So, you’re having a baby! Allah yija’alu min ithurriyyah isalha or “May God make it a good/worthy offspring!” Having a baby is a very exciting step for you and your spouse, and if you live in one of the Arabic speaking countries, knowing how to speak Arabic phrases for having a baby to help you in bringing up baby healthy and happy. Of course, while you...
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Many of you are probably familiar with American aerospace engineer Edward A Murphy’s Law (simply known as “Murphy’s Law”) that states, "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong". Mr. Murphy may seem like a pessimist, but perhaps it was his way of trying to follow the old Boy Scout motto to “Be prepared”. As Elvis Costello once famously sang, “Accidents will happen”, and...
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When my colleague asked me to write an article about love in Arab culture, I had to laugh at the idea. I mean, after living in one of the Arabic speaking countries for quite some time, I have to admit that there were many times I thought I knew what love was. However, it seems that Arabs are, indeed, in a league of their own...
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Proverbs are a fabulous way to gain insight into the life of other cultures. Not only that, you can see how much philosophy is shared between cultures, and how common sayings in one culture manifest in others, and vice versa. Plus, this is one of the unique aspects of the ideas, customs and and social behavior of a particular society. Arabic culture in particular has...
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The 2002 statistics on enrollment in foreign languages in U.S. institutions of higher education show that enrollments in Arabic were relatively stable during the 1980s. However, since 1995 they have shown rapid growth, particularly between 1998 and 2002, almost doubling. Arabic is among the fifteen most commonly taught languages in the U.S. hence, the pressing need for dictionaries designed for English-speaking users as the target...
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When most people think about the word sports, they think of conventional games such as soccer, cricket, and baseball, but in the Arab countries, sports often have another definition. Indeed, conventional sports are practiced throughout the region, and physical activities were part of Arab culture centuries before colonialism, reflecting the geographical specificity of the Arab World in relation to space, time and objects. Though the...
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