Arabic Genie » Arabic tattoos

Arabic Tattoos, Mistakes and Art

ArabicGenie — Wed, 15 Sep 2010 21:26:31 +0000

In one of my previous articles on this blog I discussed what I considered to be the most embarrassing Arabic tattoo mistakes – disconnected letters, written in the wrong direction and offensive tattoos. I thought it was pretty clear that most people would like to steer clear of these pitfalls. However, Kiba sent me the following comment about my article:

I think this is total B.S. a tattoo is personal and you can do what you want with it. I personally have the four letters of my name “disconnected” that an artist put together in an art piece for me. It means a lot to me and I’m not writing an arabic book on my body, it’s ART, so why feel like I have to put these constraints on myself? it’s your body…do what you want with it!

Here is what I replied:

Kiba, I completely disagree with you.

Of course, everyone is free to get the tattoos they want and it’s great that you like your tattoo. But remember, most people will be highly uncomfortable with a tattoo that is incorrect, nonseniscal or even worse doesn’t mean what they want it to.

Knowing Arabic and then deciding that you want to have disconnected letters for artistic reasons (fully aware of the fact that in 99% of all cases this is a bad decision) is different from getting a wrong tattoo due to not knowing the language.

Something being art presupposes that you are actually aware of the different nuances of the Arabic script and of its rules. Only then are you in a good position to judge whether you really want to break conventions for artistic reasons.

Having a tattoo read “I’m awsome [sic!]” or “Everyone Elese [sic!] Does” or “Only God will juge [sic!] me” is a mistake in the vast majority of cases and an embarrassment most people would like to avoid. And so is an Arabic tattoo that is not spelt correctly or obviously simply a mistake that is the result of a failed copy-pasting attempt.

Where do you stand on this issue? Does art permit everything? Even when the individual is not aware that what he is doing is contrary to convention (think “juge” instead of “judge”)? Am I too pedantic? I would love to hear your comments.

The Truth Will Set You Free

ArabicGenie — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 08:20:45 +0000

Here is the Arabic translation of the famous quote from the Bible “The truth shall/will set you free” (John 8:32):

الحق يحرركم

Pronunciation: al-Haqqu yuHarrirukum

In picture format:

With all the tashkeel and harakaat:

Of course, if you are looking to get this phrase as a tattoo, then you should check out my custom tattoo design service.

Beauty of the Soul – Calligraphy

ArabicGenie — Wed, 19 May 2010 11:17:06 +0000

In a comment on one of my blog posts on Arabic tattoos a reader suggested that

جمال الروح djamaal ar-rooH (beauty of the soul)

might be a good phrase for a tattoo. I like this phrase and have created a calligraphic design of it below:

If you are interested in getting a calligraphic tattoo design, please contact me for a quote. For simpler designs please take a look at this page here.

Mysterious Arabic Calligraphy #2

ArabicGenie — Fri, 14 May 2010 17:01:02 +0000

Firdaus sent me the following picture with the request to identify the Arabic writing in this tattoo:

The writing is an artistic calligraphic rendering of on top:

حب (Hubb)

and on bottom:

سلام (salaam)

which mean “love” and “peace” respectively. Confusingly, the dot that belongs to the letter baa’ is placed under the meem for what I guess are aesthetic reasons.

“How To Write My Name In Arabic”

ArabicGenie — Fri, 07 May 2010 11:56:55 +0000

5 crucial tips to get the correct translation of your name in Arabic

Whether you are thinking about getting your name in Arabic as a tattoo or you just want to know what your name would look like written in Arabic letters, you will know exactly what to do after reading these five crucial tips on Arabic name translations.

1. Short vowels turn into long vowels

In Arabic short vowels are usually not written. So a short “e”-sound like in the word “wet” would not be written, resulting in “wt”. However, in foreign names the short vowels are often turned into long vowels that are part of the Arabic alphabet. This is done so that it is easier to recognize the words as names. As an example, the name “Angela” would be written like this in Arabic:

أنجيلا

This is pronounced “anjeelaa”.

2. Some sounds have no equivalent in Arabic

Certain sounds used in English are not present in the Arabic language. In these cases the Arabic letters with the closest sounds are used instead to translate names. For example, the “g”-sound does not exist in Modern Standard Arabic, so “Megan” becomes:

ميغان

which is pronounced “meeghaan”, where the “gh” is like a French “r” from the throat.

Other English sounds that do not have a direct equivalent in Arabic:

v -> becomes “f”
p -> becomes “b”
r -> becomes a trilled “r”, like in Spanish

3. More than one acceptable translation

There often are a number of different acceptable Arabic translations for a single name. This can depend on taste or just convention. Usually, it is a safe bet to go with the name that is more frequently used. One way to find out which translation is more popular is to put the alternatives into a search engine and then compare the number of results returned. (Be cautious though, as some name translations are also words in Arabic or in Persian, which might distort the results.)

4. Arabic equivalent names

For some Western names there are Arabic equivalents. This is especially true for names with a Biblical background, such as David or Abraham, that become Dawood and Ibraheem. In this case one can either go with the Arabic equivalents or with the direct sound translation (“daafeed” and “abrahaam”).

5. Where to get an accurate translation?

If you are looking for the correct way to write your name in Arabic for a tattoo or you need to be sure that it is absolutely accurate, then you should consider getting a professional translation of your name. Why not check out the service I offer here for name translations? Alternatively, you should check out my Arabic Tattoos eBook that contains Arabic translations and designs for over 120 male and female names.

Click here to get your name translated into Arabic now.

Some examples of name translations into Arabic: Rachel in Arabic | Joanne in Arabic | Renata in Arabic | Natasha in Arabic

Miracle

ArabicGenie — Tue, 04 May 2010 17:48:14 +0000

Kitty sent me the following e-mail to ask for a tattoo design in Arabic for “miracle”:

Hi!

My name is Kitty! I saw on internet that you translate from english to arabic! I would like to make a tattoo with the word “miracle”! I have been searching for it for months…but always found only in english, with arabic letters..! But i would like to have the arabic word with arabic letters! So if you please could help me i would be very thankful! It would mean a lot to me!

Thank you a lot!

Kitty

Miracle in Arabic is معجزة , pronounced mu3djiza.

Here are two tattoo designs for “miracle” in Arabic:

If you want to have your own custom Arabic tattoo design, then please see my offer here.

Imperfection is Beauty

ArabicGenie — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 13:21:25 +0000

Christine asked me to take a look at a translation of “imperfection is beauty” which she obtained from a friend:

لعيب هو الجمال

It seems that this translation is accurate on the whole, but one letter probably got lost when copy and pasting the text. It should read:

العيب هو الجمال

This is pronounced: al-3aeeb huwa l-djamaal

Personally, I would have chosen a slightly different translation, namely:

النقص هو الجمال

This is pronounced: an-naqS huwa l-djamaal

And in picture format:

Arabic: Imperfection is Beauty

Sweeter Than Honey

ArabicGenie — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 20:02:03 +0000

“Sweeter than honey” is a commonly used Arabic expression. In plain text:

أحلى من العسل (aHla min al-3asal)

And here are two Arabic tattoo designs of this phrase using two different fonts:

If you want more designs of this phrase, you can hire me for a custom Arabic tattoo design and translation.

Arabic Calligraphy Design: Poetess

ArabicGenie — Sat, 10 Apr 2010 12:00:39 +0000

Recently, I received a request from a potential client for a crescent-shaped tattoo design of “poetess” (woman poet). The order didn’t materialize in the end but I went ahead and did a preliminary design anyways.

Here is the result:

In plain text:

شاعرة

Note that a lot of this calligraphic tattoo design consists of decorative elements and the ‘ayn is written in its full form for aesthetic reasons.

Mysterious Arabic Calligraphy

ArabicGenie — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 17:21:05 +0000

Today I received an e-mail from a reader of this blog who is struggling to decipher a piece of Arabic calligraphy. Here are the picture and the e-mail:

Hi

I’m planning on getting a tattoo. I have found this design but I don’t know what it says. I have even asked my mother who is a native arabic speaker, but because of the calligraphy style its really difficult to read even though you can differentiate the letters. I would really appreciate if you could take a look.

Thanks very much, look forward to hearing from you

Well, I’ll admit that it took me a few minutes myself to figure out what the writing says, not least because I was misled by my knowledge of Persian and suspected that part of the writing read خوب – “good”. However, it then dawned on me that the writing is divided horizontally, with the upper word reading خور (khawr) and the lower دبي (dubay). Below I have coloured the upper word red and the lower word blue:

Hence, the calligraphic writing refers to خور دبي (khawr dubay), or “Dubai Creek” in English – a famous geographical landmark in Dubai.