Talk:Arabic/Basic Phrases
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[edit] New Ideas
Here are some possible catagories I would like to propose.
- I don't understand.
- Important sentences for tourists wanting information. (questions and answers)
- How are you, Meeting and greeting people.
- Polite expressions
- Accepting and giving gifts.
- Buying somehting (asking for a lower price, etc)
- Asking for things you want.
- Food preferences. Refusing food, and giving reasons.
- Talking about language capabilities.
- Talking about where you learnt Arabic, etc.
- Talking about what grade you are in. Or what school you go to. How long you have been there, How long you will stay.
- Talking about what you are doing (I am visiting, I am on vacation)
- Talk about occupation, and maritial status, Where one is from, etc.
- Apologizing
- Camera, am I allowed to take a picture, can you take this picture for me, etc.
- Talking on the telephone
I also think, that people who have no knowledge of Arabic, should add phrases to proper catagories. Later on others can translate them, and give information on meaning.
[edit] Major addition
Added:
- some phrases (all are from MSA)
- word by word transliteration (made it less ambigous)
- syllable by syllable transliteration
I added some phrases. Including two words understood, but rarely used in the arabic of today (كلا and بلى). All additions are MSA as far as I can see. I improved the method of transliteration. I added curly brackets to distinguish digraphs even-though this method seems clumsy to me. The syllable by syllable transliteration should be very useful for beginners. There are different ways that such phrases could be broken into syllables. I included the most correct way. Perhaps, the other ways will be added later, to improve listening comprehension.
A few questions ought to be answered:
- What is the exact purpose of the "Arabic Basic Phrases" page?
- Is it living up to the purpose?
- Is this page in the right place?
- Does unilang have editable phrasebook pages, such as this one?
I think there is a need for :
- Arabic phrase pages for each dialect
- One phrase repository for phrases that are common to all arabic
- One that introduces simpler phrases, and then more complex ones.
- One that has phrases sorted by in what situation they are used.
- Word by word translation of each word in sequence.
ex. It should be done like this:
الولد فعل شيء
did the <---Top translation line
thing boy <---Bottom translation line
Transliteration: al-waladu fa`ala shay'an.
(S) Translit.: al-wa-la-du-fa-`a-la-shay-an
Translation: The boy did something.
Notes: <Notes go here, about usage, what it means, grammar, etc.>
Notice how "the" lines up with ال because their function is similar. This might require the use of tables. Letters that attach to a word have translations that go on the top translation line, while the main meaning of the word goes on the bottom one.
I'll add some more phrases later.
[edit] Changes in appearance
I greatly appreciate your work on Arabic, because Arabic is a language that always thrilled me. I am really happy of being able to help you on it, and I hope you like my changes :-) However, if you think the letters are a bit too big (I wanted them to be easilly readable) just post it here and I'd be happy to change it. Or simply change <font size="+3"> to whatever suits best.
Please, please continue your work on it, and try to add more information. It's really interesting! :-)
Oh, and, by the way, you can use <BR> to change lines --seems you missed it ;-)
We could also move this page to a more appropriate name, such as Arabic:Basic Phrases, so as to maintain some order in this wiki :-)
Oh, and, for anyone interested, I believe [Course on Arabic alphabet] has lots of information on how to read and write, free of charge.
--Wizard0 22:36, 19 Feb 2005 (UTC)
[edit] Pronunciation
Isn't there a standard way of writing Arabic pronounciation in the latin alphabet? If there is, it might be a good idea to use it instead of doing it phrasebook-style -- Kowey 13:53, 28 Mar 2005 (UTC)
Moved from page: This were some of the basic phrases in arabic, i wrote the pronunciation in normal english to make it comprehensible by any student of any age, sorry the page is a bit messy and misses a lot but i am new to wikibooks, and i am still getting used to the editor...
[edit] Age
I don't know how to type in Arabic but there is a mistake - the correct way to ask one's age is not "Cam Umrak?" but "Qadeish Umrak?"
- Bet you aren't a native speaker, Kam Umrak? is a standard Arabic phrase that is quite understandable anywhere in the Arab World. The other variant you proposed is a one in the local dialect of Bilad Al Shaam (Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria). Please keep it as it is.195.229.241.182
