From Qasid Institute. “Marhaba, everyone!” Today, we learned a few words of Arabic, the official language of Jordan and the main language spoken in the Middle East. And, I will admit, Arabic is a TOUGH language!

Arabic has 28 letters, 2 more letters than the English alphabet. We learned that some of the Arabic letters and sounds are pronounced just like English ones; however, some have no equivalent in English. This makes writing Arabic words in the English alphabet difficult, because there is no exact spelling to use as a guide. For example, when we were driving in Jordan, we would pass street signs for nearby Wadi Rum. One sign would say Wadi Ram, another would say Wadi Rmm, while another would say Wadi Ru’um. Basically, all of them are correct. Each spelling is derived from sounding out the Arabic word and substituting English letters for specific Arabic sounds, a process called transcription.

The thing I enjoy most about learning new languages are the idioms. To someone that doesn’t speak the language, some of these sayings are easily understood, others don’t make any sense, and some are just plain funny. For example, in Arabic, if you don’t care what to do next, and want your friend to decide, you could say “You sew, I’ll wear it.”

After learning some sayings in Arabic, I starting thinking about some interesting sayings in English. Sayings like: “Hungry as a horse” and “You attract more flies with honey than you do with vinegar.” These phrases made me realize how a single sentence can have both figurative and literal meaning. Can you think of any other odd or interesting phrases in English?

After my lesson, I felt more confident about my ability to interact with people on the street. I now know the basics and can say “Hello,” “Thank you,” “My name is Adam,” and “How are you?”

Ma’a sal’aama (Peace be with you),

More: intro to Islam

Copyright © 2009 ProjectExplorer, LTD. All Rights Reserved.