Arabic Genie » Translation

Arabic Dictionaries

ArabicGenie — Sun, 25 Jul 2010 19:00:11 +0000

Arabic dictionaries are crucial for learners of the Arabic language. Using the right dictionary can save you hours of frustration searching for that elusive Arabic word. I’ll show you some of the best Arabic dictionaries I’ve used – both hardcopies and online.

Physical Arabic Dictionaries

Al-Mawrid

Arabic Dictionary: al-Mawrid

Al-Mawrid has an awesome Arabic-English dictionary that is arranged alphabetically and has vowel markings to help with pronunciation. They also have a volume for the English-Arabic equivalent. The great thing about al-Mawrid is that its vocabulary is massive, so you’ll very likely find what you are looking for.

Hans Wehr

Arabic Dictionary: Hans Wehr

The Hans Wehr Arabic-English dictionary is very good. It doesn’t have vowel markings, but there are transliterations for all the words. The main difference between these two dictionaries is that Hans Wehr is organized according to Arabic roots, so you would find the verb “to talk” (takallama) not under the letter “taa’”, but under the letter “kaaf”, because (takallama) derives from “kalama”. The Mawrid dictionary on the other hand is organized alphabetically. Hans Wehr has “only” authored an Arabic-English dictionary.

Generally speaking, al-Mawrid is more up-to-date than the Hans Wehr dictionary, but the latter just as frequently contains words that are not included in al-Mawrid. I’d recommend getting both actually. They are both incredibly useful Arabic dictionaries.

Arabic-English Thematic Lexicon

Arabic Dictionary: Thematic Lexicon

Written by Daniel Newman, this Arabic dictionary is different from the other dictionaries: instead of alphabetically listing the words and translations, the vocabulary is arranged according to themes such as “animals”, “food and drink”, “politics” and “arts and entertainment”. Great if you need to prepare a specific area for work or university study. Highly recommended.

Online Arabic Dictionaries

Sakhr

Arabic Dictionary: Sakhr

The best online English-Arabic-English dictionary by far is the Sakhr Multilingual Dictionary. It’s extremely comprehensive and provides a lot of words to choose from. Unfortunately it doesn’t give examples of usage. Neither does it provide transliteration of the Arabic words. It does, however, have full vowel marks for the Arabic words.

Apart from English it also translates from/to Turkish, French and German. Sometimes there is no entry for a word in Arabic-English, but a match in one of the other languages. So if you know any of the other languages try those too.

Google Translate

Arabic Dictionary: Google Translate

Google translate is not only useful for getting a general idea of texts written in unfamiliar languages, but it has a dictionary function too. Head over to the dictionary and google will present you with a translation and related phrases and (sometimes) usage examples. Given the data mining nature of google this will become a very useful resource in the future when there will be more usage examples.

Make Frequent Use Of Your Arabic Dictionary

Whichever Arabic dictionary you prefer (or a combination), make sure that you get to know its structure so that you can look up unknown Arabic words fast. If you have the time, it’s a great idea to take a look at related words under the same root. This way maybe one of them will stick in your memory. And remember that nothing can replace a native Arabic speaker who explains the word to you with some examples – not even an Arabic dictionary.

Learn Arabic For Free

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.

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.

Though I Walk Through The Valley Of The Shadow Of Death

ArabicGenie — Tue, 04 May 2010 09:34:04 +0000

Jay asked me for the Arabic translation of Psalm 23:4 of the Bible:

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

There are a few different versions of the Arabic Bible, but the van Dyke one is quite popular. That’s why I’ve chosen to take the translation from there:

The pronunciation is as follows:

ayDan idha sirtu fee waadi Zill il-mawti laa akhaafu sharran li-annaka anta ma3i. 3Saaka wa 3ukkaazuka humaa yu3azzeeyanini.

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

Arabic Tattoo – Fighter

ArabicGenie — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 17:23:30 +0000

I’ve received a few requests for the Arabic translation of the word “fighter”. As always, there are many possible translations and I just want to give a brief overview of some of them.

The word مقاتل (muqaatil) derives from the root قتل (q-t-l), but does not necessarily imply “fight to kill”. For example, someone taking part in a boxing match might be referred to as المقاتل (al-muqaatil).

The word مجاهد (mudjaahid) has religious connotations, as in “holy warrior” (or someone engaged in “jihad” of any kind).

محارب (muHaarib) implies someone engaged in war.

All three words can be used to translate “fighter”, though.

In the absence of any specifications I would go with المقاتل (al-muqaatil) rather than with any of the other possible translations.

Below is “fighter” in Arabic in picture format, so as to preserve the correct formatting:

The top shows the word “fighter” in a standard script and the bottom shows it in Persian style.

Let me know if you need a tattoo design made using different fonts for this word. There are six designs for this word in my Arabic Tattoos eBook too.

Time Heals All Wounds

ArabicGenie — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 00:19:56 +0000

Yazmin requested a translation of the English proverb “time heals all wounds” into Arabic. ~~I’m unaware of any proverb that is similar in Arabic, so in this case a more or less direct translation is a viable alternative~~ In fact one of the Arab readers of this blog confirmed that the proverb is used exactly like that in Arabic:

الزمن يداوي كل الجراح

Pronunciation: az-zaman yudaawi kull al-djiraaH

This translates literally as: “the-time cures/treats all the-wounds”.

Even though this is not an Arab proverb itself, the translation will be understood easily by any native speaker.

Here is the proverb “time heals all wounds” in Arabic in picture format:

For more fonts or higher-quality resolution images please contact me here. Or perhaps you might be interested in my Arabic Tattoos eBook?

I hope you find my translation useful!

Merry Christmas in Arabic

ArabicGenie — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 19:58:43 +0000

As we are fast approaching Christmas and its associated festivities, it might be both interesting and useful to take a look at a few Arabic words and phrases surrounding the celebrations. So read on to discover how to say Merry Christmas in Arabic!

What Christians are celebrating on Christmas is the birth of Jesus Christ. This is immediately obvious in the translation of Christmas into Arabic:
عيد ميلاد المسيح
(‘eed milaad al-maseeH)

Literally, this means “celebration of birth of the-Messiah”.

Now, to say “merry Christmas” we generally omit the part of “the-Messiah”, since it usually is pretty obvious which birthday celebration we are referring to at this time of the year. We can simply say:
عيد ميلاد سعيد
(‘eed milaad sa3eed)

Literally: “celebration of birth happy”.

This is a general phrase that can also be used to congratulate less prominent individuals on their birthdays.

You could also use a slightly different word in the end:
عيد ميلاد مجيد
(‘eed milaad madjeed)

Literally: “celebration of birth glorious”.

Now, to say “I wish you a merry Christmas” you simply need to add two words in front of either phrase above.

In case you are wishing a merry Christmas to a group of people use this:

أتمنى لكم
(atamanna lakum)

Literally: “I-wish for-you (plural)” – I wish you

In case you are wishing a merry Christmas to a man use this:

أتمنى لك
(atamanna lak)

And addressing a woman:

أتمنى لك
(atamanna laki)

So you can have…

for a group of people:

"I wish you a merry Christmas" in Arabic

أتمنى لكم عيد ميلاد سعيد
(atamanna lakum ‘eed milaad sa3eed)

"I wish you a magnificent Christmas" in Arabic

أتمنى لكم عيد ميلاد مجيد
(atamanna lakum ‘eed milaad madjeed)

for a man

أتمنى لك عيد ميلاد سعيد
(atamanna lak ‘eed milaad sa3eed)

أتمنى لك عيد ميلاد مجيد
(atamanna lak ‘eed milaad madjeed)

for a woman

أتمنى لك عيد ميلاد سعيد
(atamanna laki ‘eed milaad sa3eed)

أتمنى لك عيد ميلاد مجيد
(atamanna laki ‘eed milaad madjeed)

So, there you have all kinds of different ways of saying “I wish you a Merry Christmas” in Arabic. Let me take this opportunity to wish all my readers a Merry Christmas!

More Christmas Stuff

“Believe” In Arabic

ArabicGenie — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 16:18:53 +0000

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.

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Nothing Is True, Everything Is Permitted

ArabicGenie — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 20:32:33 +0000

Another translation request. This time it’s for an interesting aphorism.

I was wondering if you might be willing to translate the phrase “Nothing is true; everything is permissible.”

The saying has always fascinated me as it seems contradictory and at one turn seems to promote lawlessness but to my mind goes on to speak to responsibility and accounting for one’s own actions.

A fascinating phrase that seems to have been attributed to Hassan al-SabaaH, the founder of the Assassins. However, I could not find a reliable source that traced this saying back to this person. Apparently, Nietzsche first used this aphorism, followed by the novelist William Burroughs.

I’d translate it into Arabic as “لا شيء حقيقي وكل شيء مباح” (la shey’a haqeeqiyun wa kulu shey’in mubaaH).

There are three high quality tattoo designs for this phrase in my Arabic Tattoos eBook.

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