How to Use the Hans Wehr Arabic Dictionary

The Hans Wehr dictionary is a must have for people learning Arabic, but it is not organized in the same way an English dictionary is which can be confusing at first glance. For that reason I was months into learning Arabic before I bothered to figure out how to look up words. I don't recommend that. It's important to be able to look up words for yourself without having to ask the teacher and depend on their definition which (in my case) wasn't always correct.

In the Hans Wehr you can't go to the letter أ (alif) and find an alphabetical list of all the words that start with أ (alif). The dictionary is divided up into 3 letter verb roots, so if you go to the أ (alif) section you will find all the roots that begin with أ (alif). If you want to look up a word that is not just 3 letters then you have to be able to extract what the 3 letter root is. For words that are only 3 letters like رفع (to raise) then it's simple, you just search for them as they are, but for words that are longer than just 3 letters you have to know how to find the root of the word. For example, if you want to look up the word إستعجب (to be astonished) then you would have to know that the root is عجب and start looking under ع ('ain). If you tried to look up the word under أ (alif) you wouldn't find it, even though it starts with an أ (alif). Looking at the word إستعجب you might wonder, "How do I know which letters make up the 3 letter root?". Well it isn't hard to do with a little practice. The word إستعجب is measure X (ten). You can tell because it starts with إست. All measure X verbs will start with إست. Therefore, you immediately know that the إست is not part of the root. You're left with عجب which is the root.

So, once you know the root of the word you are trying to look up you flip to that root and you'll notice that there will be a transliteration of the root, for عجب it says 'ajiba. After that is goes into giving definitions. It has a few definitions, the roman numeral II, a few more definitions, the roman numeral IV, more definitions, the roman numeral V, definitions, and then finally it says X = V. This may look confusing, but it isn't with a little explanation. The definitions immediately after the root are for measure I. If you see the verb written as عجب then those are the definitions you are looking for. In this case it has written (to wonder, to marvel, be astonished, be amazed) and then it says the words that are commonly used with this word, من and ل, meaning that you would say عجب من or عجب ل basically meaning "amazed at". The roman numeral II signifies that the next definitions refer to the measure II verbs. If you see the very with a shadda عجّب then these are the definitions you want. The shadda on the second letter in a 3 letter root means that the word is in the measure II form. Then you have measure IV which is اعجب. The ا (alif) in front of the root signifies measure IV. Then there is measure V which is تعجّب. There is a ت at the beginning and a shadda over the ج. Then at the very end it says X = V. This means that the measure 10 and measure 5 have the same definitions. So, to recap, to find إستعجب we would look up عجب and go to the X. We'd see X = V and then look at the definitions of measure 5 and we'd know what the word meant.


All of the verb definitions are written right after the root. If the word you're looking up is a noun then it will be after the verb definitions. Sometimes you will have a word that has no root. In this case it will be listed alphabetically and you can look them up just like you would a word in an English dictionary. This includes any cognates such as country names or any word from another language. There is more to the Hans Wehr than just what is written here, but knowing this much will enable you to look up words and not be totally lost with the Hans Wehr dictionary.

Fairouz al Zayani Reads Al Jazeera Headlines

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

إلى اللقاء

Until we meet again.

Vocabulary:

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

Hi in Arabic

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

MBC's Turning Point (نقطة تحول)

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

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

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



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

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

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

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

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

Vocabulary List

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

Product Review: Arabic Genie

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

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

Al Jazeera News with Transcript

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



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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

إلى اللقاء

Until next time.

Vocabulary:

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

Introductory Arabic: The Idafa الإضافة

The idafa الإضافة is a basic construct essential to understanding Arabic. Without understanding it one can never get beyond a beginner's level. The word idafa literally means "the addition". In newspapers you will see اضاف المصدر (adafa almusdar) "the source added" used very often. Arabic is unlike languages like English and Spanish in that there isn't really a word for "of" in the possessive sense. In Spanish you would say "the book of the teacher" to mean "the teacher's book", but in Arabic you would say "book the teacher" to mean the same thing; كتاب الأستاذ (kitaab alustaadh).

When first starting to learn Arabic it seemed so foreign and strange that they don't have the simple word "of". I found myself struggling to form basic sentences because I didn't really understand the idafa. I would throw in the word مِن thinking that it meant "of" instead of "from" and get blank stares from my teachers. Here are some more examples to help drive home the idea of the idafa:

• صواريخ بعيدة المدى (Sawareekh ba'eedat almada) - Long range missiles, literally "missles long of the range"
• سرطان الجلد (Sarataan aljild) - Skin cancer, literally "cancer of the skin"
• تكنولوجيا المعلومات (Technologia alma'loomaat) - Information technology, literally "technology of the information"

When the owner of the object is already a definite noun, such as a proper name, you don't add the alif and lam. For example, if you're talking about Nadir's wallet, you're not going to say "wallet alNadir". You would just say "wallet Nadir". محفظة نادر is correct, NOT محفظة النادر . Here are some more examples:

• ولاية فلوريدا (wilaayat florida) - The state of Florida
• مراسل بي بي سي (muraasil BBC) - BBC correspondent (correspondent of BBC)
  

Something else you may have noticed about idafas is that when the first word in the idafa (the thing that is owned) ends in altaa almarbouta ة it makes a "t" sound. This can be see in the example of "the state of Florida". Even though, by itself, the word ولاية (wilaaya) doesn't have a "t" sound at the end, if it's the first word in an idafa then it does have a "t" sound. If you didn't make the "t" sound at the end of it and just said "wilaaya Florida" it would mean "a state is Florida". My teachers used to always stop me when I wouldn't make the "t" sound at the end in situations like that and I never understood what the big deal was. Some time later I realized that not pronouncing the "t" actually gives the phrase a different meaning.

Learn the Arabic Numbers through Song

In Arabic the word nasheed نشيد means "hymn", but they use the word for many things that in English we would just call songs, so when you see نشيد it doesn't always mean "hymn" in the English sense. Basically all children songs are called نشيد الاطفال. This song for teaching the Arabic numbers was posted on YouTube as نشيد الأرقام literally, The Number's Hymn. It's mainly for kids, but it's also useful for adults learning Arabic.



واحد, إثنان, ثلاثة, أربعة, خمسة, ستة, سبعة, ثمانية, تسعة, عشرة - Wahid, ithnan, thalatha, arba'a, khamsa, sitta, seba'a, thamania, tisa'a, 'ashara

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10

وقف الواحد ليصلي - Waqafa alwahid liyusulli

One stood to pray.

ركع الإثان لربه - Raka'a alithnani lirubbih

Two bowed to his lord.

و الثلاثة واحد و إثنان - Wa athalatha wahid wa ithnan

And three is one and two.

و الأربعة إثنان و إثنان - wa alarba'a ithnan wa ithnan

And four is two and two.

و الخمسة كعكة بسكر - Wa alkhamsa ka'ka bisukkar

And five is a cake with sugar.

و الستة وقفت لتفكر - Wa asitta waqafat litufakkir

And six stopped to think.

و السبعة تنظر للنجمة - Wa aseba'a tunthuru lilnejma

And seven looks to the stars.

و الثمانية عكس سبعة - Wa athmaniatu 'aksu seba'a

And eight is the opposite of seven.

و عصى جدي مثل تسعة - Wa 'asa jeddi mithu tisa'a

And my grandpa's cane is like nine.

و الصفر مع الواحد عشرة - Wa assifru m'a alwahidi 'ashara

And zero with one is ten.

Iman Ayyad - Al Jazeera News Anchor

Iman Ayyad إيمان عياد often does the evening news on Al Jazeera. She used to go by the last name "Banoura" بنورة before getting married. This clip was right before the 2008 US elections and Iman and Ali Aldhafeeri علي الظفيري were in Washington covering the elections.




هذه النشرة الإخبارية نقدمها لكم من قناة الجزيرة في العاصمة الأمريكية واشنطن. و أبرز ما فيها عشية الإنخابات

We present this news report to you from the Aljazeera channel in the American capital, Washington and the most prominent news in it on the eve of the elections.

Comments: فيها here refers to "in Washington"

شريف بما يجري فيها في أقل من 24 ساعة على هذا الإشتباك الإنتخابي. الآن يبدو ان ناصر حسيني من ولاية فلوريدا الامريكية قد اصبح جاهزا معنا. ناصر يعني هذه الولاية ما زالت حتى صباح هذا اليوم تشتعل فيها المنافسة و نعلم ان المرشحين قد زاراها صباح هذا اليوم

...Sherif, about what happens in less than 24 hours in this electoral clash. Now it seems that Nasir Huseini from the American state of Florida has become ready with us. Nasir, I mean, this state was still, even until this morning, inflamed in competition, and we know that the 2 candidates have both visited it this morning.

Comments: It was an incomplete sentence, so it's hard to know what she's talking about at the beginning. Sherif was most likely another phone in caller.

اذا فاصل قصير في هذه النشرة. نعود بعده لمتابعتها من العاصمة الامريكية واشنطن فكونوا معنا.

So, a short break in this report. We return after it to continue following the news from the American capital Washington, so stay with us.

و ينضم إلينا حول هذا الموضوعة في الإستوديو ويليام غالستون الخبير في شؤون ال

And joining us about this issue in the studio, William Galston, the expert in matters of...

Vocabulary:

1. النشرة الإخبارية - literally means "the publication of the news"
2. أبرز - most prominent
3. بما يجري فيها - "about what's happening in..." يجري means "flowing", but in a sentence like this means "happening" or "on going"
4. إشتباك - "clash". You'll see إشتباكات عنيفة "violent clashes" a lot in newspapers.
5. قد - in the past tense it means "has" like "has become ready", but in the present tense it means "might" or "could" as in "الإمتحان قد تكوت صعبة" "the test might be difficult".
6. إشتعل - to flame up
7. ما زال - still, continues to be
8. شأن ,شؤون - matter, matters (issue, issues)
   

Lina Zahr Al Din and the Al Jazeera Headline News

Along with إيمان عياد (Iman Ayaad), لينا زهر الدين (Lina Zahr Al Din) is one of the few reasons I watch the channel. This is one of the Headline News segments I found on Al Jazeera's YouTube channel. 90% of the news on Al Jazeera is about leaders meeting to discuss issues, the death of soldiers, and suicide bombings. This clip is very representative of what is usually covered on the channel. In 3 minutes they manage to discuss all of those things. I'm not going to defend US news stations, but Arab stations really do like to pile on the death and destruction. Hey, if that's what's bringing in the viewers then good on 'em!

For me the new words in this clip are توافد and ذروة and تجاوب. I've probably heard them before but I couldn't remember what they meant. As always, I hope this translation is helpful and if there is anything I could have explained that was confusing or anything you'd like to see more of or less of, please let me know.




اهلا بكم إلى موجز الانباء. واصل الناخبون في جميع انحاء موريتانيا الإدلاء بأصواتهم في إنخابات الرئاسة التي تُجرى بناءاً على إتفاق دكار الذي أنهى الازمة السياسية في البلاد. و يختار الناخبون في هذا الإقتراع رئيساً للبلاد من بين 9 مرشحين يمثلون تيارات مختلفة. و يزيد عدد ما يحق لهم التصويت في الإنتخابات على 1,200,000.

Hello and welcome to the summary of the news. Voters in all parts of Mauritania continue to cast their votes in the presidential elections that are being carried out based on the Dakkar agreement which ended the political crisis in the country. In this election voters choose from among 9 candidates representing different movements. The number of people with the right to vote in the election exceeds 1,200,000.

Comments: You'll notice that I translated إنتخابات and إقتراع both as election. إقتراع can also mean "balloting" but I didn't think that fit too well. Also, even though بلاد is the plural of بلد they are still just talking about 1 country. I guess it could also be translated as "lands".

يواصل شيعة في العراق توافدهم لزيارة مرقد الإمام موسى الكاظم بشمال بغداد ,و هو أحد ائمة الشيعة, لمناسبة ذكرى وفاته وتبلغ المناسبة ذروتها هذا اليوم و يتوقع مسؤولو الأمن أن تبلغ عدد الزائرين أرقام قياسية. و قال لواء قاسم المصوي المتحدث بإسم قوات أمن بغداد إن خطة حماية الزائرين التي أعدت لهذه المناسبة تعد أول خطة أمنية عراقية مئة بالمئة بعد إنسحاب القوات الأمريكية من المدن العراقية.

Shia in Iraq continue flocking to visit the mausoleum of Imam Moses Al-Kathim, one of the Shia Imams, in remembrance of his death. Today the occasion reaches its culmination and security officials are expecting the number of visitors to reach record levels. Major General Kasim Al-Musawi, speaking for the Baghdad security forces, said that the plan undertaken for protecting the visitors on this occasion is considered to be the first 100% Iraqi security plan after the withdrawal of the American forces from the Iraqi cities.بدأ في العاصمة المصرية القاهرة إجتماع لوفدي حركتي حماس و فتح و مسؤولين أمنيين
مصريين. و يهدف الإجتماع لتقييم ما تم إنجازه في ملف المعتقلين في الضفة الغربية و قطاع غزة حيث سيقدم كل وفد تقرير بشأن عملية الإفراج عن المعتقلين و ملاحظاته على اذاء الطرف الآخر في هذا الملف الذي كان سبباً في تعثر المصالحة.

In the Egyptian capital of Cairo a meeting has begun between the two movements Hamas and Fatah and Egyptian security officials. The meeting's aim is to assess what has been accomplished about the issue of detainees in the West Bank and Gaza. Each delegation will offer a report on the matter of the release of the detainees as well as what they have noticed in the way of wrongdoings of the other party (Fatah or Hamas) in this issue which has caused a stumbling in reconciliation (between Fatah and Hamas).

نقل مراسل الجزيرة في باكستان عن مسؤول حكومي في مقاطعة اوركزاي القبلية نبأ مقتل 10 أشخاص و إصابة آخرين بجروح في غارة جوية شنتها طائرة تابعة لسلاح الجو البكستاني صباح اليوم. و أضاف المصدر أن الغارة إستهدفت مواقع تابعة لمسلحين قبليين يشتبه في أنهم ينتمون لحركة طالبام باكستان.

ِA correspondent in Pakistan for Al-Jazeera quoted from a government official in the tribal region Oregzai the news of the killing of 10 people and wounding of others in an air raid launched this morning by a plane belonging to the Pakistani Air Force. The source added that the raid targeted locations belonging to tribal gunmen suspected of belonging to the Pakistani Taliban movement.

قتل 3 جنود افغان في تفجير نفذه إنتحاري في قافلة عسكرية بجنوب افغانستان. من ناحية أخرة قال الناطق بإسم الجيش الأمريكي أن مقاتلة امريكية من طراز F-15 تحطمت صباح السبت في شرق افغانستان و أن قائد الطائرة و مساعده قتلا في الحادث.

In a military convoy 3 Afghan soldiers were killed by an explosion executed by a suicide (bomber) in southern Afghanistan. In other news a spokesman for the US Army said that an American fighter of the model F-15 crashed Saturday morning in eastern Afghanistan and that the pilot and his copilot were both killed in the accident.

ذكر تقرير جديد أعده الأمين العام للامم المتحدة بان كي مون ان تجاوب الحكومة السودانية مع قوات حفظ السلام في دارفور قد تحسن و ان حوادث العنف لم تعد شائعة في الإقليم. لكن التقرير إشار إلى أن وضع المدنيين لا يزال مثيراً للقلق.

A new report carried out by the Secretary General of the UN, Ban Ki Moon, mentioned that the cooperation of the Sudanese government with the peace keeping forces in Darfur has improved and that the incidents of violence are no longer widespread in the region. However the report points out that the situation of the civilians is still worrisome.

نهاية الموجز إلى اللقاء.

The end of the summary. See you later.

Vocabulary:

• موجز - summary
• انحاء - singular is نحو. It means directions, sides, or parts as in كل انحاء العالم (all parts of the world)
• وفد - delegation (a group of people sent to a meeting in another country usually)
• توافد - flocking or thronging to something. It's from the root وفد . You can see that words involving that root have to do with groups of people going somewhere.
• ذروة - pinnacle, summit, culmination
• ملف - a file, but not in a literal sense. I usually translate it to issue or matter.
• تجاوب - harmony, working together, cooperation
• حفظ السلام - peace keeping
  

Report About Testicular Cancer

The words I hadn't heard before (or maybe had just forgotten) in this clip were إستأصل and تناسلية. I hope these transcriptions/translations are useful for you and if there is anything different you would like to see (different types of videos, longer vocab lists, more explanation) then please leave a comment letting me know.



يحمل هذا الرجل على عاتقه مهمة نشر الوعي بالمرض سرطان الخسية الذي عانى منه في السابق. فقبل 9 سنوات إكتشف دارن عن طريق الصدفة أنه مصاب بهذا المرض

This man is carrying on his shoulders a mission of spreading awareness about testicular cancer which he previously suffered from. 9 years ago Darren was shocked to discover that he had this disease.

عندما أخبرني الطبيب بأني مصاب بسرطان الخسية أردت الحصول على معلومات إضافية عن هذا المرض لكنني لم اجد معلومات متاحة. إنها قررت أن أقوم بحملات لتوعية بهذا المرض.

When the doctor informed me that I had testicular cancer I wanted to get additional information about the disease but I couldn't find any information available. So, I decided to undertake campaigns to raise awareness about this disease.

إستأصل الأطباء إحدى خسيتي دارن لكنه إستطاع الإنجاب بعد ذلك و ألف كتاب عن تجربته مع المرض.

Doctors removed one of Darren's testicles but he was still able to have children afterward. And he authored a book about his experience with the disease.

عندما يبلغ إبني 12 سأنصحه بالفحص الدوري أيضاً لأن هناك إحتمال كبير لإصابته.

When my son reaches 12 years old I will recommend regular examinations to him also because there is a big chance that he might get the disease.

ينصح دارن إبنه و أخوه بتلك النصيحة لأن مسببات للإصابة بسرطان الخسية غير معروفة حتى الآن في ما عدا إحتمال الإصابة الوراثية. و اليوم يشع أمل جديد بعد كشف علمي يساعد في تحديد الطبيعة الجينية لهذا المرض الذي يصيب رجال في سن مبكر. فلأول مرة إستطاع علماء في هذا المختبر أن يتعرف على 3 عناصر وراثية مسببة للمرض. و ذلك بعد أن وجدوا أن المصابين جميعاً يشتبكون في عناصر وراثية متشابهة غير موجودة عند الأصحاء.

Darren gives this recommendation to his son and his brother because the causes of testicular cancer are unknown even up til now except for the possibility of inheriting the disease. Today hope shines anew after a scientific discovery helps to define the genetic nature of this disease that afflicts young men. For the first time scientists in this lab are able to know 3 inherited factors that cause the disease. This is after they found that everyone with the disease shares similar inherited factors that are not found among the healthy.

الدراسة أظهرت لنا أن العناصر الوراثية التي تعرفنا عليها مهمة لنمو و تطور خلاية تناسلية.

The study showed us that the inherited factors that we studied are important for the growth and development of the reproductive cells.

و تشير الأحصاءات إلى أن نسبة الإصابة بالمرض هي 7 لكل 100,000 رجل في العالم و أن هناك زيادة في نسب الإصابة بالمرض في ال50 سنة الأخيرة. و تسجل برطانية وحدها 2000 حالة إصابة بسرطان الخسية كل عام.

And the statistics point out that the percentage of cases of the disease is 7 for every 100,000 men in the world and that there has been an increase in the percentage of cases of the disease in the last 50 years. Britain alone records 2000 cases of testicular cancer every year.

يأمل العلماء هنا في أن يتعرفوا على باقية العناصر الوراثية المسببة لهذا المرض في خلال 3 إلى 5 سنوات مما يمكنهم من إكتشاف قابلية الإصابة به في وقت مبكر و تطوير علاج من دون تدخل جراحي.

The scientists here hope that within 3 to 5 years they can discover the rest of the inherited factors resulting in this disease which would enable them to uncover the susceptibility (of a person) to the disease early and to develop treatment without invasive surgery.


Vocabulary:

• عاتق - shoulder
• نشر الوعي - spreading awareness
• الخسية - testicle
• صدفة - shock (literally and figuratively just like in English)
• إستأصل - to remove (as in by surgery)
• الإنجاب - giving birth
• ألف - to author (spelled just like the word for 1000 except there is a shadda over the ل)
• ما عدا - except for
• إحتمال - probability or chance
• تناسلي - reproductive, sexual, genital
  
• قابلية - here it means susceptibility, but it really means "able to accept". For example, قابلية الشفاء means curability, basically, able to accept a cure (as in a disease).
  

Fishing with Electricity in Iraq

While the majority of the passage is in MSA, there were 2 or 3 Iraqi words in this report from Al-Jazeera that I wasn't able to make out. If you happen to know them please let me know so I can improve. I marked them with underscores. After the text I put a list of the words that I thought might be difficult or new.




كل الطرق متاحة لصيد السمك فلا رقابة و لا رادعة. في السابق كان صيد بصعق كهربائي على سبيل المثال يُدخل صاحبه إلى السجن. لكنه الآن متاح حتى لو أثر بشكل مباشر على الحيات المائية كلها.

Every method is allowed in fishing because there is no supervision and no restrictions. In the past, fishing with electric shock for example would put you in jail, but now it is permissible even though it has a direct effect on all the aquatic life.

والله هسة إحنا نتمنى من الله و من هاي الحكومة أن تمنع هاي... هدول ال... مني آني و ____. يعني ____ كل الكهرباء إلي ينزله من الحجاج و من الحمرا و التكريت يعني يكتل ويبيد آلاف مألفة من السمك.

I swear, now we hope from God and from this government that they prevent those (methods).... All the electricity they are getting from Al-Hujaj and from Al-Hamra and from Tikrit kills and exterminates thousands upon thousands of fish. (I'm not 100% sure of the second place name he mentions or of the blanks I left. The guy is speaking Iraqi dialect and while I know what he means, I don't get every individual word.)

و بعد تدهور الأوضاع الأمنية و صعوبة نقل السمك من صلاح الدين إلى بغداد و باقي المحافظات ترك الصيادون مهنتهم. لكنهم بدأوا بالعودة من جديد. و بسبب إنحسار المياه و قلة الرعاية للثروة السمكية في البلد أخذوا بإتباع أسوأ الأساليب في الصيد.

And after the deterioration of the security and the difficulty in transporting fish from Salah Al-Deen to Baghdad and the surrounding districts, the fishermen left their profession. But they have begun to return again and because of the dropping water levels and the lack of protection for the wealth of fish, they started to follow the worst of methods in fishing.

رجعنا للزراعة... من بعد هاي اعاد... جت الأمان هنا و صار أمان و صحوة و هاذ فمارسنا عملنا مثل ما كناها بالوقت السابق.

We returned to farming, and after that the peace returned, peace came back and there was a reawakening and such and so we started working like we used to in the past.

و تمثل بحيرة الثرثار اكبر مخازن المياه في العراق. المكان الأمثل لصيد الأسماك. لكن المعاناه تكمن في غلاء اسعار الوقود المشغل لقوارب الصيد مع غلاء اسعار الشباك.

Tharthar Lake represents the biggest reserve of water in Iraq; the best place for fishing. But the problems are hidden in the high prices of fuel the fishing boats use and the high prices of the nets.

تخريب كبير. مو فقط بالأسماك يعني إستخدام المفرقعات و إستخدام المواد السامة في صيد الأسماك إلي رح يلوث المياه. مو هو صح. رح يحصل على سمك و رح يستفاد من عندها لكن من جانب آخر قد يأدي إلى تلوث المياه.

Lots of destruction. Not only for the fish, but using explosives and using poison in fishing is what pollutes the water. It's not right. A man will get fish and will benefit from it, but on the other hand it might lead to pollution.

في النهر خير كثير. و يتباه الصيادون بأحجام الأسماك التي إصطادوها خلال الفترة السابقة من عملهم. و هم يأكدون اليوم أن الأسماك الكبيرة لم يعد لها وجود كما في السابق لأن عمليات الصعق و المتفجرات تقتل ما حولها إضافة إلى الإهمال الحكومية و عدم الدعم للصيادين.

At the river all is well. The fishermen pay attention to the sizes of the fish they have caught during the previous period of their work. And they emphasize that today the big fish are no longer as prevalent as they used to be because the shock operations and the explosives which kill everything around. This is in addition to the negligence of the government and the lack of support for the fishermen.

ربما تكون الأسماك العراقية المستفيد الوحيد من تردي الأوضاع الأمنية فقد غادر الصيادون ديارها و بعد تحسن الأوضاع الأمنية في هذه المناطق, عاد الصيادون. و لكنهم بدأوا يستخدمون الصعق الكهربائي و يلقاء بعض المتفجرات مما أثر على الثروة المائية في المنطقة. عامر الكبيسي. الجزيرة. من محافظة صلاح الدين.

Perhaps the Iraqi fish were the sole beneficiaries of the collapse of security because the fishermen left their homes (the fishes homes) but after the improvement of the security in these regions, returned. But they have begun to use electric shocks and throw explosives which effect the aquatic wealth of the region. Omar Kubaisi. Al-Jazeera. From Salah Al-Deen district.


Vocabulary List:

1. رادعة - This is one of the words I had never heard before. It means "prevention", "deterring", "impeding", "restriction" and things of that nature.
2. هسة - This word is used in the Iraqi and Levantine dialects. It means "now" and is a condensed form of the 2 words "هذه الساعة".
3. يبيد - "to exterminate". This root is used in the word for "pesticides" مبيدات الحشرات.
4. إنحسار - I had to look this word up as I had never seen it before. I thought they were saying إنحصار at first which means a "restriction or limitation", but I didn't think that made sense here. Then I listened again and he's saying a س and not a ص. This word means "a subsiding or drop" as in water levels. It has a lot of other meanings too, but that's really common for Arabic.
5. صحوة - "reawakening". There is a group of armed forces in Iraq that call themselves الصحوة.
6. كمن - "to be hidden"
7. لم يعد - This phrase means "no longer". It's not something that you can logically work out by combining the definition of each word so you just have to memorize that لم and يعد together means "no longer".
8. تردي - At first I thought this word was ترد and that he was just putting a كسرة on the end of it, but I couldn't work out a translation for the sentence. So I thought that it must be another word. I looked up ردى in the Hans Wehr and it turns out that it means "to deteriorate". Even after studying MSA for a long time and feeling like I know the language pretty well I will still find several words, even in a passage like this, that I don't know.

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:

1. تشدق - to boast
2. نفع - to be a benefit or be useful
3. الغوغائية - demagogy
   
4. الجاهلية - the time before Islam was introduced
5. 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)
6. صفّى - to settle a dispute
7. مكبوت - repressed
8. مقموع - repressed
9. إلى ما هنالك من هذا الكلام - this is a way of saying "etcetera"
10. تتلاقى مع بعضها البعض - to get along with each other
11. الفجل - radish
12. المعفنة - rotten
13. الأمن القومجي - This is a derogatory way of saying الأمن القومي (national security).
14. شح - a lack of (this word is used a lot of the time to refer to water supply in the middle east)

Mickey Mouse Must Die!

I'll just leave this here:



الفأر في الشريعة الإسلامية. أيش نظرة الشريعة للفيران؟ سؤالك. ما يسموها سم... الشريعة سمّت الفأر فويسقة و أنه يُقتل في الحل و الحرم. و أنها تضرم على أهل البيت النار. و أن شيطان هيسيّر هذه الفأرة. يعني هذه من جنود إبليس... يسيّرها إبليس. و أن إذا وقعت في إيناء في... إلقوها و ما حولها إذا كان جامداً. إذا كان مائعاً يعني يرمى كله لأنها نجسة... الفأرة.

يعني الفأر في الشريعة يسمي شئ منقوط يعني مفسد يعني, كائن مفسد. أيش رأيك الآن بالفأرة عند الأطفال؟ يعني بعد "توم و جيري"؟ أيش نظرة الأطفال للفيران؟ يعني حتى الأشياء إلي طبعاً و شرعاً أو فطرةً أو عقلاً يعني كائنات منقوطة صارت عند الأطفال حاجة عظيمة.

و محبوبة.

و محبوبة الفيران حتى. يعني ميكي موس هذا شخصية عظيمة يعني. مع انه ميكي موس يعني شرعاً يُقتل بالحل و الحرم

Before I watched this I hadn't heard of في الحل و الحرم. It just means "everywhere". They are 2 places in Mecca. إيناء was also a new one for me. It means "pot". And مائع is another word I'd never heard. It means "liquid".

Hopefully you now know how evil Mickey Mouse is and that you must kill the people who are dressed as Mickey Mouse everywhere you find them. And don't forget Jerry! Damn western media teaching kids to love mice!

Iraqi MP: "Only Nations Living in the Past Produce Martyrs"

Since Memri TV doesn't post Arabic transcripts of their video clips I figured I'd start doing some. I know the feeling all to well when you hear a word but aren't sure how it's spelled. This happens in Arabic all the time since so many of the letters sound the same. Maybe you heard a seen or a saud. Who knows? Having the English translation is great, but if you don't know the Arabic words that are being said then the translation is of minimal help. Hopefully someone will find this beneficial.

There were a few new words for me in this clips. I'd never heard the word ألفة (ulfa) before. It's another word for "friendship". Also, تارة (taara) which means "sometimes". And lastly, إستحضار (istihdaar) which Memri translates to mean "evoking a memory or an image".

As for what this guy is talking about, if only there were more people like him in the Arabic world. Then maybe we'd have less people going out and blowing themselves up for paradise. That's the problem with religion in general. If you believe there's an afterlife and that all of this is just a test, your can be convinced to do anything if it means that you're going to heaven. Anyway, here's the clip.



التيار الإسلامي تيار ماضوي, الذي يحكم يعني في العراق و خصوصاً القوة السياسية اللتي تحمل رايات الشهداء و الضحايا و تتكئ على تاريخ من المظلومية دون الاخذ من نظر الإعتبار المستقبل المشرق و المضيئ. و الشعب العراقي شعب حي. يختار الحياة لا يختار الموت. الخطاب الديني الموجود في العراق خطاب يقدس الموت و الموتة و القتل و الشهداء و يعتبرها قيمة حضارية. و لا يقدس الأحياء يعني. أنت إذا أردت أن تكون مقدساً يجب عليك أن تُقتل و أن تمون لكي تكون خالداً. و هذا الخلاف رغبة الشعر العراقي و تطلعاته و توجهاته. و لذلك... و هنالك نقطة أخرى أن القوة الدينية الحاكمة في العراق إنما إئتلفت نتيجة الخوف و ليس الحب, هم خائفون من آخر. الآخر تارة أن يكون علماني, تارة أن يكون سني, تارة أن يكون... الآخر.

مع العلم هي تحكم.

مع أنها تحكم فالذي قرب بينهم ليس الحب. ليس هنالك مودة و ألفة و تفاهم على خطوط مشتركة سياسية. و إنما الخوف من الآخر. و إن لم يكون هنالك آخر صنعوا في مخيلاتهم آخر لكي يخيف أتباعهم و يتقاربون بعضهم البعض.

التيار العلماني أو اللبرالي هو تيار مستقبلي. رؤيته مستقبلية و ليست ماضوية. و لا يتباكون على شيء. ما عندهم حائط المبكى. ليس في رموز العلمانية أو لبرالية أموات. الأحزاب الإسلامية أو الدينية, سميها ما شئت, أحياء يختبئون خلف صور شهداء و أموات و رموزهم كل شهداء. ليس هناك قائد سياسي حي في التيارات الإسلامية يقول ها أنا ده, أنا قائدكم. هو حي و لكن خلفه صورة شهيد, عملاق, طولها 5 أمتار.

إستحضار للرموز.

إستحضار للرموز التي ماتت و إنتهت.

هذه إجابية أو قد تكون إجابية.

ربما ينظر لها البعض إجابية و لكن الشعب شعب حي. الشعب ينظر إلى المستقبل و ليس إلى الماضي. يتكئ على الماضي أو كي ما يخالف, ما في مشكلة و لكن أن يقودك ميت و أنت على قيد الحياة إذا لك أن تموت أيضاً لكي تكون قائداً. الأمم الحية تنتج قادة أحياء. لا تنتج شهداء. الذين ينتجون الشهداء هم الأمم الماضوية الذين يفتخرون بالماضي أكثر مما يتطلعون إلى المستقبل.