Maggie sent me the following question in a blog comment:
keefakkk
my name is maggie (ghaleb)
just want to make sure of something…
getting my 3th arabic tattoo! (proud to be libanease!)
its the word believe (faith) in the way, i believe i will get trough this, or i believe things will get better ….. NOT in the way: I don’t believe you OR I believe (In God)…even though I do (lol!)
my dad wrote it to mee…but can’t get a confident confirmation from anyone..
thank YOU so much! LOVE YOUR SITE! Just discovered it tonight!
maggie
Translating “believe” into Arabic is tricky and I’m glad you gave a few example sentences to illustrate which sense of “believe” you mean. The word آمن (aamana) is a good fit for “to believe” in the religious sense (e.g. “I believe in God”), but it would seem out of place in a translation of e.g. “I believe things will get better”. This phrase would be better translated using the verb اعتقد (i3taqada). However, اعتقد (i3taqada) does not have the connotations of “determination” or “hope”, that the English verb “to believe” sometimes has.
I think that in your case the word اقتناع (iqtinaa3) would be better suited. الاقتناع (al-iqtinaa3) means “conviction” in the sense of being convinced of something. E.g. أنا مقتنع بأنني سألعب في كأس العالم ana muqtana3 bi-annani sa-al3abu fi ka’s al-3aalam “I am convinced that I will play in the World Cup”.
Below is the word “conviction” in Arabic as a picture:
"Conviction" in Arabic
Alternatively, I would suggest العزيمة al-3azeema (determination) or الثقة بالنفس ath-thiqa bi-n-nafs (self-confidence or trust in one self) or perhaps القوة الداخلية al-quuwa ad-daakhileeya “inner strength”. Maybe “hope” الأمل al-amal might be an option too? There are tattoo designs for all of these four phrases in my Arabic Tattoos eBook.
I’m sorry that I couldn’t give you a clear-cut answer, but I hope that my explanations have given you a better idea of your options. If you send me the word your dad wrote for you I will tell you what it says.
Related posts:
Marhaba again
Also the sentences (I believe you) translated أنا أصدقك so (believe) has the meaning of honesty too.
Arabic (my language) has a very many vocabularies and has a strong flexibility makes it the best language in the world (that’s my opinion and everyone speaks Arabic agrees with me).
Amer, I certainly agree that Arabic has a very large and rich vocabulary. But, even though I love the Arabic language, I’m not sure whether it’s “the best” language in the world.
That’s pretty difficult to judge I guess and many speakers of other languages would probably like to claim that title for their own language.
Hi, I am in need of the correct translation of the word ‘Believe’ in Arabic (in the context of ‘Believe in thy self’). I have researched many resources however; my findings have been different each time, which you can imagine has caused a lot of confusion.
I would really appreciate your help.
Many thanks!
Shen, did you read my post above? In it I explain in some detail the alternative translations for “believe”. Or, perhaps, you mean something else?
Unfortunately i cannot retrieve the text in Arabic for some reason and am unable to see your translations. It’s a shame considering you explained in some detail… Thanks for your quick response though.