In this post, we’ll take a look at what libraries are like in Jordan. But first, let’s look at familiar words that are similar to the word مَكْتَبة library and what they mean since they are all derived from the same root word كَتَبَ. 📚

كَتـَبَ : to write  

كِتـَابٌ : book  كُتُبْ : books

كِتـََابَة : writing  

كَاتـِبْ : writer 

مَكْـتـَـبْ  : desk/office

مَكْـتـَـبَة : library /bookshop a place for selling books and other stationary

✨Now that we have that clarified, let’s get into مكتبات libraries. Like all مكتبات, one can…

browse books: يتصَفُح الكُتُب

get a library card: يحصل على بِطاقة مكتبة

borrow books: يستعير الكُتُب

sit down and read: يجلس ويقرأ 

access the internet: يتصل بالانترنت

access e-books: يحصل على الكتب الإلكترونية

purchase books: يشتري الكتب

✨Throughout Jordan, you can find your traditional مَكْتَبة building where you can get a بِطاقة مكتبة library card and تستعير الكتب borrow books. Yet, the concept of a مكتبة in Jordan also brings to mind little individual libraries where books are more sold than borrowed. In downtown Amman you’ll find little open spaces where books are stacked and displayed on the pavement, or stacked under a small roof top situated on a roundabout. Some even display books on their car. 

There are even little free libraries put in some places where you can leave a book and take a book. “ضع كتابًا وخذ كتابًا”

✨I thought the best way to give you a feel of such مكتبات was to share this clip that tells the story of غيث بحدوش who went from displaying his books on his car to fulfilling his dream which was to open his own unique library. I have transcribed and translated the whole clip. It’s a news clip where the reporter is speaking in modern standard Arabic (MSA) but the people being interviewed are speaking Levantine dialect. I thought this clip had a good variety of vocabulary on this topic. I have split this story into two posts so we can understand and analyze the new content without it being too much at once. 

🎇شاب اردني يفتح مكتبته الخاصة🎇

المُراسِل

بعد عام من تحويله سيارته إلى مكتبة مُتَنَقِلة في شَوارِع العاصِمة الأردنية، عمان، واجتهاده في بيع الكتب وجمع المال لِتَحقيق حلمه في إنشاء مكتبة صغيرة، ها هو غيث بحدوش سينجح في تحقيق حلمه ويودع مكتبته المتنقلة ليفتتح مجاله الخاصة للكتب في مبنى يبلغ عمره أكثر من مئتي عام في مَسقَط رأسه بِمحافظة مادابا 

غيث بحدوش، صاحِب المكتبة

المبنى قديم جداً وعمره مية وتلاتين سنة. من أوائل المباني الموجودة في مادبا فكان مهجور لِمُدة تمانين سنة. وبمحافظتي، لأنو مافي. يعني أنا أول مكتبة خاصة بمادبا أو مأجر للكتب خلينا نحكي ما عنديش استعارة، فقط عندي بيع كتب. وابرز مقتنياتي، عندي مجموعة من الكتب القديمة جداً ست.. سبع كتب تقريباً عمرهم بالمية سنة تقريباً 

ما رأيك في حلم غيث؟📝

لماذا قَرَرَ أن يفتح مكتبة في مادابا؟📝 

ما نوع هذه المكتبة؟📝

What do you think of Ghaith’s dream?

Why did he decide to open a library in Madaba?

What type of library is it?

Translation: 

Reporter: A year after turning his car into a mobile library in the streets of the Jordanian capital, Amman, with his diligence in selling books and collecting money to realize his dream of establishing a small library, here is Ghaith Bahdoush who has succeeded in achieving his dream. He has said goodbye to his mobile library to open his own place for books in a building that is more than two hundred years old in his hometown, Madaba Governorate.

Ghaith Bahdoush, library owner: The building is very old and is a hundred and thirty years old. One of the first buildings to exist in Madaba. It was abandoned for eighty years. In my Governorate, there aren’t any (libraries). Meaning, I am the first private library in Madaba or a place to rent books let’s say. I don’t lend books, I only sell books. The most prominent of my possessions is a group of very old books, six.. seven books, which are almost a hundred years old.

I hope you enjoyed this post about libraries. Perhaps one day if you decide to visit Jordan, you can stop by some of these libraries and bring home a few interesting books in Arabic. 📖📚📕Stay tuned for next week’s post where we’ll continue the clip and also look at different categories of books in Arabic. Till then, happy Arabic learning. 😊