Archive for June, 2010
More opposites Posted by aziza on Jun 21, 2010
In this post, I present more opposites in response to a request from one of the readers. These opposites have to do with describing people, how they look or feel, for example: أنا متفائل. لماذا أنت متشائم؟ “I am optimistic! Why are you so pessimistic?” كنت متعبة من الرحلة ولكني الآن مستريحة. “I was tired…
World Cup 2010 Posted by aziza on Jun 16, 2010
Football (كرة القدم) is the most popular sport in the Arab world, and it is the passion of the majority of Arab young people, especially young men. I am not a big fan of football, may be because I am neither young nor man, but I still follow the news of the championship. World Cup…
Two varieties of Standard Arabic Posted by aziza on Jun 15, 2010
In my previous post, I wrote about the different varieties and levels of colloquial Arabic (العامية). It is worth mentioning at this point that there are two varieties of Standard Arabic (الفصحى) as well. The first variety is called Classical Arabic (فصحي التراث). This is the traditional variety of Arabic that exists in classical books…
Colloquials of Arabic Posted by aziza on Jun 13, 2010
In one of my earliest posts I discussed the different varieties of Arabic and explained that there are two main varieties Standard Arabic (فصحى), i.e. the written variety which is sometimes spoken in reading the news or religious speeches, etc; and colloquial Arabic (عامية) which is the spoken dialect. In this post, I discuss colloquial…
A great poem from Turkish Posted by aziza on Jun 9, 2010
A couple of years ago, I came across a lovely poem in Arabic, but it was written originally in Turkish, by a famous Turkish poet called Nâzım Hikmet who was also a playwright and a novelist. He was born on January 15, 1902 to a rich Turkish family, but he was imprisoned for his communist…
Online dictionaries Posted by aziza on Jun 7, 2010
There are many free online dictionaries that you can use to look up words. They are not like conventional paper dictionaries that require knowing the root to look up words; you just type the word and find the meaning. You can use Google translate (http://translate.google.com/ ) for both words and phrases. Please note that it…
Sufism Posted by aziza on Jun 2, 2010
Sufism (التصوّف/الصوفية) is Islamic mysticism. Sufi orders (الطرق الصوفية) can be found in Sunni, Shia and other Islamic groups. Ibn Khaldun, the 14th century Arab historian, described Sufism as” dedication to worship, total dedication to Allah most High, disregard for the finery and ornament of the world, abstinence from the pleasure, wealth, and prestige sought…