Brush up on English and Arabic translation skills in KSA

Language specialist Tarjama has launched a Certified Translation Masterclass dedicated to strengthening the translation skills of job seekers in the KSA language market. The initiative provides translators and linguists across the KSA with a chance to boost their careers and gain a competitive edge over others in the fast-growing language industry.

The Certified Translation Masterclass will focus on English and Arabic, with an emphasis on the latest technologies and skills required by today's employers. The course will also offer sector-focused insights for translators looking to improve their skills in the translation of media, business, and economic content.

Sessions will cover intensive written translation, general translation, media translation, translation technology plus business, technical and economic insights. The certifications are accredited by the Association of Translation Companies (ATC).

"At Tarjama, we have decades of hard-earned knowledge. The job market is always changing, and the language industry is growing continuously, with an increased reliance on technology. As leaders in language and language technologies, we can contribute to the upskilling of citizens and the development of local content in line with the Human Capability Development Program and Vision 2030 objectives," said Tarjama founder and CEO Nour Al Hassan.

"The development of language services goes hand in hand with national growth." Details:

Sign up for the masterclass.

Massive study to add to our understanding of Arabic

Sharjah in the UAE has begun on a project to chronicle the development in the Arabic language spanning five distinct time periods, Sharjah 24 has reported.

Spoken by more than 400 million people in the the Middle East and Africa, Arabic was the medium through which philosophers, mathematicians, and astronomers communicated during the Golden Age of Islam, said to span the 8th to 14th centuries.

Dr Mohammed Safi Al Mostaghanemi, Secretary-General of the Arabic Language Academy in Sharjah, said: “The Historical Corpus of the Arabic Language fulfils a dream of the entire Arabic-speaking world; it is an exemplary feat that will shine light on the richness of the Arabic language.”

The Historical Corpus of the Arabic Language aims to offer insights into the world’s fifth-most widely-spoken language and serve as a linguistic resource for researchers, academia, linguists and students worldwide. It is envisioned to be a larger-scale project coupled with superb planning and funding.

Under the direct supervision of HH Sheikh Dr Sultan bin Mohamed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, the Arabic Language Academy (ALA) in Sharjah will lead the management and coordination of the project with the support of the Egypt-based Union of Arab Scientific Language Academies.

Experts from 10 Arabic language academies across the Arab world are currently documenting and researching the history and evolution of Arabic words. After an estimated six years, their research will form the most comprehensive historical corpus of the Arabic language to date, and also the first to cover its evolution from the pre-Islamic period through to its modern form.

The project will reference the broad history of science and arts, and delve into the scientific study of the Arabic language, including syntax, morphology, fiqh (فقه, Islamic jurisprudence), phonetics, 'aroodh (اَلْعَرُوض, Arabic prosody), rhetoric, and more.

With the digitisation of nearly 20,000 Arabic books, manuscripts, sources, and historical documents, the Historical Corpus of the Arabic Language will be designed for easy access. A digital library will host more than 40,000 titles, extracts and documents, many in digital format for the first time.

The corpus will answer questions about language use across the Pre-Islamic period, the Islamic era from Hijri years 1 AH to 132 AH, the Abbasid Caliphate, the development of nation states, and the present modern-day era. The Historical Corpus will outline the development and evolution of terms used throughout the centuries and document the entry of new words into the language over time, from word roots and derivatives to phonetic variations. It will also detail semantic changes – be it semantic shift, progression, development, or drift.


Word comparisons with Semitic languages such as Hebrew, Akkadian, Syriac, Abyssinian, and others, will be emphasised. To accomplish this task, a committee of Semitic language scholars are tracing the similarities and differences between Arabic words and their equivalents in Semitic languages.

Arab Reading Challenge 2018 attracts 10.5 million participants

Source: Dubai Media Office. Participants of the Arab Reading
Challenge at the closing ceremony for the event. Amjoun is in
centre, with HH Sheikh Mohammed.

The Al-Ikhlas School from Kuwait has received the Outstanding School award and a cash prize of AED1 million to develop its educational capacities at the third edition of the Arab Reading Challenge in Dubai, UAE, while Aisha al-Tuwairqi from KSA won the Outstanding Supervisor title and a cash prize of AED300,000 in recognition of her efforts as an inspirational teacher.

HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, VP and PM of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai said, “A river starts with many drops, and the participants of the Arab Reading Challenge are the first drops in the river of knowledge that we look forward to discovering in every corner of the Arab world and beyond. We rely on the reading champions to help us build a knowledge-based future for the region.

“The finalists of the competition have become role models for millions of Arab students in their keen interest in acquiring knowledge and their determination to succeed. Every book read by the contestants serves as a gateway to communicate with the people of the world.” 


HH Sheikh Mohammed added: “Books are the source of ideas and values for the next generations. A generation that reads is a promising one, and a nation that reads is one that invests in the future. Reading creates global citizens who care deeply about making the world a better place.

“The participation of 10.5 million students is indeed a great accomplishment for all those who have supported our initiative. The Arab Reading Challenge is just a start. I call on everyone who has the means to do so to launch similar literacy and knowledge projects in the Arab world.”

Five schools – Al-Ikhlas School, Mujamma al-Salam School from KSA, Abdulhamid Dar Abid Sidi Ali High School from Algeria, Al-Wehda High School from Morocco and Al-Awda Girls’ School from Palestine – competed for the Outstanding School title.

All 7,871 students of Al-Ikhlas School participated in this year’s Arab Reading Challenge. The school has adopted an innovative approach to instilling a culture of reading among its students as well as in the community, including people with special needs, earning it the title of Outstanding School. In addition to launching six literacy initiatives in Kuwait and two abroad, it organised the Sana al-Ikhlas literacy drive, 12 workshops, seven reading trips, 10 literacy events and motivational campaigns, and more than 140 studies and debates.

HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, VP and PM of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, presented Morocco student Maryam Amjoun, the cash prize of AED500,000 as champion of the third edition of the Arab Reading Challenge in Dubai, UAE.

Maryam Amjoun from Morocco, champion of the Arab Reading Challenge 2018, impressed the audience with her confident interaction with the jury and her profound knowledge, manifested in her eloquent expression. She highlighted the crucial role of reading in shaping knowledgeable individuals that are ready to contribute to society, participate in development and generate knowledge. In recognition of her exceptional abilities, Amjoun received the highest numbers of votes from the audience, matched by the jury’s assessment.

Other finalists included Qassam Sbeih from Palestine, who received a standing ovation for his statement that reading to him is life and has given him the determination to achieve his ambitions. Meanwhile, Mohammad Khaled Hussein from Jordan expressed his wish to continue acquiring knowledge and shared his aspiration to become a scientist and win the Nobel Prize in Physics.

Al-Ahdaf Academy opens applications for March Arabic courses

Al-Ahdaf Academy, which specialises in Arabic language tuition in Singapore, is promising that students will master basic Arabic conversation in two months with the Al Muhawarah Conversational Arabic course.

"We tailor the course to track students' pronunciation, memorisation and general progress to better cater to their varying personal needs," states an overview of the course, which focuses on listening, speaking, reading and writing proficiency in modern standard Arabic.

Teacher Mustafa Altahir graduated from Al-Azhar University of Egypt and attended The American University of Cairo for Translation (Arabic-English). He also attended Dar Almustafa, Tarim, Yemen and Darul Lughah in Indonesia.

The beginners' course is two months long, and a minimum of 10 students are required. Course fees are S$300 for 16 lessons, twice weekly. Books and course materials cost S$25*. It will cover:

- Use and understanding of common verbs in the present tense ✅
- Use and understand basic nouns such as family members, body parts and tools ✅
- Introduce themselves comfortably in Arabic ✅
- Share their daily activities in Arabic ✅
- Conduct casual conversations in Arabic, as opposed to formal reading and writing in formal Arabic ✅
- Greet and interact with guests with simple questions ✅
-Tell the time, days and be able to count ✅
- Construct basic sentences confidently ✅
- Tell a simple story ✅
- Describe objects and pictures ✅
- Recognise simple words and meanings found in the Quran ✅

Students are eligible for the beginners' level if they can recognise the different letters, sounds of the Arabic alphabet and read simple Arabic sentences.

Intermediate classes are two months long. Course fees are S$300 for 16 lessons, twice weekly. Books and course materials cost S$25*. The intermediate level will cover:

- Use and understanding of common verbs in the past tense, and their imperative forms ✅
- Use and understanding of basic nouns such as food, transportation and furniture ✅
- Sharing of experiences in travelling and favourite sporting activities ✅
- Sharing of daily activities in Arabic ✅
- Spoken Arabic (different from reading and writing in formal Arabic) ✅
- Tell the time, days and count ✅
- Construct more advanced sentences confidently ✅
- Converse in Arabic at restaurants, airport and hotels ✅
- Tell stories ✅
- Describe objects and pictures ✅
- Understand words and meanings found in the Quran ✅

At the intermediate level, students must already be able to introduce themselves in simple Arabic, and:

• Construct basic sentences using the present tense with pronouns such as أنا، نحن، أنت، هو، هي (I, we, you, he, she).
• Count to 100 in Arabic.
• Describe simple objects using tastes, colours, shapes and sizes.

Aspiring students must complete a simple written test before the class starts.

Advanced level students must first complete the intermediate level, and is scheduled after the intermediate level is completed, at the same venue. The advanced level course is one month long, and costs S$150 for nine lessons.

Interested?

Classes are held either in Tampines or Sembawang, at:
NTUC Income Building @Tampines Junction, next to Telepark building and opposite Tampines Hub.
#07-06

The Canberra Community Club, next to Sembawang Neighbourhood Police, 5 minutes' walk from Sembawang interchange 

The beginners' course will be held at

Tampines from 8 March, every Monday and Wednesday
6.30pm to 8.30pm (10-minute break for maghrib)

Tampines from 25 March, every Saturday
9.30am to 12pm (15 minutes' break)

Sembawang from 10 March, every Tuesday and Friday
6.30pm to 8.30pm (10-minute break for maghrib)

Intermediate classes will be held at

Tampines from 8 March, every Monday and Wednesday
8.30pm to 10.30pm (10-minute break included)

Sembawang from 14 March, every Tuesday and Friday
8.30pm to 10.30pm (10-minute break included)

Watch the promotional video

Register. There are discounts applicable for full-time students, registering with family members or friends, and early-bird registration.

Read reviews

*Course materials are from Darul Lughah wa Dakwah Institute in Indonesia. The textbooks are in Arabic and will be used until the Advanced course:
- AlMuhawarah Alhadisiah (Modern Arabic Conversation)
- Kalimaat Af 'aal Alyaumiyah (Daily Verbs)
- Kalimaaat Asmaa' Alyaumiyah (Daily Nouns)

Emirates, Google offer discounted Arabic e-books for October

Source: Emirates; Emirates and Google are encouraging a love for Arabic literature this October.

Emirates Airline and Google are Celebrating Arabic Reading through October in a collaboration to reach millions of smartphone users in the region, and support the UAE’s Year of Reading, a national initiative spearheaded by HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. The aim of the UAE’s Year of Reading is to nurture an entire generation of lifelong readers, and ensure the groundwork is in place to support the country’s knowledge economy goals.

The mission of the Celebrating Arabic Reading initiative is to make Arabic books more accessible for first-time online book readers and book lovers alike with unprecedented discounts of up to 90% off on online books at the Google Play Books store, which hosts more than 5 million titles.

Discounts are valid across nine countries in the Google Play Store (both in IOS and Android) for: the UAE, KSA, Qatar, Bahrain, Oman, Kuwait, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt. This is the first such online book initiative, and the first discount of this scale in the region at the Google Play Store.

For a four-week period, Google will run its highest ever discount on the Play Books store on more than 4,000 popular fiction, non-fiction and children’s titles in an effort to reach millions of smartphone users in the Middle East and GCC.

HH Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed Al Maktoum, Chairman and Chief Executive, Emirates Airline and Group commented on Emirates’ partnership with Google: “Books can stimulate, inform, touch minds and hearts, and open up a world of possibilities for readers. As founding sponsors of the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, we are staunch supporters of the written word.

Our Celebrating Arabic Reading initiative with Google aims to encourage more people to read, and try out Arabic e-books. Smartphones and tablets are increasingly a part of our daily lives, so it makes perfect sense to promote reading on these new platforms as well. People are hungry for content, especially Arabic digital content, and there isn’t a smarter investment for the future of this region than providing access to e-books to broaden the horizons of millions.”

Ronan Harris, VP for Large Customer Sales for Google Europe Middle East and Africa said: “Technology has always played a pivotal role in providing people with equal access to information, and empowering them with knowledge. That’s something we’re very passionate about at Google and it’s in line with our core mission here in MENA to help promote and preserve local Arabic content on the web whether it was on YouTube, Search, Maps or Play. Through our collaboration with Emirates, we hope we can make Arabic literature more accessible and enjoyable than ever. There is so much opportunity to build the digital ecosystem here and we’re happy to have partners like Emirates make it happen.”

To showcase the best of Arabic content, Emirates also commissioned the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature and the Emirates Literature Foundation to help identify and curate a collection of over 50 Arabic books in the Google Play Books store that will be discounted at 90% off. This curated book collection encompasses a wide variety of bestselling fiction and nonfiction titles such as Rua Falsafia Fel Hekam Wal Forousia and Tell You About My Tribe, as well as children's e-books like Creatures on the Ceiling, Altghrayib Al-Bilaliyah and I Love. 

 Emirates actively supports and sponsors a number of educational and cultural initiatives in the UAE, including the Emirates Airline Festival of Literature, which last year attracted over 40,000 participants, 170 writers, thinkers and speakers from 35 countries. The airline also supports literature through its extensive audio-book section on the Emirates entertainment system, ice, as well as engaging author interviews on Emirates World, a popular channel on ice. In addition, Emirates SkyCargo recently carried almost 8 tonnes of books to different parts of the world to support reading.

Internet connectivity and mobile technology has helped cut the information divide in the Arab world. More people than ever own or have access to a digital device, whether it is a tablet, mobile phone or laptop. According to the Mobile Economy Arab States 2015 Report, over 200 million people across the region are subscribed to a mobile device, presenting a unique opportunity to deliver e-book and educational content.

The UAE 2021 Vision and National Agenda includes a direct emphasis on Arabic language literacy. Data from 2014 shows that just under 60% of students are currently at this level in the UAE. By 2021, the UAE is targeting that 90% of students have proficient Arabic literacy skills.

According to UNESCO research, 67% of adults living in Arab States have basic literacy skills, compared to a global average of 82%, underscoring the need for developing local, relevant Arabic content on the web which is central to information knowledge sharing.

Interested?

To find your favourite Arabic book on the Google Play Store

Hashtag: #YearOfReading

Eton Institute to help Arabic learners with Emirati Arabic from November to December 2015

Source: Eton Institute website.

In celebration of the 44th UAE National Day, Eton Institute, a learning and development solutions provider, offers to send a new word or phrase in Emirati Arabic every day from 1 November to 2 December 2015 via a chosen social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram, Twitter or Whatsapp.

Interested?

To get the Arabic phrases through Whatsapp, add ‘Eton Institute’ to your contact list:  +971 55 566 1483, then send them your name via a WhatsApp message

To get the Arabic phrases on other social media, follow Eton Institute on Facebook, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Twitter, Viki or YouTube.

Learn Arabic with the Langu.ag app

Source: Play
Store.

The Eton Institute has introduced the Langu.ag language learning mobile app for iOS and Android.

The app supports over 50 languages, including Arabic, and allows words to be scanned, spoken or typed in for translation. Users can also join a language chat room and interact with people from around the world to practice their language skills.

Interested?

Download the app

Team from Australian National University wins against native Arabic speakers in Qatar

Source: ANU, CAIS. The debating team.

A team of four students from the Centre for Arab & Islamic Studies (CAIS) represented Australia and the Australian National University (ANU) at the Third International Universities Arabic Debating Championship held in Doha, Qatar from 26 to 29 April 2015. 

Despite the challenges of debating with native speakers of Arabic, the ANU team - Yara Hussien, Thomas Randall, Derek Bayley and Andrew Findell-Aghnatios, led by CAIS PhD scholar Adel Abdel Ghafar - was commended for its performance both by other teams and the event organisers. The ANU team also won against a team of native Arabic speakers from the American University of the Emirates, which involved debating Internet censorship and democratisation. 

“I am very proud of the team’s performance,” Abdel Ghafar said. “Their performance is a reflection on both the student’s debating skills and the world-class quality of the Arabic programme at CAIS.”

This was the second time ANU students had participated, last competing in the event in 2013. Supported by the Qatar Foundation, the four-day biannual event seeks to unlock human potential by fostering a culture of discussion and debate, helping shape the global citizens of the future and creating the intellectual leaders of tomorrow. 

The championship saw a huge increase in the number of participants this year, with 67 teams representing 33 countries competing. Teams from non-Arab speaking universities came from Australia, India, Pakistan, Brunei, Malaysia, France, Poland, China, Korea, Kazakhstan, the US and Germany.

New Arabic-English, English-Arabic dictionary contains more than 130,000 entries

Source: OUP.

Produced using the dictionary resources of Oxford University Press with an international team of expert advisors, the Oxford Arabic Dictionary is ideal for serious students of Arabic and English, as well as academics, professionals, business people, teachers, and translators.

The £65 hardback Oxford Arabic Dictionary was published in August 2014, and is also available online. This resource includes the latest vocabulary from computing, business, the media, and the arts, across both languages.

The Arabic-English and English-Arabic dictionary is designed for both Arabic and English native speakers. Based on real modern evidence and computational analysis of hundreds of millions of words of both English and Modern Standard Arabic (the standardised variety of Arabic used in writing and in most formal speech), the dictionary boasts more than 130,000 words and phrases and 200,000 translations. 

It features:

• Over 80,000 collocates and meaning indicators guide you to the right translation 
• Over 70,000 fully translated example sentences and idioms taken from language in real use 
• The most commonly used sense of each word is shown first
• The Arabic-English section of the dictionary is organised by roots, which are listed alphabetically
• Vowels in all Arabic text help non-Arabic speakers in pronunciation and comprehension 
• Tables of Arabic verb conjugations, full forms of Arabic numbers, dates, and years, and irregular English verbs

Book argues that Classical Arabic and dialects may not be related

Source: OUP.

Arabic Indefinites, Interrogatives, and Negators: A Linguistic History of Western Dialects, traces the origins and development of the Arabic grammatical marker š/šī, which is found in interrogatives, negators, and indefinite determiners over a broad dialect area that stretches from the southern Levant to North Africa and includes dialects of Yemen and Oman.

David Wilmsen, a Professor of Arabic in the Department of Arabic and Near Eastern Languages at The American University of Beirut who has spent 30 years studying Arabic, and 20 years living in Jordan, Egypt, and Lebanon, challenges traditional assumptions about the origins of Arabic interrogatives and negators. He draws on data from old vernacular Arabic texts and from a variety of Arabic dialects to show that, contrary to much of the literature on the diachrony of this morpheme, š/šī does not derive from Arabic šay (شيء) 'thing'. 

Wilmsen argues instead that the usage dates back to a pre-Arabic stage of West Semitic and probably has its origins in a Semitic demonstrative pronoun. With this theory, Arabic šay could in fact derive from š/šī, and not vice versa.

The book demonstrates the significance of the Arabic dialects in understanding the history of Arabic and the Semitic languages, and claims that modern Arabic dialects could not have developed from Classical Arabic. 

The 264-page book is part of the Oxford Studies in Diachronic and Historical Linguistics series (ISBN 978-0-19-871812-3). It is available as a hardback and an e-book for £65. It will be of interest to historical linguists, particularly all those working on Arabic and other Semitic languages.

Eton Institute launches app for Ramadhan targeting both locals and expats

Source: Eton Institute website.

Eton Institute's new Ramadan App for iOS has been designed to guide both local and expat communities through the month.

The app contains information for those observing the fast such as prayer and iftar timings, qibla direction, a mosque locator and healthy tips to consider while fasting. For people who are experiencing Ramadhan for the first time in the Middle East, this resourceful app also includes cultural tips, Arabic phrases, a glossary of terms as well as do's and don'ts specific to the month.

"As a company founded and headquartered in the UAE, the Eton Institute Ramadan app is our way of giving back to the community during this very special time and supporting the vision of connecting minds and building cultural bridges," commented Hana Fuchs, Marketing Director at Eton Institute.

Ramadhan is also known as the month of giving and sharing. As part of Eton Institute's Summer For Change campaign, the Ramadan App connects users to more information about this initiative, which includes local charitable activities and online donations to three international organisations.

Eton Institute also offers phrasebook apps in over 40 different languages here, some of which are free.