is very curious about the refrigerator and has been since she was a kitten. One time, she got shut in the fridge when I was very sick several years ago. I got up to get a drink out and didn't notice (remember, deathly ill) that she'd crawled in. I went back to bed and woke up a few minutes later, realizing that the Late Lamented Hunter (no longer with us) was sleeping with me, but Xena Cuddle Kitteh was not. If I'd been indulging myself up to that point, I wasn't after that. I freaked out. I retraced my steps, opened the fridge door and, yup, there she was. You can yell at cats only so much about their behavior; most of the time they don't care.
Anyway, I was putting groceries up the other morning and had the fridge open. She crawled in. I shut the door while I dug my BlackBerry out of my purse. Yep, took some pictures. They're all a bit blurry, but here's one.
Xena is 12 years old. I still haven't figured out why she does this. Frida Katlo does not have anywhere near the curiosity for the fridge.
Anyway, I was putting groceries up the other morning and had the fridge open. She crawled in. I shut the door while I dug my BlackBerry out of my purse. Yep, took some pictures. They're all a bit blurry, but here's one.
Xena is 12 years old. I still haven't figured out why she does this. Frida Katlo does not have anywhere near the curiosity for the fridge.
Why dead snakes are like clothes
What would you say if, in some science-fiction novel, you read of a language where the situations that in English would be described as "The clothes blew down from the clothesline", "Push that dead snake away with a stick", and "I see where he's carrying the rabbits he killed hung from his belt" were all naturally expressed with the same root, plus nothing more than different affixes? What about "I slammed together the hunks of clay I held in either hand", "I slung away the rotten tomatoes, sluicing them off the pan they were in", and "I picked up in my mouth the already chewed gum from where it was stuck on the table"? My inclination would have been to dismiss it as a neat but implausible idea, placing some strain on the reader's suspension of disbelief. But - until no more than thirty years ago - such a language existed right in California. Go to Part III of Leonard Talmy's dissertation Semantic Structures in English and Atsugewi to get the data; here's a slightly less surprising example as a taster:
Of course, people are people; after explanation, the similarities are easy enough to make out, and presumably given enough time anyone can learn to look at a situation and decompose it into elements like these, rather than the elements that "leap out" at an English speaker. In fact, I suspect that having to learn to see things the way the people you talk to do is one of the subtler drivers behind contact-induced language change. But cases like this provoke thought: just how much can the attributes of a situation most relevant to formulating a sentence vary from language to language?
| s-'-w- | cu- | lup- | hiy-ik:- | a |
| Subject=I, Object=3rd person | from a linear object moving axially [with one end] non-obliquely against the FIGURE | for a small shiny spherical object to move | out of a snug enclosure/a socket | factual |
| I poked his eye out (with a stick.) | ||||
| s-'-w- | pri- | lup- | nik-iy- | a |
| Subject=I, Object=3rd person | from the mouth/interior of a person, working ingressively, acting on the FIGURE | for a small shiny spherical object to move | all about, here and there, back and forth | factual |
| I rolled the round candy around in my mouth. | ||||
Of course, people are people; after explanation, the similarities are easy enough to make out, and presumably given enough time anyone can learn to look at a situation and decompose it into elements like these, rather than the elements that "leap out" at an English speaker. In fact, I suspect that having to learn to see things the way the people you talk to do is one of the subtler drivers behind contact-induced language change. But cases like this provoke thought: just how much can the attributes of a situation most relevant to formulating a sentence vary from language to language?
Technology Module: Using Digital Cameras
Technology Module: Using Digital Cameras:
"Using Digital Cameras for Language Learning
Digital cameras have become the common way to record everything around us, and as such they can be a very flexible tool in the classroom. Digital cameras have become much more reasonably priced and it is very easy to download your photos to your computer. From your computer, you can manipulate them, make projects with your photos in them, upload them to the internet, and share them with the world. Students can use graphics that you have captured for them, or they can capture their own. Teachers are starting to take advantage of the 'linked in' capabilities that more and more students have, sending them out to capture what they see with their cell phones!
In this module, you will take some photos, use a free photo editing program to make changes to your photos, and then use your photos in a project. At the end of this module, you will be able to:
1. define the tool and what it can do
2. explain the various uses for the tool for language teaching and learning
3. create an activity using the tool
4. evaluate the use of the tool for your teaching circumstances"
Using Digital Images
Using Digital Images
Readings
Examples
Activities
Create
Discussion
Additional Resources
"Using Digital Cameras for Language Learning
Digital cameras have become the common way to record everything around us, and as such they can be a very flexible tool in the classroom. Digital cameras have become much more reasonably priced and it is very easy to download your photos to your computer. From your computer, you can manipulate them, make projects with your photos in them, upload them to the internet, and share them with the world. Students can use graphics that you have captured for them, or they can capture their own. Teachers are starting to take advantage of the 'linked in' capabilities that more and more students have, sending them out to capture what they see with their cell phones!
In this module, you will take some photos, use a free photo editing program to make changes to your photos, and then use your photos in a project. At the end of this module, you will be able to:
1. define the tool and what it can do
2. explain the various uses for the tool for language teaching and learning
3. create an activity using the tool
4. evaluate the use of the tool for your teaching circumstances"
Using Digital Images
Using Digital Images
Readings
Examples
Activities
Create
Discussion
Additional Resources
Hot Potatoes Home Page
Hot Potatoes Home Page
The Hot Potatoes suite includes six applications, enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web. Hot Potatoes is not freeware, but it is free of charge for those working for publicly-funded non-profit-making educational institutions, who make their pages available on the web. Other users must pay for a licence
Introduction: Technology for Language Learning
http://www.carla.umn.edu/technology/modules/intro/index.html
There are a lot of technology tutorials online for teachers, and tech instruction is also available to teachers in their schools or districts as hands-on courses or workshops. However, much of the time those workshops and tutorials consist of generic content aimed at teaching "how to's" or the "button-pushing" skills of particular computer tools. What those generic workshops are missing is the "application" piece: in our case, the application of technology specifically for language teaching and learning.
Foreign Language Teachers' Toolbox05 Resources for Teachers:
http://www.laits.utexas.edu/hebrew/personal/toolbox/resources.shtml
The Hot Potatoes suite includes six applications, enabling you to create interactive multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence, crossword, matching/ordering and gap-fill exercises for the World Wide Web. Hot Potatoes is not freeware, but it is free of charge for those working for publicly-funded non-profit-making educational institutions, who make their pages available on the web. Other users must pay for a licence
Introduction: Technology for Language Learning
http://www.carla.umn.edu/technology/modules/intro/index.html
There are a lot of technology tutorials online for teachers, and tech instruction is also available to teachers in their schools or districts as hands-on courses or workshops. However, much of the time those workshops and tutorials consist of generic content aimed at teaching "how to's" or the "button-pushing" skills of particular computer tools. What those generic workshops are missing is the "application" piece: in our case, the application of technology specifically for language teaching and learning.
Foreign Language Teachers' Toolbox05 Resources for Teachers:
http://www.laits.utexas.edu/hebrew/personal/toolbox/resources.shtml
Voodoo Sh*t List
What, pray tell, is a "Voodoo Sh*t List" aka VSL? Well, it's that list of people that you'd be doing voodoo on if voodoo really worked. In short, it's a list of people that have made you suffer and now they must suffer.
I came up with the concept of the VSL last year. At that time, this person hacked me off enormously and I put the person on the list. A few months later, s/he came off the list, but I still remained enormously suspicious of her/him. This person continued to cause problems for people I know but s/he hadn't crossed me, so I didn't really worry. Then s/he undercut me in a particular matter and I was infuriated. So, back on the VSL s/he went.
To be blunt: voodoo doesn't work and I know it doesn't work. The concept of the VSL is that there's a place in my mind where I can plop a person in a particular box and leave him/her there--while at the same time keeping in mind that the person is lower than pond scum. Maybe the person will come off the list, but I don't trust her/him after the most recent incident. I just don't.
I came up with the concept of the VSL last year. At that time, this person hacked me off enormously and I put the person on the list. A few months later, s/he came off the list, but I still remained enormously suspicious of her/him. This person continued to cause problems for people I know but s/he hadn't crossed me, so I didn't really worry. Then s/he undercut me in a particular matter and I was infuriated. So, back on the VSL s/he went.
To be blunt: voodoo doesn't work and I know it doesn't work. The concept of the VSL is that there's a place in my mind where I can plop a person in a particular box and leave him/her there--while at the same time keeping in mind that the person is lower than pond scum. Maybe the person will come off the list, but I don't trust her/him after the most recent incident. I just don't.
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
BIAEmedia
BIAEmedia (MAIN HOME)
The BIAE is introducing Arabic Education as a Foreign Language (TAFL) as a copmplete series of instructional videos available online through BIAEmedia website. The lectures are conducted by prominent professors qualified in Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language.
http://www.biaemedia.net/product_listing.php
A few teacher workshop
http://www.aldeenfoundation.org/afewteacherworkshops.html
The BIAE is introducing Arabic Education as a Foreign Language (TAFL) as a copmplete series of instructional videos available online through BIAEmedia website. The lectures are conducted by prominent professors qualified in Teaching Arabic as a Foreign Language.
http://www.biaemedia.net/product_listing.php
A few teacher workshop
http://www.aldeenfoundation.org/afewteacherworkshops.html
Arabic Simpsons: Season 2 Episode 15
Well I haven't done one of these in a while and it's amazing to me how much more I understand than I did only a few months ago. I think a lot of the time your brain just needs time to process the new information that you're giving it. I understood practically everything in this episode and it's really encouraging me to keep studying. Even if you don't think you're learning anything when studying a language, or feel that the language level is too advanced for you, your brain is still filing away the things you're hearing for later!
0:04 تعالو نكمل جدول اعملنا - Come, let's complete our plan (literally schedule of our works)
1:14 و نحمد ربنا على الطاقة النووية إلي ما سببتش ضرر مميت لحد دلوقتي على الاقل ببلدنا - And we praise our Lord for nuclear power that has never caused any deadly damage to this point, at least not in our country.
1:26 بابا, بدر اكل فصولية و انت بتدعي - Dad, Bart ate some beans while you were praying. (Literally, "Bart ate beans AND you were praying".)
1:27 و عرقت إزاي و إحنا مفروض نركز و إحنا بندعي - And how did you know? We're supposed to focus when we're praying. (Again they use "AND we're praying" to mean "while we're praying". This is how you express it even in MSA.)
1:56 ما نطقناش - We didn't utter a word. (This is hard to hear if you aren't used to Egyptian.)
تحب بتفسح العصفورة؟ 2:57 - Want to go out? (Can't really be translated literally. It has nothing to do with a bird.)
3:53 اخ غير شقيق و ضايع؟ ده اكيد فلم هندي - An illegitimate, lost brother? That's gotta be from an Indian movie.
4:13 مش ده برضه ملجأ - Is this still an orphanage? (ملجأ usually means refuge or safe place.)
4:30 هدي نفسك. دول مالهوش بعيد - Calm down. They aren't far.
4:59 دي بنسبة لي مسألة حياة و موت - This is a matter of life and death for me.
5:04 اخوك يمكن يكون في أي حتة, حتى ديترويت - Your brother could be anywhere, even in Detroit.
5:08 يمكن يبقا حتى في المريخ. على شان كده عيزك تضيقلي الإحتمالات ارجوك - And he might even be on Mars! That's why I want you to narrow down the possibilities for me. Please!
5:14 لو سألتني الاخوة الحقيقية ما تلقهاش في واشنطن. بتلاقيها في ديترويت - Well if you ask me you won't find your real brother in Washington. You'll find him in Detroit.
5:18 بتقول لو سألتني - You said "if you ask me".
7:00 إحنا وصلنا خلاص؟ - Are we there yet?
7:01 لسة شوية كمان - We've still got a little longer.
7:09 نرجع؟ بس يا مونا انا عيز اشوف اخوية - Go back? But Marge, I want to see my brother!
7:11 إفهم بقا يا عمرو ده تهديد و خلاص - Listen, Homer. It was only a threat. (In Egyptian they throw the word بقا around a lot. It's basically for emphasis.)
9:26 دي مراتي مونا و ده سعرها - This is my wife Marge and this is her hair.
9:59 اه! شامم ريح الطفل الرضيع - Ah! The smell of a baby. (رضيع means nursing)
10:55 ممكن تكتمو شوية؟ - Could you shut up a bit?
11:11 بص و انا بنط - Watch me jump!
11:14 خلاص! إن شاء الله تغرقو - Enough! I hope you drown!
12:17 ما عندناش احجام كبيرة - We don't have big sizes.
13:33 عيزة اركب سيسي - I want to ride a pony.
13:34 عيز اركب يخت كبير - I want to ride a big yacht.
13:54 اي فيدته ده - What's this for?
15:47 هتقفل السكة دلوقتي و هتتصل بي تاني و تقول عكس الكل إلي سمعت منك - You're going to hang up the phone now and call me again and say the opposite of everything I just heard from you.
16:12 و نظافته الشخصية حاجة فوق الوصف - And his personal hygiene is something indescribable! (in a good way)
17:38 بطريق - penguin
18:22 و اخيرا إتحقق الحلم - And at last the dream has been realized
18:26 نقدم السيارة المصممة للرجل العادي - We present the car designed for the common man
18:38 البشع دي يطلع ثمنه كم؟ - How much is this ugly thing going to cost?
19:11 حاسس بشعور بذنب - I feel guilty
0:04 تعالو نكمل جدول اعملنا - Come, let's complete our plan (literally schedule of our works)
1:14 و نحمد ربنا على الطاقة النووية إلي ما سببتش ضرر مميت لحد دلوقتي على الاقل ببلدنا - And we praise our Lord for nuclear power that has never caused any deadly damage to this point, at least not in our country.
1:26 بابا, بدر اكل فصولية و انت بتدعي - Dad, Bart ate some beans while you were praying. (Literally, "Bart ate beans AND you were praying".)
1:27 و عرقت إزاي و إحنا مفروض نركز و إحنا بندعي - And how did you know? We're supposed to focus when we're praying. (Again they use "AND we're praying" to mean "while we're praying". This is how you express it even in MSA.)
1:56 ما نطقناش - We didn't utter a word. (This is hard to hear if you aren't used to Egyptian.)
تحب بتفسح العصفورة؟ 2:57 - Want to go out? (Can't really be translated literally. It has nothing to do with a bird.)
3:53 اخ غير شقيق و ضايع؟ ده اكيد فلم هندي - An illegitimate, lost brother? That's gotta be from an Indian movie.
4:13 مش ده برضه ملجأ - Is this still an orphanage? (ملجأ usually means refuge or safe place.)
4:30 هدي نفسك. دول مالهوش بعيد - Calm down. They aren't far.
4:59 دي بنسبة لي مسألة حياة و موت - This is a matter of life and death for me.
5:04 اخوك يمكن يكون في أي حتة, حتى ديترويت - Your brother could be anywhere, even in Detroit.
5:08 يمكن يبقا حتى في المريخ. على شان كده عيزك تضيقلي الإحتمالات ارجوك - And he might even be on Mars! That's why I want you to narrow down the possibilities for me. Please!
5:14 لو سألتني الاخوة الحقيقية ما تلقهاش في واشنطن. بتلاقيها في ديترويت - Well if you ask me you won't find your real brother in Washington. You'll find him in Detroit.
5:18 بتقول لو سألتني - You said "if you ask me".
7:00 إحنا وصلنا خلاص؟ - Are we there yet?
7:01 لسة شوية كمان - We've still got a little longer.
7:09 نرجع؟ بس يا مونا انا عيز اشوف اخوية - Go back? But Marge, I want to see my brother!
7:11 إفهم بقا يا عمرو ده تهديد و خلاص - Listen, Homer. It was only a threat. (In Egyptian they throw the word بقا around a lot. It's basically for emphasis.)
9:26 دي مراتي مونا و ده سعرها - This is my wife Marge and this is her hair.
9:59 اه! شامم ريح الطفل الرضيع - Ah! The smell of a baby. (رضيع means nursing)
10:55 ممكن تكتمو شوية؟ - Could you shut up a bit?
11:11 بص و انا بنط - Watch me jump!
11:14 خلاص! إن شاء الله تغرقو - Enough! I hope you drown!
12:17 ما عندناش احجام كبيرة - We don't have big sizes.
13:33 عيزة اركب سيسي - I want to ride a pony.
13:34 عيز اركب يخت كبير - I want to ride a big yacht.
13:54 اي فيدته ده - What's this for?
15:47 هتقفل السكة دلوقتي و هتتصل بي تاني و تقول عكس الكل إلي سمعت منك - You're going to hang up the phone now and call me again and say the opposite of everything I just heard from you.
16:12 و نظافته الشخصية حاجة فوق الوصف - And his personal hygiene is something indescribable! (in a good way)
17:38 بطريق - penguin
18:22 و اخيرا إتحقق الحلم - And at last the dream has been realized
18:26 نقدم السيارة المصممة للرجل العادي - We present the car designed for the common man
18:38 البشع دي يطلع ثمنه كم؟ - How much is this ugly thing going to cost?
19:11 حاسس بشعور بذنب - I feel guilty
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