And the journey begins

Hello, friends. I know I haven’t posted much recently (this has been the busiest summer of my life, I swear!) but I wanted to let you know that today is the day I take my first trip to the Middle East. Wish me luck, and I’ll be sure to post pictures and tell stories when I return. Masaalamah!

Meet Maha

This post is for all of you out there who have studied Arabic with the Georgetown University Al-Kitaab series. If you have, you’ll know that Maha is a central character of the textbook. She tells you little facts about her life, and along the way you learn new vocabulary from Maha like “United Nations”, “swimming pool”, and “lonely.” Everyone knows Maha, and everyone has something to say about her.

Elementary Arabic students at a certain New England liberal arts college were required to create videos as a final project, and they’re too good not to share.

First up: “Where’s Maha?” The highlight for me in this video is the initial shot of the faux-Maha, which is so clearly a throwback to the first Maha video you see, “Ana Maha” (I am Maha). Maha’s friend, Lelia, is just so proud that she has a swimming pool.

اسمي مهة isme Maha

:my name is Maha

عندي حمام سباحة andi hamam sabha

:I have a swimming pool

Next, there’s “The Untold Story of Maha and Leila”. In this film, a different Maha reveals to her friend, Lelia (who again loves that swimming pool) that she’s in love with her. It doesn’t exactly go over as planned, but the video ends with an Arabic version of “My Heart Will Go On”.

هناك مشكلات  hunak mushkelat

:there are problems

قلبي سأذهب qalbi saitheb

:my heart will go on

I wish I may, I wish I might

Such a small word. Such big ideas.

شاء sha’a

:to want; to wish

إن شاء الله in sha’allah

:God willing; it is hoped; hopefully

ما شاء الله masha’allah

:whatever God intends/wishes; amazing!; good!

الى ما شاء الله ila masha’allah

:forever and ever; for all time

The Syrian Bride

Directed by Israeli filmmaker Eran Riklis, The Syrian Bride tells the story of a Druze woman, Mona, living in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. The film chronicles a single day- the day she is to be married to a Druze man who lives in Syria. The central conflict is that once she crosses the border into Syria, she will never be allowed to return to the Golan Heights (everything she has known) again. To add to this anxiety, she is to marry a man she’s never actually met.

As the beginning of the movie explains, the people of the Druze religion who live in the Golan Heights are assigned an “undefined” nationality. (For more information on the Druze religion, you can go here.) Some, if not many, Druze in the Golan identify far more closely with Syria, and have a contentious relationship with Israel. They speak Arabic, not Hebrew and identify as Syrian, not Israeli. (I should add that there is a considerable Druze population living in Israel who, as a whole, have substantially different opinions of Israel. They are Israeli citizens who are known for committed military service and feel a great deal of loyalty to the Israeli state.) Their travel in and out of the Golan is monitored, and if one adopts a Syrian nationality (say, through marriage) one cannot return to the Golan Heights again.

The film paints a beautifully complicated and detailed picture of life in the Golan Heights. Marriage, or more specifically weddings, seem to be an excellent vehicle for exploring the complexity of daily life in many Middle Eastern countries. Another film I recently watched is Rana’s Wedding, and both films star Clara Khoury as the bride (a role she plays extremely well.) They’re each about the frustration of trying to celebrate life under occupation. It is profoundly frustrating to live life on a day to day basis dealing with border crossings, boundaries, and checkpoints- much less on a day that is supposed to be full of joy, family, and celebration. The Syrian Bride captures this dilemma with a great deal of sympathy.

If you are interested, I have posted the American version of the trailer below. I have watched the original trailer and this one, and I much prefer the original. For one thing, it has much more of the film’s commonly used languages (Arabic and Hebrew) and I think it gives a better snapshot of the entire film. The American trailer shows mostly clips of the film in English and focuses on the drama at the end of the film. In any case, I think you should make a point to see the whole movie and not just watch the trailer.

زواج zouwaj

:wedding

عروس ‘arous

:bride

عروس سورية ‘arous suriya

:the Syrian Bride (title of the movie in Arabic)

Blindness

I recently finished reading José Saramago’s novel, Blindness. It is the second of his books that I have read, and I felt so moved by it I spent quite a deal of time reflecting on it and writing my own review of the novel as post for here. I later decided that would stray just a little too far from the blog’s intent, but I still wanted to focus on this novel for a post in Arabic. 

عمي ‘ami

:to be or become blind; to obscure, render cryptic; blindness

عمى لوني ‘ami launi

:color blind

تعامي ta’ami

:to shut one’s eyes, pretend not to see, to render blind

اعمى، عمياء a’ma, ‘amya

:blind (masculine, feminine)

The shape of my heart

If you’re looking for a basic book full of vocabulary words and pictures, look no further than First Thousand Words in Arabic by Heather Amery. It’s part of a series- they have this same book for many languages. I found it at a used book store (surprise? no.) in Vermont and I absolutely love to leaf through it from time to time. Here are some shapes from the book- and please excuse the cheesy blog post title, if you get the reference.

الأشكال ashkal

:shapes

دائرة da’era

:circle

مربع murraba’

:square

مستطيل mustateel

:rectangle

بيضي baydi

:oval

معين ma’een

:diamond

هلال hilal

:crescent

مثلث muthalath

:triangle

نجمة najama

:star (remember Space Oddity?)

مخروط makhroot

:cone

مكعب muka’ab

:cube

I asked for a room with a bath

While frequenting one of my favorite used book stores in Raleigh, the Reader’s Corner, I stumbled upon a vintage travel phrase book in Arabic. I didn’t buy it for the phrases, really (although there are some good sentences in there) but to see perspectives on travel in the Middle East during the 1970s. It’s like a time capsule. I love vintage, and I love Arabic. Anyway, this isn’t the exact picture from the book (there are many editions) but it’s pretty close.

Here are some of the more interesting phrases I’ve found in the book.

طلبت غرفة بحمام talabat ghorfa bihamam!

:I asked for a room with a bath.

أريد أقراص مهدئة ureed aqras mohadi’a

:I want some tranquilizers.

كم قيراط؟ kam qirat?

:How many carats is this?

أين أقرب ملعب جولف؟ Ayna aqrab mal’ab jolf?

:Where is the nearest golf course?

هذا ليس غسيلي Hatha lesya ghasili.

This isn’t my laundry.

Graduation mania

Hello world! Remember me? I’m officially finished with my second Arabic literature course, which is actually incredibly sad for me, but it means that I have a lot more time to devote to my blogs and to other pursuits.

These past two weekends I have been doing the graduation thing. My younger brother, J, graduated from UNC (he’s on his way to Georgetown Law) and my boyfriend’s brother, M, (the one who stayed with us for a weekend this winter) graduated from Hampshire College this weekend. Next weekend, I plan to show up for Amherst College’s graduation, too, so this is just the month of speeches, tassels, and hugs.

A shot of the sea of UNC grads my mom took

تخرج takharuj

:graduation

خريج khirij

:graduate

يتخرج من/في yatakharuj min/fi

:he graduates from; he is graduating from

شهادة shahada

:diploma, certificate

شرابة sharraba

:tassel, tuft

ثوب thaub

:garment, dress, gown

My summer vacation

It’s as official as it’s ever going to be: this summer, for the very first time, I am traveling to the Middle East. Not only am I traveling for the first time to the region whose primary language I have studied for years, I am going to the place I always meant to go. This summer, I will spend two weeks in the West Bank at BirZeit University at the International Summer Work Camp. It is the school I was supposed to study abroad at some years back, but never got to go to. This is huge for me.

A group of students, both international and Palestinian, will camp together for two weeks while doing community work and traveling within the West Bank. I’ve seen the schedule, and it looks amazing. Here’s a picture from last year’s camp.

Tomorrow I’ll resume the regular Arabic vocabulary posts, but for today, I just wanted to share this exciting news with you. إن شاء الله it will be an amazing, life changing experience.

French lessons

Today’s post is all about French and Arabic, in honor of my current location. I’ve found that when I try to speak French, my brain automatically remembers Arabic words first. When I first started learning Arabic, everything came out in French. What’s a girl to do?

Here are travel phrases you might find yourself in need of, if you happen to be in a country like Morocco where they speak French and Arabic.

Where is the bathroom?

Ou est la toilette?

أين الحمام (ayna al-hamam?)

I don’t understand.

Je ne comprends pas.

لا أفهم (la afham.)

I’m hungry.

J’ai faim.

أنا جوعان/ة (ana jau’an/a) (if you are female, you say jau’ana)

How much?

Combien de?

كم؟ (kam?)

I would like…

Je voudrais…

سأريد (saureed)