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World Mental Health Day 2020 Posted by on Oct 13, 2020 in Arabic Language, Vocabulary

Last Saturday, the 10th. October, was the world’s Mental Health day اليوم العالمي للصحة النفسية. Today’s post is based on a short clip that BBC Arabic produced to acknowledge this day. In the clip, five Arab young people خمسة شباب عرب talk about how people around them deal with their mental health issues.

Image by Jude Beck on Unsplash.com

The World’s Health Organisation منظمة الصحة العالمية  reports that the Arab countries have the highest rates of depression أعلى معدلات الاكتئاب around the world في العالم.

In the clip below, the five young people were asked about the worst advice they have received with regards to their mental health أسوأ نصيحة تلقّوها بشأن صحتهم النفسية .

 

*The Arabic spoken in the video is vernacular. Here’s a list of the five people and the Arabic variety each speaks >>

  • Khalid خالد: Levantine Arabic (Syrian dialect)
  • Basant بسنت & Aaya آية : Egyptian Arabic
  • Ameerah أميرة : North African Arabic
  • Ameen أمين & Ahmad أحمد: Levantine Arabic (Lebanese)

 

The post will:

  • Provide an English translation of the lines that appear in the video.
  • The main phrases related to this topic will appear in bold.

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*Arabic > English Translation الترجمة من العربية > الإنجليزية

 

 سألنا البعض عن أسوء نصيحة تلقوها عن صحتهم النفسية
We asked some people about worst advice they have received with regards to their mental health

 

هذا ما قالوه لنا
This is what they told us >>

 

:خالد

 

خلّيك رجّال

Be a man

 

كون أوي /قوي

Be strong

 

:بسنت

 

إنت لازم تبتدي تحسّن علاقتك بربّنا

You have to start strengthening your relationship with God

 

:آية

 

إنتِ لازم تتحكّمي في أعصابك أكتر من كده

You have to control yourself /your nerves more (than this)

 

:أمين

 

الرجال ما بتبكي

Men don’t cry

 

:أميرة

 

ما تروحيش عند الأخصائي

Don’t go to a specialist

 

لأن هو ممكن يعطيك أدوية راح تفقدي عقلك

Because he might give you medications that make you lose your mind

 

ولا ترجعي مهبولة

Or you may come back crazy

 

:أحمد

 

شِدّ حالك.. لأنك رجال

Pull yourself together.. because you’re a man

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لماذا كانت تلك النصيحة غير مفيدة؟
Why wasn’t that advice useful?

 

:آية

 

بيحسّسوني إن – يعني – أنا اللي عايزه أتعزّب (أتعذّب) أوي كده

They’re making me feel – I mean – like I’m the one who wants to torment/torture myself a lot like this

 

:بسنت

 

إنت – كده – ما بتساعدوش إنُّه يطلع برّا الحفره.. خالص

You – like this – aren’t helping him to get out of the hole.. not at all

 

إنت كده بتوقّعوا جوه الحفرة زياده

You – like this – are making him fall down the hole more

 

وبتخلّيه يطوّل الوقت اللي ممكن يقعد فيه جوه الحفره

And you’re making him prolong the time in which he could stay in the hole

 

:أمين

 

الرجال بتبكي

Men cry

 

الرجال بتحس

Men feel

 

الرجال بالأخير إنسان

Men in the end are human

 

:أميرة

 

الأدوية عمرها لا تكون عائق في حياة الإنسان

Medications have never been a barrier in one’s life

 

بالعكس، ممكن توفر عليك مشوار طويل

On the contrary, it may spare you a long journey

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ما هي أفضل طريقة للمساعدة؟
What’s the best way to help?

 

:خالد

 

بتمنّى إنُّه الناس تستمع أكتر

I hope people could listen more

 

أو إذا (إذا) هي ما عندا (عندها) الخبرة الكافية

Or if they don’t have enough experience

 

بتمنّى إنُّه الناس تحاول تبتعد عن إعطاء حلول

I hope they try to refrain from giving/providing solutions

 

:آية

 

بي ذير.. مش معناها إني أبقى قاعدة جنب الشخص.. خالص

Be there.. doesn’t mean that I stay next to the person.. not at all

 

بس معناها إن أنا أسمع

But it means that I listen

 

إن أنا أحاول أفهم

That I try to understand

 

أسأل حتى.. ممكن أسأل

To also ask.. I could ask

 

إيه اللي بيخلّيكي تحسي كده؟

What is it that makes you feel like this?

 

:بسنت

 

لما بتلاقيه بيُقبل على أكتيفيتي

When you find him starting doing an activity

 

أو حاجة معينه هو هيهعملها

Or a particular thing he’s about to do

 

ساعده إنُّه يكملها للآخر

Help him to finish it till the end

 

ده كل اللي عليك

This is all you have to do

 

:أحمد

 

يكونو عم بيفرجوهم حب وتقدير مستمر

To show them constant love and appreciation

 

:أميرة

 

والباقي المُختص يديرها

And the rest, the specialist will do it

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About the Author: Hanan Ben Nafa

Hi, this is Hanan :) I'm an Arabic linguist. I completed my PhD in Linguistics - 2018. My PhD thesis was entitled Code-switching as an evaluative strategy: identity construction among Arabic-English bilinguals. I'm also a qualified public service translator & interpreter.