أيـــــــــادي (Ayaadi): A New “Helping Hand” for Arabic Posted by Hichem on Jun 29, 2012 in Arabic Language, Culture, Vocabulary
In Arabic, the word “أيـــــــــادي” means “hands.”
Hence the idea behind the new initiative of Ayaadi: Offering a “helping hand” to all Arabic speakers and learners by launching an e-library portal featuring applications for smartphones and tablet devices!
According to Trade Arabia, the corporate social responsibility initiative known as Ayaadi, part of UAE’s communications leader Etisalet, “offers e-applications that are aimed at developing the student’s intellectual skills by providing them mobile access to vital learning resources such as books, newspapers, and research and academic papers.”
This initiative comes as yet another great news to Arabic fans worldwide, only a few days after Google announced the implementation of Arabic Open Source features in its brand new Android 4.1, known as “Jelly Beans.”
Ayaadi’s e-library designed for التعليـــــــــــم الإلكترونـــــــــــي (e-learning) has been launched in partnership with عنكبــــــــــــوت Ankabut (“عنكبــــــــــــوت” means “Spider” in Arabic), the UAE’s national network for research and education.
All political considerations aside, and although there is still more work ahead needed, Arabic enthusiasts must praise the tremendous efforts achieved by الحكومــــــة الإمـــــاراتيـــــــة (the Emirati government) in promoting Arabic language.
UAE’s Minister of Education said recently that Ayaadi’s efforts to “support the development and cultural goals of the UAE and this e-library application is another step in the right direction.”
“Continuing the development and progress that the UAE is witnessing requires the contribution of various institutions in both private and public sectors. In this regard, Ayaadi is doing a stellar job in creating learning access points that are most convenient to youth besides encouraging ثقـــــــافة المُطالعــــــــــة (reading culture) within the community.”
As part of the e-library initiative, Ayaadi has also introduced مُســـــــــــــابقة قراءة (a reading competition) to encourage the students to invest their free time in reading during their عُطلـــــــــة صيفيــــــــــة (summer holidays.)
The Emirati Minister added: “The initiative to encourage reading supports the series of efforts adopted by the Ministry in strengthening the Arabic language and literature among our youth. The Arabic language and literature is an area of high interest among our wise leadership, as it shapes our identity, and reflects حضـــــــــارتنا ومُستقبلنـــــــــا (our civilization and future.)”
The government aims to support the positive trends that enhance the Arabic language.
“The e-learning application has been developed bearing in mind the directives of the UAE’s national leadership, which has encouraged the use of Arabic language in education programs and delivered through telecommunication and تقنيــــــــــــة المعلومــــــــــات (information technology) platforms, both regionally and internationally.”
This Summer, and during the whole month of July, Dubai organizes several activities like الخط العربي (Arabic calligraphy) art exhibitions, distribution of brochures and display posters and art work in the Membership and Documentation Services Department as well as acquainting residents with everyday Arabic words and their meanings.”
Accodring to GulfNews, “Dubai Chamber is also organising quiz contests and special Arabic courses for the staff comprising ثلاثـــــــــين جنسيـــــــــة مختلفـــــــة (thirty different nationalities.) A special seminar will highlight the richness of the Arabic language and its significance in the UAE society. The staff will also have a unified signature promoting the Arabic month initiative.”
On e-Arabic and Arabic language and culture promotion, also check:
Build vocabulary, practice pronunciation, and more with Transparent Language Online. Available anytime, anywhere, on any device.
Comments:
Scheich Josef:
مرحبا يا هشام
you write, that in Arabic the word “أيادي” means “hands.”
Actually the indeterminate form for “hands” is “أيادٍ” and
the determinate form is for example “الأيادي” for “the hands”
or “أيادينا” for “our hands.”
How would you explain grammatically the form “أيادي” ?
سلام
يوسف
Hichem:
@Scheich Josef ،مرحبــــــــــا يوســــــــف
This is indeed a very pertinent question!
Strictly speaking, the English word “hands” is translated in Arabic in the نكـــــــرة (indeterminate) form “أيـــــادٍ”, as you correctly pointed out.
The grammatical form “أيــــــــادي” occurs only as a “مُضـــــــاف” (“attached”), and as such requires a مُضـــــــاف إليــــــه (“attached to.”)
In the example you provided: “أيــــــــادي” is a مُضـــــــاف, and the ضميـــر (pronoun) “نا” (meaning the possessive pronoun “our”) is the مُضـــــــاف إليــــــه.
It is true that the Emirati authors of the brand name “أيــــــــادي” should have opted for the form “أيـــــادٍ” instead, to remain consistent with sound rules of grammar. However, other than the fact that we are dealing here with a business name, one could probably argue from a grammatical point of view that the مُضـــــــاف إليــــــه of the word “أيــــــــادي” is مُقـــــدَّر (“included implicitly”), as one can find numerous examples in Arabic poetry or the Holy Quran.
،والله أعلــــــم
وعليكم السلام ورحمة الله وبركاته
هشــــــــــام