Thread: Arabic

  1. #1
    The Defective GRAPE Lurker's Avatar
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    Arabic

    Does anyone here know of a good book / cd / website that demonstrates how to pronouce Arabic letters (mostly qaaf, the emphasized letters, and ayn) properly? The only sites I've found simply play the sound at most, and the emphasized letters aren't that easy for English speakers to master, and the book I have doesn't go into enough detail on how to pronounce. Thanks for any info - especially if you speak Arabic yourself!
    Do not make direct eye contact with me.

  2. #2
    'AlHamdulillah
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    I too have been looking long and hard for this info, mainly because being muslim, I would prefer to read the Qur'an in the language it was revealed in. The problem is that as you have said, many of the emphasized letters as well as `ayn,ghayn, and qaaf are not available on most sites. The easiest and best way is to find someone you know who speaks arabic natively(quite frankly, most people are teaching it wrong unless they have been overseas for a while or learned it as their native tongue), or get in contact with one, and go over the letters with them.

    the emphasized letter btw, are somewhat easy to pronounce if you view it as the following: during pronunciation, you broaden your tongue, touching all of the side teeth and the tongue drops in the back, then just attempt to say the unemphasized form and it will sometimes come out right:

    for example Haa' is a very hard H and I do believe the hebrew version is pronounced the same so you might have luck with this one on a hebrew language site.

    EDIT: if you want to, I would enjoy talking to you about this on AIM, as I have found it hard to find anyone online or offline that is actually interested in learning Arabic(or any spoken language for that matter).
    there used to be something here, but not anymore

  3. #3
    Registered User glUser3f's Avatar
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    I speak Arabic, I looked for websites that teach how to pronounce Arabic letters, but couldn't find anything useful, there are books and programs, but I have no idea about their quality.

    Anyway, if you are interested, I can see you on some IM service too. (I prefer ICQ)

  4. #4
    'AlHamdulillah
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    Quote Originally Posted by glUser3f
    I speak Arabic, I looked for websites that teach how to pronounce Arabic letters, but couldn't find anything useful, there are books and programs, but I have no idea about their quality.
    native speaker, or did you have the fortunate luck of learning it somewhere else?
    there used to be something here, but not anymore

  5. #5
    Registered User glUser3f's Avatar
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    Native speaker.

    I always wondered why you have that sig BTW.

  6. #6
    'AlHamdulillah
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    was going to be part of a larger sig;the first surah of the Qur'an. trying to have (transliterated)

    "bisimi'allah " - in the name of Allah

    if my arabic is any good at all. It is a pain in the neck to get arabic written out properly on a US english keyboard.
    there used to be something here, but not anymore

  7. #7
    Registered User glUser3f's Avatar
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    Hmm, it was correct, you just needed a space, I wonder why you removed it.

    If you're interested in typing Arabic, you can use one of the virtual Arabic keyboards, like this one:
    http://rabtpad.sourceforge.net/

  8. #8
    'AlHamdulillah
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    I removed it cause I just realize that since I dont have the complete surah there, I am sort of invoking the name of Allah for the purpose of my post, which one could argue is disrespectful depending on the post's subject matter.

    what exactly is your AIM s/n? I would really like to talk to you concerning Arabic.

    EDIT: also why is it that in some cases, Allah is spelled with three lams instead of two?

    EDIT: Unless I am misinterpretting and the third lam(like in the sample that was in my sig) really should be l-Allah.
    Last edited by EvBladeRunnervE; 08-13-2004 at 01:01 PM.
    there used to be something here, but not anymore

  9. #9
    Registered User glUser3f's Avatar
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    I pmed my ICQ #, I think AIM can communicate with ICQ.

    Allah is always spelled with 2 lams, the way it's spelled is: alif - lam - lam - ha

    As for "of Allah", the first alif is removed, so it becomes: lam - lam - ha

    Usually a lam is added to a name so it becomes "of name", but when the name starts with "al", the first alif is removed.

    Your sig had bism (ba sin mim) and Allah (alif lam lam ha) joined together, you had to put a space between the two words.

    I wonder if you know "shadda", I can explain more if you understand the concept.
    Last edited by glUser3f; 08-13-2004 at 04:42 PM.

  10. #10
    The Defective GRAPE Lurker's Avatar
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    Yes - I'd like to talk to you guys about it too - I sent out PM's.
    Do not make direct eye contact with me.

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