5/26/2023 0 Comments Arabic transliterationTranscriptions are also affected by the era in which that song was first introduced to the English-speaking world. So why does this happen? The answer is simple: That’s how Egyptians pronounce it. We tend towards Enta Omri, which, if you follow the academic translation system is a bit of an abomination, because the cardinal rules there say that we should never use the letters “E,” “C,” or “O,” when writing Arabic in Roman script. While انت عمري might be transcribed by an academic as Inta ‘Umrī, we hardly ever see this spelling on albums or used by dancers themselves. Song titles are often transcribed phonetically, which means that we’re relying on the pronunciation, accent, and dialect of the singer. This is where we get at least 6 ways of writing baladi, 5 ways of writing “Laylat Hobb,” and a few different permutations of “Enta Omri.” Most dancers tend to go with the “Phonetic, Maybe,” way, that is, trying as best they can to write Arabic words or phrases as phonetically as possible. The numbers have been chosen because they look most like the Arabic letter equivalent. These are used to indicate letters that exist in Arabic but not in English script. This is why when searching for a song on YouTube you might what looks like a random 7, 9, or 2 in the middle of a word. The Arabic Chat WayĪs SMS and texting become more common, Arabic speakers adapted to the Roman script of SMS by adapting certain Arabic letters into numbers. Mac users can take advantage of these special letters by using the “Emoji and Symbols” section of the Character Viewer. Writing in this way is only possible if your computer has this capability. The little “dashes” indicate the “a” sound in “baladi.” That’s the difference between: بلدي and بَلَدي. Short vowels, such both instances of “a” in the word baladī, are not emphasized, and in popular writing, are not written in Arabic. Hans Wehr also distinguishes long vowels from short ones. So, س, which is basically our “S,” would just be S, but ص, which is pronounced more in the back of the throat and has a heavier sound, would be Ṣ. This method uses limited diacritical marks under letters to indicate their Arabic equivalent. There are actually several ways that academics transcribe Arabic into Roman script, but the one that I encountered the most in my studies is the “Hans Wehr” method, named for the system used in the Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic by (you guessed it) Hans Wehr. Transcription is a little bit art, a little bit science, and a lot of understanding how Arabic and its dialects sound when spoken. That is, taking the sounds of Arabic and writing them in Roman script. A word is always spelled the same way, and we’re discouraged from taking creative liberty with alternate spellings.īut then we enter the wild and wooly world of transliterating Arabic, or, more accurately, transcription. We English speakers learn that there is a correct and incorrect way to spell a word. If you read and write the language, you can type it into the search bar in Arabic and voila! There’s that song you’re obsessed with.īut if you have to search in Roman script… things get a little tricky. If you don’t read or write Arabic, it can be incredibly frustrating to try to find an Arabic song that you love, or maybe YouTube video of a singer performing that song you just discovered and need to hear right now. What about “Laylat Hob”? Or is it “Laylat Hobb,” “Lailet Hob,” “Laylet Hob,” or “Lailat Hobb”? “Baladi,” “Balady,” “Beledi,” “Beledy,” or “Belady,” or “Beladi”?
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