22 Apr
I’m in Paris right now, so it’s not time to tell you the news, but I do have a surprise for you soon and I wanted to give you a hint! (If you already know, shhh!)
:to pitch one’s tent, to camp
:tent
:international
:first
20 Apr
My first foreign language was not Arabic, it was actually French. I loved it so much, and was lucky enough to travel twice to France during my studies. This week I am on vacation in Paris, and hopefully, my French will emerge and I’ll stop trying to say everything in Arabic. I am, however, bringing Arabic with me to Paris (because homework rests for no one) and I’m hoping to make some trips to places with Arabic influences, most especially to visit the Mosque of Paris.
:France
:the French language
:Paris
15 Apr
April 15 is here, friends. You know what that means- taxes are due today. Did you file yet? Last year was my first experience filing on my own, and it actually wasn’t so bad. This year I was able to file early enough that I’ve already received, and spent, both my state and federal tax returns. On the same thing. What is that, you ask? A question for another day. I have a big surprise to share with you all soon, but not yet! Stay tuned…
So, you know I love to talk about the three letter root system in Arabic. I love it- that’s actually why I started this blog in the first place, because I loved browsing through my dictionary and making new connections. Here’s a beautiful connection in Arabic for you: the three letter root for “tax” is the same root for “to beat”, “to hit”, and “to punch.” Um, hilarious? This suggests, of course, that being taxed is just like being beaten up. Really? Not the worst association I’ve heard. Mind you, this shared root could be unrelated, but in my mind, it’s not. (Image is from here.)
:imposition, impost; levy, tax, duty
:income tax
:beating, striking, hitting
:blow, knock, punch; thrust, push, jolt
:audit
:return, refund, restitution
13 Apr
I have a funny little story to share with you from my class last week. We have transitioned from novels and autobiographies to poetry, which is a fun challenge. Reading Arabic poetry maybe seem like it would be easier than following the plot of a novel, but in a lot of ways, it’s actually more difficult to discern meaning. One of the poems we were reading last week is called “Sadness in the Moonlight”, or حزن في ضوء القمر in Arabic (huzn fi dowa al-qamr) by Muhammad al-Maghut. There’s a line in it that reads in Arabic like so:
Andama yakoun qalbi had’an kalhamam, which as it can be translated, means “When my heart is calm like a pigeon.”
A pigeon?
It struck me as being a little funny, and the more I thought about it, the more it seemed that pigeon was a word I’d seen a lot in Arabic translation. Are pigeons a special kind of bird in the Middle East? Are there large numbers of pigeons in the Arabic speaking world? What’s up with all the pigeons? So I thought I’d just ask in class. You know, to find out what make a pigeon such a calming bird. The last I’d checked, they were a little on the wild side in the US, causing all kinds of trouble in places like NYC (and let’s not even go there with the “Coo Coo Pigeon song.”)
So, I raised the question in class. My teacher began to explain to me that the word حمام (hamam) is used often to describe calm or peace, so it was a perfectly normal phrase in the poem. She told me that there are many expressions- like the olive branch and the hamam, or the hamam as the carrier of peace. What? Huh? The pigeon is the esteemed bird that gives world peace with its beak, instead of the dove?! And as soon as I said it, we figured it out.
Hamam can mean pigeon or dove. As it turns out, when they teach you in Arabic 101 that the word for bathroom is, in fact, the same as the word for pigeon, they don’t tell you that it also means dove. For translation purposes, though, I think it’s best to say “When my heart is calm like a dove.” Trust me, the English speakers will totally get it, and not spend the rest of the day trying to figure out what’s so special about the darn pigeons. (No offense, guys.)
Oh, and here’s a special video for you, in honor of the pigeons.
2 Apr
Ah, it’s officially spring, and April at that. You know what that means, don’t you? Rain. So many good songs about rain. Some of my personal favorites:
What are yours?
:to rain, pour; to shower, douse
:the rain
:downpour, rain shower
:raincoat
:rainy
:rainy seasons
1 Apr
Happy April Fool’s Day, everyone! One of my favorite singers of all time is Rufus Wainwright, so I thought I’d let him bring it home with this song named for today’s holiday.
:April (Syria, Jordan, Lebanon)
:April (Egypt, Sudan, Yemen)
:April Fool’s joke; intrigue, scheme, plot
:joke, wisecrack; pun; anecdote
:teasing, mockery; jesting, joking
:foolish, ignorant, stupid
31 Mar
I’m certainly not one for separating things into two distinct categories of good or bad, but it’s definitely a tool to try to help you remember words in Arabic! Here’s the second post in the new category of opposites. (PS: one of the things I miss most since having to go gluten-free? The black and white cookie.)
:black
:white (remember al-bait al-abyad?)
:good
:bad
:virtue
:vice
I can’t help it, I have to post this video, too.
30 Mar
Why, hello there! My apologies for being a tad MIA last week. What can I say? Between Larissa losing on Jeopardy! (tragic), the persistence of my migraines (ouch), and the end of a week without Arabic class (stress), I was slightly overwhelmed. It’s a new week, and I’ve got some good posts lined for you!
When I first began learning Arabic, I made a point to commit to memory the names of Arabic-speaking countries in Arabic. It wasn’t so hard, as many of their English names are very similiar; and I enjoyed making my own map of the Middle East and North Africa with all the names in Arabic and looking at it in my dorm room all the time. When you’re first learning Arabic and nothing seems to quite stick, memorizing the names of these countries in Arabic just seems that much more satisfying. Anyone else ever felt that way?
This is the best map I could find in Arabic of the Middle East/North Africa. It’s a little bit hard to read, but it does the trick. All of countries listed below have Arabic as one of their national languages, even though some of the countries aren’t necessarily considered “Arab.”
الجزائر al-jaza’ir:Algeria
:Bahrain
:Chad
:Comoros
:Dijibouti
:Egypt (read about the etymology of “Egypt” and “Misr” here)
:Eritrea
:Iraq
:Israel
:Jordan
:Kuwait
:Lebanon
:Libya
:Mauritania
:Morocco
:Oman
:Palestine
:Qatar
:Saudi Arabia
:Somalia
:Sudan
:Syria
:Tunisia
:United Arab Emirates
:Yeman
23 Mar
Happy Monday! Speaking of days, I realized I hadn’t yet posted the days of the week yet. Most of the days of the week in Arabic correspond to ordinal numbers, with the exception of Friday and Saturday.
:Sunday
:Monday
:Tuesday
:Wednesday
:Thursday
:Friday
:Saturday
19 Mar
It’s not exactly a well-kept secret that I adore Jeopardy!, the Merv Griffin invented game show. It airs in my area at 7:30 every night, and if dinner interferes, I’ve been known to get a little…edgy. I’m a big enough fan that I’ve watched Jeopardy: An Inside Look at America’s Favorite Guiz Show. It’s that bad. I’ll sit through the insipid Hannah Montana questions during Kids Week. I’ll endure Alex Trebek’s borderline misogyny (trust me) and his attempts at humor. It’s all for the love of the game, I tell you!
My favorite all time contestant is the one and only Larissa Kelly. During her regular season run, she won seven games and a whopping $222,597. Larissa is the third highest all time winner in the history of the show, and has won more money on Jeopardy! than any other woman. She’s currently a semi-finalist in the Tournament of Champions, and I’m totally glued to the TV. Check out fellow blogger Doug Pratt’s posts on LK- you can also watch the game she most recently won.
:danger, peril; jeopardy; riskiness
:contest; competition
:TV show/program
:trivia
:competitor; contestant
:champion; hero; protagonist
:championship; tournament
