Blue_Chi: Should We Start Using Latin Alphabet to Write Arabic?
MS
· 5 months ago
I will give an example of the satatement above. In arabic we say "Maktoub" but in arabic we only write it as "mktob". 99.9% of the time the 5 letters are enough to tell you the meaning clearly without harakat, because arabic is a derivational language where everything is derived from consonant root according to different moulds based on the meaning to be conveyed.
I am also against adding new letters to alphabet. Right now the sounds "V", "P" are not for example present in arabic. There is nothing wrong with approximating them to the nearest sounds (f for V, b for P). Every language in the world does that with imported words.
"Phonemic" alphabets are overrated. English orthography is not phonemic yet we all learned English rather easily. You say "rough" (f sound at the end). You say "read" (pronounced reed) for present tense but "read" (pronounced red) for past tense. And so on. English is far more difficult and irregular in its spelling than arabic. That is why they have national spelling bees in America. Still yet you don't hear about a lot of people asking for the invention of a 40 letter alphabet (there are 40 sounds in english) to express the different english sounds.
I want everything in Arabic to stay the way it is. Those who cannot read arabic poetry or arabic literature and appreciate it for its timeless beauty are products of a very poor education system. I don't care how flawless their english might be.
Balqis
· 6 months ago
Might be dangerous I've been reading the Quran and hadeeth through transliteration for many years and now that I started to learn written Arabic I find it very difficult, which happens probably because it's not an easy language but mainly cause latin alphabet is an easy way you get used to With this method, on the long run Arabic might lose something
Fashkool
· 6 months ago
Well, though Arabic can be classified as a sophisticated language but it is amazing to be discovered by non-Arabic speakers. Even the alphabet drawing is very beautiful and I still can remember an Australian friend asked me once to draw her name in Arabic alphabet, she was very interested to see me writing it in Arabic. I believe Arabic alphabet is an art by itself and this art will remain for ever.
just_simple
· 6 months ago
It might be useful for non-Arabic speakers to learn the correct pronounciation of the words in the holy Qur'an..like a page of Qur'an written in Arabic opposite to a page in latin...but not to replace it ofcourse.. however, if we consider that people who actually read the Qur'an know that it should be in Arabic, and that the "magic" behind it relays in it being written in Arabic, that shouldn't be a problem..but then the concept of "slipery slope" might arise..and more attention should be payed, especially for the coming generations from not knowing the importance of the Qur'an in Arabic.. so, maybe it should remain as it is, and schools teach people how to read it instead of replacing the whole language.. but using some latin letters in english-arabic chats seems fun to me honestly:p
Ahmed Al-Maaini
· 6 months ago
A lovely post!
Well, apart from being an Arab and crazy about my language, I strongly disagree with any plan to rid the world of its beautiful diversity, in all aspects. Many things are being changed in favor of "western" globalization, the "one village": food, clothing, art, music, architecture, you name it.
However, I'm not against adding new symbols to the Arabic alphabet. I like what "Al-Uloom" magazine is doing in its translations, creating new symbols for the sounds that do not exist in the Arabic alphabet (v= ﭪ, p= ﭗ, g= ﮔ). Probably the majority of Arabs now say "إنﮔليزي" not "إنجليزي" or "انقليزي" or "انكليزي".
I believe adding such symbols is being practical and realistic.
Omanymous
· 6 months ago
BC - what a great Post ! Fashkool - you'll be surprised to hear that the best students of arabic calligraphy are in Turkey. A country that doesnt officially use the arabic letter form..
Blue_Chi
· 6 months ago
Thanks for all your replies guys.
I'm not sure I have a definite opinion on the topic myself. It is hard to deny that a very significant number of people on the Internet type Arabic using the Latin alphabet, but I also think that the Arabic alphabet is very artistic and do not think that it should disappear.
Fark Knight
· 6 months ago
Nope. It stays. Arabic alphabet script has been around for long enough to be the base script for a number of languages now. Foremost of these is Farsi (Persian) language followed closely by Urdu (national language of Pakistan). Much like english being sourced out from Latin and constantly adding more and more to it, these 2 have Arabic as their roots. With the removal of arabic scripts, per se, we'd be further alienating derived languages and marginalizing possible work that can be done in making technology arabic-compatible.
I'm all in for adding new alphabets. Adding new sounds and new words is the way to go. Not only helps the script keep up with the colloquial, but also helps the language learn, expand and adapt; keeping it alive.
-Fark Knight
MS
· 5 months ago
Arabic orthography is by far the most ingeneous orthography of any single language out there. Those who are in favor of latin alphabet for arabic are ignorant of hte nature of the arabic language which is fundamentally different from indo-european languages. Short vowels should have to be written because that will require everyone to be in expert in I3rab (the inflection rules of arabic). Arabic orthography is beautiful. What is needed is a revolution in arabic typography (ie arabic orthography for computers to reflect the inherent beauties of arab orthography). Cursive scripts as in arabic orthography are more advanced than latin alphabet. Latin alphabet is laborious to write in. George Bernard Shaw even wanted to change English orthography into a cursive (very quick to write) script like the arabic script.
MS
· 5 months ago
Correction:
It should say "Short Vowels should NOT have to be written in Arabic"
MS
MyComment
· 4 months ago
I think Arabs should change it and start using the latin version of Arabic alphabet. It will help them connect with the rest of the world better.
Abdurrahman Gemei
· 2 months ago
I know this post is old but I have to comment. The fact some Arabs (including me sometimes) write their own language using the latin letters is because of a weakened culture. We are still under colonization by the West, but this time around it is a cultural one rather than a military one. This simply is because the West is stronger than us.
In fact if you look back at history, the Spanish and French used to write their romance languages using the Arabic alphabet. And that is called Aljamiado. This happened because the Arabic culture was dominant at the time and all sciences were in Arabic.
The key is not to give up on our language, but to make it stronger and 'Arabize' sciences. If you can be good at a language that is not your own, you must perfect your own language.
All Comments
I am also against adding new letters to alphabet. Right now the sounds "V", "P" are not for example present in arabic. There is nothing wrong with approximating them to the nearest sounds (f for V, b for P). Every language in the world does that with imported words.
"Phonemic" alphabets are overrated. English orthography is not phonemic yet we all learned English rather easily. You say "rough" (f sound at the end). You say "read" (pronounced reed) for present tense but "read" (pronounced red) for past tense. And so on. English is far more difficult and irregular in its spelling than arabic. That is why they have national spelling bees in America. Still yet you don't hear about a lot of people asking for the invention of a 40 letter alphabet (there are 40 sounds in english) to express the different english sounds.
I want everything in Arabic to stay the way it is. Those who cannot read arabic poetry or arabic literature and appreciate it for its timeless beauty are products of a very poor education system. I don't care how flawless their english might be.
I've been reading the Quran and hadeeth through transliteration for many years and now that I started to learn written Arabic I find it very difficult, which happens probably because it's not an easy language but mainly cause latin alphabet is an easy way you get used to
With this method, on the long run Arabic might lose something
however, if we consider that people who actually read the Qur'an know that it should be in Arabic, and that the "magic" behind it relays in it being written in Arabic, that shouldn't be a problem..but then the concept of "slipery slope" might arise..and more attention should be payed, especially for the coming generations from not knowing the importance of the Qur'an in Arabic..
so, maybe it should remain as it is, and schools teach people how to read it instead of replacing the whole language..
but using some latin letters in english-arabic chats seems fun to me honestly:p
Well, apart from being an Arab and crazy about my language, I strongly disagree with any plan to rid the world of its beautiful diversity, in all aspects. Many things are being changed in favor of "western" globalization, the "one village": food, clothing, art, music, architecture, you name it.
However, I'm not against adding new symbols to the Arabic alphabet. I like what "Al-Uloom" magazine is doing in its translations, creating new symbols for the sounds that do not exist in the Arabic alphabet (v= ﭪ, p= ﭗ, g= ﮔ). Probably the majority of Arabs now say "إنﮔليزي" not "إنجليزي" or "انقليزي" or "انكليزي".
I believe adding such symbols is being practical and realistic.
Fashkool - you'll be surprised to hear that the best students of arabic calligraphy are in Turkey. A country that doesnt officially use the arabic letter form..
I'm not sure I have a definite opinion on the topic myself. It is hard to deny that a very significant number of people on the Internet type Arabic using the Latin alphabet, but I also think that the Arabic alphabet is very artistic and do not think that it should disappear.
I'm all in for adding new alphabets. Adding new sounds and new words is the way to go. Not only helps the script keep up with the colloquial, but also helps the language learn, expand and adapt; keeping it alive.
-Fark Knight
It should say "Short Vowels should NOT have to be written in Arabic"
MS
In fact if you look back at history, the Spanish and French used to write their romance languages using the Arabic alphabet. And that is called Aljamiado. This happened because the Arabic culture was dominant at the time and all sciences were in Arabic.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aljamiado
The key is not to give up on our language, but to make it stronger and 'Arabize' sciences. If you can be good at a language that is not your own, you must perfect your own language.