ÿþ<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"> <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"> <head> <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> <title>Introductory notes on learning Arabic</title> <meta name="description" content="Introductory notes on learning Arabic"> <link href="http://www.linguata.com/styles/newstyle.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <link href="http://www.linguata.com/lightbox/lightbox.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" /> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://www.linguata.com/lightbox/lightbox.js"></script> </head> <body> <div id="header"> <a href="http://www.linguata.com"> <img src="http://www.linguata.com/images/logo.gif" title="Linguata language learning software" border="0" /></a></div> <div id="menuarea"> <div id="menu"> <a href="http://www.linguata.com">Home</a> | <a href="http://www.linguata.com/linguata/Languages.html">Languages</a> | <a href="http://www.linguata.com/linguata/Ordering.html?language=none">Buy</a> | <a href="http://www.linguata.com/linguata/learnarabic.html">Learn Arabic</a> | <a href="http://www.linguata.com/linguata/Order_Support.html">Customer Service</a> | <a href="http://www.linguata.com/linguata/About_Us.html">About</a> </div> </div> <div id="wrapper"> <div id="content"> <div id="threetier" align="center"> </div> <div id="maincentred"> <p> <!- All text goes under here -!> <h1>Some Illustrative Examples from Linguata Arabic (1)</h1> <p><i>(Remember the Arabic reads from right to left!)</i></p> <p>The transliterations used in these Linguata articles conform where possible to the usage of dictionaries such as <i>Bennett & Bloom s Arabic Dictionary</i> and the <i>Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic</i>. However there are divergences partly because there is no single agreed system for representing spoken Arabic, nor can there be because of the differences in pronunciation and use to be found between speakers from different countries, even when they are communicating in Standard Modern Arabic as opposed to a colloquial variant. The <i>Linguata</i> text is spoken by a native Arabic speaker from Lebanon.</p> <p>The emphasis in <i>Linguata Arabic</i> is on representing the recorded sound effectively while retaining as far as possible enough of the standard spelling to enable the individual words to be deciphered. Hence in the examples below there will sometimes be differences between the phonetic transliteration and the spelling used in the explanatory notes, as the latter use conventional dictionary-based spelling.</p> <p>A few points to bear in mind:</p> <p>Conventionally the consonant pairs <i>th kh dh sh</i> and <i>gh</i>--See <a href="http://www.linguata.com/arabic/readingarabic.html" title="An article on how to read Arabic"><i>Reading Arabic</i></a>-- are sometimes underlined to emphasise that they represent one sound, to indicate for example where <i>-sh-</i> sounds as in  she , as opposed to the  s and  h being sounded separately. Please note that this convention is ignored in <i>Linguata</i> itself: in the majority of occurrences these pairs represent a single Arabic sound, and the occasional exception where the consonant and the  h are separate sounds will be clearly indicated in the accompanying spoken version.</p> <p>Consonants with a dot below, such as c and m, belong to the so-called dark sounds in which the upper surface of the tongue sinks downwards. This does not apply to %, which is distinguished from ordinary h by a greater breathiness.</p> <p>Vowels with a line above them tend to be lengthened and carry a stress.</p> <p>Nouns and words used adjectivally start with  the more often in Arabic than in English.  The is represented by aliph ' and lam D together, usually appearing as they do in the first example below, i.e. merged onto the beginning of the defined word.  The is usually transliterated as  al but the actual pronunciation is often rendered more accurately as  ul or  el and the sound is as likely to merge with the preceding word as it is with the word it applies to.</p> <p>Note also the comments about  sun letters below.</p> <p>Good morning... <i>cab% al-khayr </i></p> <p>5('- 'D.J1</p> <p><i><small>cab%</i> = morning (5('- ); <i>khayr</i> = good (.J1)</small></p> <p>Good evening... <i>mas al-khayr</i> </p> <p>E3'! 'D.J1 </p> <p><i><small>mas </i> = evening</small></p> <p>Goodbye (lit.  with safety, well-being )... <i>ma as-salama</i></p> <p>E9 'D3D'E)</p> <p><i><small>ma½a</i> = with (E9); <i>salama</i> = safety, etc. (3D'E)). </small></p> <p>Note that the definite article al ('D) is pronounced  ass . This is because the following word starts with the  sun letter  s . A  sun letter is one whose pronunciation, like that of  l , also involves the tip of the tongue. Their effect is that the  l of  al is dropped and the sun letter is doubled: hence <i>as-salama</i>, not <i>al-salama</i>. There are another 12 sun letters. The full list is:</p> <p>t *, th + , d / , dh 0 , r 1 , z 2 , s 3 , sh 4 , c 5 ,  6 , m 7 , “ 8 , l D , n F </p> <p>My name is& <i>ana ism+ & </i> </p> <p> ...#F' %3EJ </p> <p><i><small>ana</i> = I; <i>ism+</i> = my name: <i>ism</i> (%3E)  name plus <i>-+</i> (J) = my; <i>ismuk</i> = your name (to a man), <i>ismik</i> = your name to a woman, i.e. <i>ism</i> plus <i> ak</i> or <i> ik</i>  your (masculine or feminine  attached pronouns ). </small></p> <p>What is your name? (m)... <i>m huwa ismuk(a)?</i> </p> <p> E'GH %3EC </p> <a href="http://www.linguata.com/arabic/arabictransliteration1.html" title="Illustrative Examples from Linguata Arabic (2)"><i>(continued)</i></a> <BR><BR> <!- No more text goes under here -!> </p> </div> </div> <img src="http://www.linguata.com/images/contentbottom.gif" /><br /> <div id="footer"> <a href="http://www.linguata.com/linguata/words_and_phrases.html" title="Words and phrases in different languages" >WORDS AND PHRASES</a> | <a href="http://www.linguata.com/linguata/language_faqs.html" title="Questions and answers on different languages">LANGUAGE FAQS</a> | <a href="http://www.linguata.com/articles/language-learning.html" title="A reference to many world languages" >DICTIONARY OF LANGUAGES</a> | <a href="http://www.linguata.com/articles/pronunciation.html" title="An introduction to the pronunciation of many languages" >PRONUNCIATION</a> | <a href="http://www.linguata.com/articles/general-articles-on-language.html" title="Articles on language and language learning" >ARTICLES</a> | <a href="http://www.linguata.com/articles/history-of-languages.html" title="A brief history on the development of languages" >HISTORY</a>| <a href="http://www.linguata.com/linguata/search.html" title="Search this site" >SEARCH</a> </div> </div> <script type="text/javascript" src="http://cetrk.com/pages/scripts/0005/1332.js"> </script> </body> </html>