{"id":224,"date":"2010-03-14T19:50:53","date_gmt":"2010-03-14T19:50:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/?p=224"},"modified":"2010-03-14T23:23:23","modified_gmt":"2010-03-14T23:23:23","slug":"common-arabic-words-and-sentences-part-i-transliteration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/common-arabic-words-and-sentences-part-i-transliteration\/","title":{"rendered":"Common Arabic Words and Sentences &#8211; Part I: Transliteration"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1><span style=\"font-weight: normal;font-size: 13px\">Today people travel more than\u00a0\u00a0any other period in our history, and it would not be unusual if you had to visit an Arabic speaking country whether for business or pleasure. There are many European companies that do business in Dubai and Lebanon, for example, and those two countries are considered the business hub of the region; Dubai for its sprawling business sector, and Lebanon for its banking sector. There are also some wonderful places to visit like Petra in Jordan, or the majestic Roman temples in\u00a0Baalbek, Lebanon, where nearby you could also ski on some fantastic slopes. Knowing some essential and common Arabic phrases and words would be extremely helpful, and will make your trip easier and enjoyable. The good news is that most people in the Arab world tend to speak one European language or another<sup>1<\/sup>, but it\u2019s always best to be prepared.<\/span><\/h1>\n<p><em><span style=\"color: #3366ff\">What do those crazy numbers mean?<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p>But in order to learn those words and phrases correctly you need to be able to pronounce them correctly. To do that I would like to introduce you to a very helpful technique that Arabic speakers have been using for many years. Its purpose is to aid our pronunciation when we transliterate Arabic words in Latin encoding. You may already know that Arabic contains several letters that lack English and Latin equivalents.\u00a0The letters \u201c\u0639\u201d (a growl-sounding \u201ca\u201d), \u201c\u062e\u201d (a thick\u00a0kha, similar to a German \u201ch\u201d) and \u201c\u062b\u201d (th\u00a0as in \u201cthink\u201d or \u201cthick\u201d) are three examples (don\u2019t worry about pronouncing those letters yet as I\u2019ll explain them later). \u201c\u062b\u201d is found in English by using \u201cth\u201d just like in the word \u201cthink.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0But\u00a0\u201c\u0639\u201d and \u201c\u062e\u201d are more tricky as their sounds are completely alien to English speakers. So how do we transliterate them? For that, we have something called \u201cArabizi\u201d<sup>2<\/sup> or \u201cArabish,\u201d which are slang compound-names consisting of the words \u201cArabic\u201d and \u201cEnglish\u201d (in Arabic), like \u201cSpanglish,\u201d for example.<\/p>\n<p>Back in the early to mid 90s,\u00a0\u00a0before mobile phones with Arabic keys were popular, finding an Arabic keyboard was difficult. Those of us living in other parts of the world communicated frequently with our friends and families back home using instant messaging and the Internet. But, for the most part, our computers and phones had English and Latin keyboards and the Arabic alphabet was not available. We needed a way of encoding Arabic letters in Latin (ASCII), and \u201cArabizi\u201d came to be. For example, to say \u201chello Ali, how are you?\u201d we would type \u201cmar7aba 3ali,\u00a0keef\u00a07alak?\u201d Those numbers in the sentence are not a typos. Since English and Latin keyboards do not have equivalents of some Arabic letters, we resorted to using numbers to simulate\u00a0those letters.<\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"color: #3366ff\">Arabizi<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p>The following is a list of common \u201cArabizi\u201d encoding. It\u2019s not a complete list, but it contains the characters you will use the most when reading and transliterating Arabic:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>For the letter \u201c\u0639\u201d (growling\u00a0aaa)\u00a0we use the number \u201c3\u201d \u2013 This is the equivalent of a very rough \u201ca\u201d where the sound is produced in the throat. It\u2019s akin to a growl, actually.<\/li>\n<li>For \u201c\ufea1\u201d (strong sounding \u201chhha\u201d) we use \u201c7\u201d \u2013 This is a hard \u201ch.\u201d The Arabic equivalent of \u201ch\u201d is another letter; that is the letter \u201c\ufeeb\u201d (ha).<\/li>\n<li>For \u201c\u0637\u201d (deep ta) we use \u201c6\u201d \u2013 Note that \u201c\u0637\u201d is not \u201ct\u201d. In Arabic \u201c\ufe95\u201d (thin ta) is the equivalent of \u201ct.\u201d The letter \u201c\u0637\u201d produces the same sound as \u201ct\u201d but it\u2019s from the throat; a deeper sounding \u201ct,\u201d and not from the top of the tongue.<\/li>\n<li>For \u201c\u0621\u201d (frozen a) we use \u201c2\u201d \u2013 This is an easy letter to pronounce because its sound exists in English, but it\u2019s used differently. It is essentially an \u201ca.\u201d In English, when \u201ca\u201d is used in the middle of a word it acts as the accent to the preceding consonant. So it\u2019s the \u201cah\u201d sound in \u201chat\u201d or \u201cbat.\u201d In Arabic, \u201c\u0621\u201d\u00a0produces\u00a0the same sound that you would make when pronouncing only the letter \u201ca\u201d as in the begging of the word. It\u2019s an \u201ca\u201d without an accent. It\u2019s the sound you make when you say the first part of the letter \u201ca\u201d alone; the \u201ca\u201d in \u201cat,\u201d or the \u201ca\u201d in \u201cabout.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>For \u201c\u062e\u201d (strong\u00a0kha) we use \u201ckh\u201d \u2013 This is a tricky one, and a bit more difficult for English speakers because the sound does not exist in English. It does exist in German, though, and if you have heard the German pronunciation of \u201cZurich\u201d you would know the letter. The \u201ch\u201d in Zurich is pronounced not as a \u201ck\u201d but a rough \u201ckh\u201d combination. There is no pleasant way to describe this, but imagine clearing your throat.<\/li>\n<li>For \u201c\u062b\u201d (tha) we use \u201cth\u201d \u2013 This is very easy and it\u2019s the same sound you produce when you say \u201cthink\u201d or \u201cthick.\u201d<\/li>\n<li>For \u201c\u0642\u201d (deep\u00a0ka) we use \u201cq\u201d or \u201c9\u201d \u2013 This is a deep \u201cka\u201d that sounds similar to \u201c\u0637\u201d (deep ta). It is a deep sounding letter produced from the throat by trapping air, and not the tip or front of your mouth. It\u2019s almost like a gulping sound with a \u201ck\u201d instead of a \u201cg\u201d, akin to pouring water out of a bottle. The thin version, or equivalent of an English \u201ck\u201d is the \u201c\ufed9\u201d (kaf) letter.<\/li>\n<li>For \u201c\u063a\u201d we use \u201cgh\u201d \u2013 This is a little tricky, but it\u2019s easy to master. Imagine the sound \u201cghrrrrrr\u201d would make if you were to roll the r letters, and you would be very close.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff\"><em>Transliterating in\u00a0Arabizi<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Let have a look a t a few words using \u201cArabizi:\u201d<\/p>\n<p>1)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0English word<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">a)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Transliteration (transliteration without \u201cArabizi\u201d)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px\">i)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Arabic word<\/p>\n<p>2)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Road<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">a)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a06areeq (tareek)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px\">i)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u0637\u0631\u064a\u0642<\/p>\n<p>3)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Food<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">a)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a06a3am (ta\u2019am)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px\">i)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u0637\u0639\u0627\u0645<\/p>\n<p>4)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Hotel<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">a)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Fondoq\u00a0(fondok)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px\">i)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u0641\u0646\u062f\u0642<\/p>\n<p>5)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Restaurant<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">a)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ma63am (mat\u2019am)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px\">i)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u0645\u0637\u0639\u0645<\/p>\n<p>6)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Dinner<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">a)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a03asha2 (aasha\u2019a)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px\">i)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u0639\u0634\u0627\u0621<\/p>\n<p>7)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Lunch<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">a)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ghada2 (Gada\u2019a)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px\">i)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u063a\u062f\u0627\u0621<\/p>\n<p>8)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Time<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">a)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Waqt\u00a0(wakt)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px\">i)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u0648\u0642\u062a<\/p>\n<p>9)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Bus<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">a)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a07afela<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px\">i)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u062d\u0627\u0641\u0644\u0629<\/p>\n<p>10)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Tired<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">a)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ta3ban (ta\u2019aban)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px\">i)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u062a\u0639\u0628\u0627\u0646<\/p>\n<p>11)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Hungry<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">a)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Jo3an (joa\u2019an)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px\">i)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u062c\u0648\u0639\u0627\u0646<\/p>\n<p>12)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Theater<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">a)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Masra7 (masrah)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px\">i)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u0645\u0633\u0631\u062d<\/p>\n<p>13)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Airport<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">a)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Ma6ar (matar)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px\">i)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u0645\u0637\u0627\u0631<\/p>\n<p>14)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Aeroplane<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">a)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a06a2era (ta2era)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px\">i)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u0637\u0627\u0626\u0631\u0627\u062a<\/p>\n<p>15)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Trip<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">a)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Re7la (re7la)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px\">i)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u0631\u062d\u0644\u0629<\/p>\n<p>16)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Foolish<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">a)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Moghaffal\u00a0(mogaffal)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px\">i)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u0645\u063a\u0641\u0644<\/p>\n<p>17)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Tuesday<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">a)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Thulatha2 (thulatha\u2019a)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px\">i)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u0627\u0644\u062b\u0644\u0627\u062b\u0627\u0621<\/p>\n<p>18)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Postcard<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">a)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Bitaqa\u00a0Bareediya\u00a0(bitaka\u00a0bareediya)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px\">i) \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0\u0628\u0637\u0627\u0642\u0629\u00a0\u0628\u0631\u064a\u062f\u064a\u0629<\/p>\n<p>19)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Quickly<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">a)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Be3ajala (bea\u2019ajala)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px\">i)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u0628\u0639\u062c\u0644\u0629<\/p>\n<p>20)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Week<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px\">a)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Osboo3 (osboo)<\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px\">i)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u0623\u0633\u0628\u0648\u0639<\/p>\n<p>I will stop here for this entry as it is quite long already. I will record an audio guide tomorrow to go along with this entry to help you familiarize yourselves with the pronunciation, and have a sound reference for understanding the difference between these letters and the sounds they make. And the next entry in this series we\u2019ll start learning some very useful sentences and words. If you need an immediate audio reference, take a look at this\u00a0Wikipedia article on the Arabic Alphabet where you will find an audio reference: <a href=\"http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Arabic_alphabet\">http:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Arabic_alphabet<\/a><\/p>\n<p><sup>1<\/sup> The language spoken usually depends on whom the country\u2019s colonists were.\u00a0\u00a0For example, in Lebanon French is considered an official language along with Arabic, while English is also widely spoken. French is considered an official language in Algeria, Tunisia and Morocco, while parts of Libya speak Italian; in Egypt, Jordan, the gulf and Iraq English is widely spoken.<\/p>\n<p><sup>2<\/sup> \u201cArabizi\u201d is only one form. There is also \u201cFraco-Arabe\u201d and many other variations depending on the language used for transliteration.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A pronunciation reference for transliterated Arabic words and phrases. This guide will aid in learning and pronouncing sentences and words more accurately.<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3525],"tags":[3531,7895,7894,7892,7893,7891,7890],"class_list":["post-224","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-arabic-language","tag-arabic","tag-arabic-alphabet","tag-arabic-letters","tag-common-words","tag-pronouncing-arabic","tag-transliterating","tag-transliteration"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=224"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":228,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/224\/revisions\/228"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=224"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=224"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/arabic\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=224"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}