Above: At my local baker which makes Kudam (Kidem, Kidim, Kedem, كدم), a delicious crusty bread when fresh. In fact, I often slice my tomatoes before running down to the bakery to get it fresh. If left for half a day, they’re like rock.
Some of you will remember my first impressions of the Arabic language as a true beginner last year. Yes, its is like reading SMS (TXT message) written with beansprouts (as some Malaysians would say).
Here are a few cuties:
- In Arabic, when the phone is ringing, you say “the bell of the phone is knocking”. Cute! But not as cute as in Chinese … when we say “I’m going to make a phone call”, in Chinese we say “I am going to hit the phone”.
- In Arabic, the word for box (“sunduq”) and funds are the same … I suppose one used to keep funds in a box right? Imagine a hold up at a bank … give me your sunduq … and the teller hands over an empty box!
- The Arabic word for taxi is “hujrah” … which is the same as the word for fee. That is because it is a “car for a fee”. I tell my teacher that in today’s world everything is a hujrah … nothing is free and everything except happiness can be bought for a fee.
English speakers shouldn’t mock the language … “mobile” in English can mean phone, drawers with wheels or the amusement over a baby’s cot, right?
Here are the less amusing aspects … in fact the frustrating aspects of the language. The grammar is complex but fluent students say the rules are very consistent and as easy like some European languages. I would say learn Malay (or Indonesian) instead … the rules are simple AND consistent.
- There are masculine and feminine versions of numbers! You use the masculine version when the object is feminine and vice versa … seems quite haram (forbidden) to me. Or maybe it would be more haram to couple male numbers with male objects? This reminds me of the hotels in east coast Malaysia that display the sign “Berkhalwat akan ditangkap” … my loose translation being “Adulterers will be caught”.
- The rules for indicating “possessive” are complex … it varies by gender, whether singular vs dual vs plural. Somewhat like English’s his, her etc but these are effected by way of suffixes which don’t resemble the first, second or third person. In Malay we use a simple suffix “-nya”.
- Plurals are another headache … in English we use “s” and in Malay you say the word twice! Again in Arabic it depends on gender, whether singular vs dual vs plural.
Trust me … there’s plenty more. But here’s another goodie:
- In some writing styles, number “2” is written slightly different than the normal script … which is fine … but then number “3” is then written to like like number “2”. Somebody help me please.
Doing my homework.
At my local baker which makes Kudam (Kidem, Kidim, Kedem, كدم), a delicious crusty bread when fresh. In fact, I often slice my tomatoes before running down to the bakery to get it fresh. If left for half a day, they’re like rock.