Ashy's Arabic lessons (for Gomez's CoC game)

[Maerdwyn]

Let's start with the alphabet, and some greetings

http://www.omniglot.com/writing/arabic.htm
This is quite a good site, not only for Arabic, but for other languages as well. Can't easily use arabic script here, so I'll use a transliterated version. I can talk more about written Arabic if you want, but it may be a little difficutl over the web

Format is Transliteration I use here on Enworld | name of the letter | Pronunciation
a or aa (or e or i at the start of a word) | alif | usually "a" as in "father" or a drawn out a sound as in "Salaam". Can also have a short "i" or "e" sound at the beginning of a word.

b | ba | "b" as in "ball"
t | ta | "t" as in "tall"
th | tha | "th" as in "think" not as in "that"
j or g | jeem| "j" as in "job", or as pronounced in Egypt "g" as in "go"
H | Ha| a forceful "h" with a breathy sound to the voice.
kh | kha| A gutteral "ch" as in "Loch" or "Chutzpah"
d | dal | a normal, unemphasized d as in "dimple"
dh | dhal | "th" as in "that" not "think"
r | ra | "r" as in "rib"
z | za | "z" as in "zoo"
s | seen| a normal unemphasized "s" as in "sing"
sh | sheen | "sh" as in "shine"
S | Sad | a heavy, forceful, s said with your tongue on the roof of your mouth
D | Dad | a heavy, forceful, d said with your tongue on the roof of your mouth
T | Ta | a heavy, forceful t, said with your tongue on the roof of your mouth
Z | Zahd | A heavy forceful z, said with your tongue on the roof of your mouth
'a | 'ayn | utterly foreign. raise your soft pallette as high as you can and say "ah".
gh | 'ghayn | imagine someone with an outrageous French accent saying "Paris" as "Pair-ree" The gutteral sound in the middle of the word is pretty close to the sound of the 'ghayn
f | fa | f as in "father"
q | qaf | close your throat off by bringing your tongue back, and say "cough".
k | kaf | Now say "cough" normally. That's the difference between qaf and kaf
l | lam | l as in "look"
m | meem| m as in "mom"
n | noon | n as in "now"
h | ha | h as in "happy"
w, u, or oo | waw | as the consonant "w" as in "wow", the vowel o in "wow", u in "umbrella", oo in "book" or oo in "loop"
y or ee | ya | y as in "yam" or "many", or for any long e sound.
' | hamsa | a glottal stop, as in a Cockney "'ello"


Greetings and pleasantries:
marhaba = "Hello"
keefal Halik = "How are you?" (formal)
keefik = "How are you?" (casual)
al-Hamdul-allah = "I am fine" (literally, "God be praised!"). can also mean exactly what it
says: "God be Praised"
es Salaam aleykum = "Peace be upon you"
aleykum es Salaam = "Upon you be peace" (the response)
Sabahal-kheer= "Good morning"
Sabahal-noor = "Good Morning" (the response to "Sabahal-kheer")
masaa'al-noor = "Good Afternoon" or "Good Evening"
ma Salaama = "Good bye" ("Peace be yours")
ma ismik = "What is your name?" (asked of a man)
ma ismak = "What is your name?" (asked of a woman)
ismee______ = "My name is ________"
min fadlik = "please"
shokran = "thank you"
Tayeb = "Ok"
na'am = "yes"
leh = "no"
ismalee = "Excuse me"
ya _________= "Hey ___________" Used to get someone's attention, and always used right before a name. So, "ya muHammed" = "hey Muhammed"

 

[doghead]

Hey Maerdwyn

This is interesting. From the sounds of it, you speak arabic as well?

Would *keefal Halik* be used to open a conversation, or *es Salaam aleykum*

doghead

 

[Maerdwyn]

(I studied Arabic in college - somewhat far from a fluent speaker, unfortunately. I read well enough, if a little slowly )

You'd start a converstion with any of:
marhaba (the least formal of the options)
es-Salaam aleykum (most formal of the options)
Sabahal-kheer
ahlan wa Sahlan (another common greeting I forgot above - it means "welcome" and would be used by someone in a host's role. "Ahlan bik" or "Ahlan biki" are the responses to a male and female, respectively)

The other would respond, and then you would ask "keefal-Halik?"

 

[Maerdwyn]

Jibril's uttered phrases, from the game

I'll keep track of the random things Jibril, my character in Gomez's game says from here on out in this post. As this is a CoC game, many of these will be curse words, expressions of fear, etc.

yaha: "Oh @%$@!"

enshah'allah: "God willing." Used as an addendum to something one hopes will come to pass, but isn't sure of, as in "We'll be safe in here, enshah'allah!"

"qul ya ayyuha al kafirun ta’budun maa a’bdulaa" : Two verses from the Quran: "Say 'O you who that reject faith! I worship not that which you worship!'"

masaa al khair: "good evening"