Short questions

[Bubulus]

The hamza(h) itself does indicate a glottal stop, but it cannot appear on its own (except word-finally) and requires a "seat" of an alif, ya', or waw

No, no. It can also appear in the middle of a word, between to ʔalifāt: ثلاث راءات ṯalāṯ rāʔāt 'three rāʔ's'. It wasn't clear this is what you were asking about.

[モモンガ]

Hmm.. how to make accusative with feminine nouns ending with ta marbuta?

[Bubulus]

They're written the same, and there's nothing particular to their pronunciation.

خذ منشفة.‏
xaḏ minšafa
(or with ʔiʕrāb: xaḏ minšafatan)
'Take a towel. (said to a man)'

خذي تلك المنشفة.‏
xaḏī tilka lminšafa
(or with ʔiʕrāb: xaḏī tilka lminšafati)
'Take that towel. (said to a woman)'

In other words, the vowel mark of the accusative are put directly on top of the tāʔ marbūṭa:

خَذْ مِنْشَفَةً.‏

[モモンガ]

Thanks, I was wondering since you ussualy add an alif, and it's hard to put one in from of ta marbuta, as it's supposed to only have the final form.

[YngNghymru]

There is, prescriptively, one minor difference to their pronunciation: the accusative singulars written with ـًا are pronounced -ā in pausal form, but with taa marbuta, the pausal form for the accusative indefinite is the same as the genitive and nominative indefinites (i.e. the case ending is null). So whilst the pausal form of مكتبا is maktabā, the pausal form of مكتبةً is maktabah (not *maktabatā). In my experience, though, whilst many native speakers would be quick to insist that the rules of pausa are always applied, in reality this is not necessarily the case. In particular, alif tanween is often pronounced -an even at the end of a sentence.

[voron]

Does anyone watch Arabic TV via a satellite dish? I am wondering if there are any Arabic music channels on any satellite.

I am connected to the satellite Eutelsat Hotbird 13, and it has many Arabic channels, but it seems like there is not a single music one: Channels list. It says that AAA Music is Arabic but it's a mistake, it's actually Persian. There is about a dozen of other Persian music channels on this satellite, and I was quite sad with not being able to find any Arabic ones.

[Meera]

We get Rotana here, which is usually music videos all day. We also get ART, that plays music videos sometimes after drama's or news shows to fill time. Many Arabic channels have some music videos on them. I think LBC does also. I'm not sure what channels play in Europe though.

[Siphersh]

Hello.

What is the correct English transliteration of الأساس ?

[eskandar]

al-asās

[Siphersh]

Thank you.

I guess "al-Assas" is a transliteration that tries to mimic the Arabic pronunciation with English phonology and English pronunciation. Like al-Assad, right?

So in case of proper nouns, like al-Assad and al-Assas, The "ss" is there to make the "a" longer and put the emphasis to the last syllable, in accordance with English pronunciation rules.

English is not my native language, but my feeling is that according to English pronunciation, al-Assas would be pronounced more like the Arabic pronunciation than al-Asas.

And probably that's why they write al-Assad in the newspaper instead of al-Asad, right?

[YngNghymru]

You could be right, but as a native I don't think I'd pronounce those particular two any different with one s... this might be a broader rule though which elsewhere has the effect you describe.

[Siphersh]

Okay, thank you.

[eskandar]

And probably that's why they write al-Assad in the newspaper instead of al-Asad, right?

No, because if you're referring to the president of Syria, his surname is الأسد al-asad, ie. with a short 'a'. I believe it's actually due to French writing convention, because a single 's' in between two 'a's (or other vowels) in French would be read as a 'z' (ie. al-Asad would be pronounced as al-Azad), so the double 's' is used to indicate that an 's' should be read and not a 'z'.

[Siphersh]

Oh, okay. Thank you.

[Shad]

How do you guys learn vocabulary? I used to learn with transliterations, but they're ugly and inefficient. Now that I feel more comfortable with the alphabet I'm learning words with long vowel marks.

I still don't understand those courses that introduce vocabulary without any vowel indication, or even a sound file. How am I supposed to know how to pronounce them?

[הענט]

What about forvo? Have you tried looking them up there?

Btw. I hate the vowel indication. It makes the matter evne more confusing.

[ATILLA.ERDEM]

عَمٍ means 'blind man' in arabic. However when you look at the dictionary, you will find more meanings.

"without the power to see; unable to see effects, to judge or understand well; reckless; thoughtless; not ruled by purpose"

judging and understanding well & being thoughtless and reckless. Both meanings refer to عَمٍ. I am a little confused. In Arabic literature, عَمٍ is used as a man who judge and understand well?

This is the link of dictionary result:
http://www.almaany.com/home.php?languag ... d=2&dspl=0

[YngNghymru]

In dictionary entries ; indicates a new meaning. In 'unable to see effects, to judge or understand well' the comma should be read as 'or': 'unable to see effects, or [unable to] judge or understand well'.

[Kenny]

My gf asked me to ask you this. It's somewhat off-topic, sorry about that.

Do you think Arabic interpreters, when doing consecutive interpretation can take notes faster and find it easier given the fact that their script relies on consonantal skeletons and as such this could allow them to take notes faster and proceed with further abreviations more easily?

[Moraczewski]

Hello. Could anyone tell me, if this is Arabic or Persian. If possible, tell me what's written.

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7124/7446 ... 1f98_k.jpg

Thanks in advance.