Introduction to Arabic language and culture

1. INTRODUCTION TO ARABIC LANGUAGE
AND CULTURE
WITH ABDULHADI & DAVID
FLUL MARCH 7TH 2016
-where is Arabic spoken?
-are all Arabs muslims?
-are Persians Arabs?
-what do you know about the Arab culture?

2. Arabic is the official language of 22 countries and 300 millions people
Which ones? Is there a difference between the classical and the dialectal?

3. aldeia "village" from ‫,الضيعة‬ alface "lettuce" from ‫,الخس‬ armazém "warehouse" from
‫,المخزن‬ and azeite "olive oil" from ‫الزيت‬and Oxalá "God willing". The Algarve is al-
gharb.
Some Arabic letters:
‫خ‬ [kh] as ‫[خوخ‬khawkh], prune,
‫ع‬ [a’a] as in ‫[عنوان‬a’anwan], address,
‫ح‬ [ha’e] as in ‫[حائط‬ha’et], wall,
‫ق‬ [qa] as in ‫[قانون‬qanoun], law,
‫غ‬ [gh] as in ‫[غيمة‬ghayma], cloud
‫خيط‬‫حرير‬‫على‬‫حيط‬‫خالتي‬‫ام‬‫خليل‬
[Kheit hareer a'alaa heet khalti imm khalil.]
A silk thread runs through my Aunt Imm Khalil’s Wall.

4. JOKE
‫قالوا‬‫س‬ّ‫ي‬‫للر‬ : ‫مش‬‫ّع‬‫د‬‫حتو‬‫الشعب؟‬
ّّ‫د‬‫ر‬‫س‬ّ‫ي‬‫الر‬ : ‫!هللا‬ ‫هو‬‫الشعب‬‫رايح‬‫فين؟‬
[Aaloo lel rayyes: mosh hatwadda’a esha’ab?
Radd el rayess: Allah! Howwa el sha’ab rayeh feen?]
They asked the President: aren’t you going to bid farewell to the people?
The President replied: God! I didn’t know the people were going away!
Arabic is a Semitic language, such as Aramaic and Hebrew.
Farsi, Urdu, Pashto and Kurdish. use the Arabic alphabet
Arabic constructs words from basic roots, such as ‘k-t-b’
There are at least 11 words for 'love' and hundreds of words for 'camel'

5. Some literary works:
The Epistle of Forgiveness by Abu Al Alaa Al Maarri
‘All religions err’, he says. In fact, there are only two sects in the whole world:
'One, man intelligent without religion, the second, religious without intellect'.
The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran
'Love one another, but make not a bond of love.
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls'.
Zaat by Sonallah Ibrahim
The Chronicles of Majnun Layla by Qassim Haddad
‫أنـا‬‫الـذي‬‫نـظـر‬‫األعمى‬‫إلـى‬‫أدبـــي‬
‫و‬‫أسـمـعـت‬‫كـلـمــاتي‬‫مـن‬‫به‬ّ‫صـمـم‬
‫الـخـيل‬‫والـلـيـل‬‫والـبـيداء‬‫تـعـرفـنـــي‬
‫والـسـيــف‬‫والـرمـح‬‫والقـرطـاس‬ّ‫والـقـلـم‬
I am the one whose literature can be seen (even) by
the blind
And whose words are heard (even) by the deaf.
The steed, the night and the desert all know me
As do the sword, the spear, the paper and the pen.
Al-Mutanabbi (915-965)