Arabic gave Europe cotton to wear, coffee to drink, chess to play, magazine to read, mattress to sleep on, and sugar to sweeten with. This book is a lucid exposition of these and a host of other Arabic words that have become part and parcel of English and other European languages. It is not a catalogue of words, but a lively discussion based on linguistic evidence, enriched with copious literary quotations and characterized by profound regard and respect for each other's culture and views. The book opens up new world of fascinating information in the domains of etymology, phonetic change and semantic development.
This volume brings together the leading experts in the history of European Oriental Studies. Their essays present a comprehensive history of the teaching and learning of Arabic in early modern Europe, covering a wide geographical area from southern to northern Europe and discussing the many ways and purposes for which the Arabic language was taught and studied by scholars, theologians, merchants, diplomats and prisoners. The contributions shed light on different methods and contents of language teaching in a variety of academic, scholarly and missionary contexts in the Protestant and the Roman Catholic world. But they also look beyond the institutional history of Arabic studies and consider the importance of alternative ways in which the study of Arabic was persued. Contributors are Asaph Ben Tov, Maurits H. van den Boogert, Sonja Brentjes, Mordechai Feingold, Mercedes García-Arenal, John-Paul A. Ghobrial, Aurélien Girard, Alastair Hamilton, Jan Loop, Nuria Martínez de Castilla Muñoz, Simon Mills, Fernando Rodríguez Mediano, Bernd Roling, Arnoud Vrolijk. This title, in its entirety, is available online in Open Access.
From the first Arabic grammar printed at Granada in 1505 to the Arabic editions of the Dutch scholar Thomas Erpenius (d.1624), some audacious scholars - supported by powerful patrons and inspired by several of the greatest minds of the Renaissance – introduced, for the first time, the study of Arabic language and letters to centres of learning across Europe. These pioneers formed collections of Arabic manuscripts, met Arabic-speaking visitors, studied and adapted the Islamic grammatical tradition, and printed editions of Arabic texts - most strikingly in the magnificent books published by the Medici Oriental Press at Rome in the 1590s. Robert Jones’ findings in the libraries of Florence, Leiden, Paris and Vienna, and his contribution to the history of grammar, are of enduring importance.
Whether you're planning a trip to Morocco, Egypt, or any of the 25 exotic countries where Arabic is spoken, you'll want to bring along your language skills and "ARABIC in 10 minutes a day" is just the ticket! With a focus on practical words and phrases which every traveler needs, the book and interactive software provide an easy, step-by-step approach together with useful study tools and fun, computer activities and games. Perfect for students, travelers and international executives worldwide! The "10 minutes a day" Program: The "10 minutes a day" proven methodology guarantees success--all you have to do is set aside 10 minutes and you'll be on your way. Why 10 minutes a day? Because 10 minutes is doable, it fits easily into your life and it's not overwhelming. The program is created so that you can work at your own pace. You set the pace and you decide when you're ready to move to the next Step. The book is purposely designed to look like a child's workbook--it's not intimidating or overwhelming. Instead, it's approachable and engaging for everyone at any age. The book covers material equivalent to more than a year of high school Arabic or the 1st quarter of Arabic at university. The vocabulary hones in on key essential words that you'll actually use when traveling. You'll learn Key Question Words so you can ask for what you need; money and numbers so you can shop and pay bills; directions so you can get to your destination smoothly, and so much more that will make your experience abroad enjoyable. Study aids and fun activities such as word games, puzzles and interactive modules are academically designed and strategically interwoven into the program to help you succeed. Contents include: The 132-page illustrated workbook: Use the book to guide you, step-by-step, through learning and speaking Arabic. Full color throughout: Visually engages you and is conducive to learning quickly. Digital download of "10 minutes a day" language learning software: Use the interactive modules to hear the words, practice and play, track your score and have fun! (PC and Mac friendly) 150 Sticky Labels (both in the book and for your computer): Place the Sticky Labels around the house and office to learn new words without any extra time or effort. Use the interactive Sticky Labels module on your computer to hear the words, review, keep track of your score and improve. Ready-made Flash Cards (both in the book and for your computer): Take the ready-made flash cards with you and review your vocabulary on the go. Use the interactive Flash Card module on your computer to hear the words, practice and test yourself. The Arabic alphabet: Use this lesson to learn the Arabic script. Write each letter and become familiar with its pronunciation. With a little practice, you'll be on your way to reading Arabic in the very next lesson. Cut-out Menu Guide: Practice at your local restaurant and take it on your trip. Pronunciation Guide: With the Guide and simple phonetics above each Arabic word, it's easy for native English speakers to begin speaking Arabic with the correct pronunciation. Glossary of over 2,000 new words, definitions, and pronunciation: So you can quickly look up an Arabic word, its pronunciation and definition. --Kershul
WINNER OF THE ARAB AMERICAN BOOK AWARD • NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY NPR The stunning debut of a brilliant nonfiction writer whose vivid account of his grandparents' lives in Egypt, Tunisia, Palestine, and Los Angeles reclaims his family's Jewish Arab identity There was a time when being an "Arab" didn't mean you were necessarily Muslim. It was a time when Oscar Hayoun, a Jewish Arab, strode along the Nile in a fashionable suit, long before he and his father arrived at the port of Haifa to join the Zionist state only to find themselves hosed down with DDT and then left unemployed on the margins of society. In that time, Arabness was a mark of cosmopolitanism, of intellectualism. Today, in the age of the Likud and ISIS, Oscar's son, the Jewish Arab journalist Massoud Hayoun whom Oscar raised in Los Angeles, finds his voice by telling his family's story. To reclaim a worldly, nuanced Arab identity is, for Hayoun, part of the larger project to recall a time before ethnic identity was mangled for political ends. It is also a journey deep into a lost age of sophisticated innocence in the Arab world; an age that is now nearly lost. When We Were Arabs showcases the gorgeous prose of the Eppy Award–winning writer Massoud Hayoun, bringing the worlds of his grandparents alive, vividly shattering our contemporary understanding of what makes an Arab, what makes a Jew, and how we draw the lines over which we do battle.
“Babel is an endlessly interesting book, and you don’t have to have any linguistic training to enjoy it . . . it’s just so much fun to read.” —NPR English is the world language, except that 80 percent of the world doesn’t speak it. Linguist Gaston Dorren calculates that to speak fluently with half of the world’s people in their mother tongues, you’d need to know no fewer than twenty languages. In Babel, he sets out to explore these top twenty world languages, which range from the familiar (French, Spanish) to the surprising (Malay, Javanese, Bengali). Whisking readers along on a delightful journey, he traces how these languages rose to greatness while others fell away, and shows how speakers today handle the foibles of their mother tongues. Whether showcasing tongue-tying phonetics, elegant but complicated writing scripts, or mind-bending quirks of grammar, Babel vividly illustrates that mother tongues are like nations: each has its own customs and beliefs that seem as self-evident to those born into it as they are surprising to outsiders. Babel reveals why modern Turks can’t read books that are a mere 75 years old, what it means in practice for Russian and English to be relatives, and how Japanese developed separate “dialects” for men and women. Dorren also shares his experiences studying Vietnamese in Hanoi, debunks ten myths about Chinese characters, and discovers the region where Swahili became the lingua franca. Witty and utterly fascinating, Babel will change how you look at and listen to the world. “Word nerds of every strain will enjoy this wildly entertaining linguistic study.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
Colloquial Arabic of Egypt provides a step-by-step course in spoken Egyptian Arabic – the most widely understood dialect in the Arab world. Combining a user-friendly approach with a thorough treatment of the language, it equips learners with the essential skills needed to communicate confidently and effectively in Egyptian Arabic in a broad range of situations. No prior knowledge of the language is required. Key features include: Arabic in romanization form throughout, with optional Arabic script supplements emphasis on modern conversational language with clear pronunciation guidance progressive introduction to the Arabic alphabet to aid familiarity with simple labels and signs grammar section and bilingual glossaries for easy reference stimulating exercises with lively illustrations new e-resources at www.routledge.com/cw/colloquialsoffering supplementary materials for teachers and learners, including extra activities (and answers), vocabulary lists and cultural information, ideas for group activities linked to each unit in the course, listing of the complete Arabic alphabet, notes comparing Egyptian and Standard Arabic and downloadable additional audio tracks. Balanced, comprehensive and rewarding, this new and revised edition of Colloquial Arabic of Egypt offers an indispensable resource both for independent learners and for students taking courses in Egyptian Arabic. By the end of this course, you will be at Level B1 of the Common European Framework for Languages and at the Intermediate-Mid on the ACTFL proficiency scales. Audio material to accompany the course is available to download free in MP3 format from www.routledge.com/cw/colloquials. Recorded by native speakers, the audio material features the dialogues and texts from the book and will help develop your listening and pronunciation skills.
This book offers a critical interpretation of how the meta-linguistic LPLP discourse of major Arabic language academies from the turn of the twentieth century until the present day continuously 'burden' language with extra-linguistic, sociopolitical meanings, making it a proxy for the protracted courses of national identity negotiation, counter-peripheralisation in the modern world-system and modernisation. Integrating theories of language symbolism, language indexicality, LPLP, habitus, banal nationalism, world-system and perspectives of Critical Discourse Analysis, the book develops our understanding of the phenomenon and mechanism of the entanglement between language, ideology and sociopolitical change in the Arabic-speaking world and beyond.
