Comments on: Arabic and Logical People, Part 1 http://thesnarky.com/2006/04/12/arabic-and-logical-people-part-1/ The Words of the One Who Calls Himself a Philosopher Tue, 07 Sep 2010 23:59:45 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.1 By: Snarky http://thesnarky.com/2006/04/12/arabic-and-logical-people-part-1/comment-page-1/#comment-42 Snarky Sat, 15 Apr 2006 07:06:48 +0000 http://thesnarky.com/archives/75#comment-42 Hey thanks! I'm actually writing part 2 right now, and I do address the fact that I lie when I say "no exceptions". I'll updae the name of my site to reflect your suggestions. I don't know if you like Computer Science, but where I'm going with these is some ideas I have to make Arabic a really easy language to learn for CS people. Also, I feel that many basics to CS can be explained easily to Arabic speakers (those knowing the actual rules, not necessarily every native speaker). Glad to see others are reading this! If you're ever interested in contributing, I've been playing with the idea of guest authors. That would require you create a user account, though you can lie about the information you need to submit if you'd feel better about it. Hey thanks! I’m actually writing part 2 right now, and I do address the fact that I lie when I say “no exceptions”. I’ll updae the name of my site to reflect your suggestions.
I don’t know if you like Computer Science, but where I’m going with these is some ideas I have to make Arabic a really easy language to learn for CS people. Also, I feel that many basics to CS can be explained easily to Arabic speakers (those knowing the actual rules, not necessarily every native speaker). Glad to see others are reading this! If you’re ever interested in contributing, I’ve been playing with the idea of guest authors. That would require you create a user account, though you can lie about the information you need to submit if you’d feel better about it.

]]> By: Nav http://thesnarky.com/2006/04/12/arabic-and-logical-people-part-1/comment-page-1/#comment-41 Nav Fri, 14 Apr 2006 18:56:33 +0000 http://thesnarky.com/archives/75#comment-41 I have really enjoyed reading your posts and I agree with many points you have made on the site. Arabic is a wonderful language to learn, and you seem to have a good grasp on how the language works. I just wanted to note that the title "Kalimat al-Tafalsafa" is not fully correct. The Arabic word for Philosophy is "Falsafa" and one who is a Philosopher is a "Failasoof", while one who Philosophizes or calls himself a Philosopher (without being one) is a "Mutafalsif". The word "Tafalsafa" means something along the lines of "He philosophized". A more appropriate title would be "Kalimat-ul-Failasoof" or "Kalimat-ul-Mutafalsif". While many adjectives can be formed by appending the suffix "ii" to a word, that does not necessarily hold true for all words. For example, you can say "Bayt Bunii" (Brown House) but you can also say "Bayt Azraq" (Blue House). The adjective Azraq does not follow the form. So "ii" is more of a guideline than a rule, since it does apply to many words, just not all of them. Don't worry though, there ARE logical rules from which adjectives are derived. Please excuse my long rant, I simply enjoy the Arabic language and its subtleties more than most people and tend to correct my teachers at times :p. I have really enjoyed reading your posts and I agree with many points you have made on the site. Arabic is a wonderful language to learn, and you seem to have a good grasp on how the language works.

I just wanted to note that the title “Kalimat al-Tafalsafa” is not fully correct. The Arabic word for Philosophy is “Falsafa” and one who is a Philosopher is a “Failasoof”, while one who Philosophizes or calls himself a Philosopher (without being one) is a “Mutafalsif”. The word “Tafalsafa” means something along the lines of “He philosophized”. A more appropriate title would be “Kalimat-ul-Failasoof” or “Kalimat-ul-Mutafalsif”.

While many adjectives can be formed by appending the suffix “ii” to a word, that does not necessarily hold true for all words. For example, you can say “Bayt Bunii” (Brown House) but you can also say “Bayt Azraq” (Blue House). The adjective Azraq does not follow the form. So “ii” is more of a guideline than a rule, since it does apply to many words, just not all of them. Don’t worry though, there ARE logical rules from which adjectives are derived.

Please excuse my long rant, I simply enjoy the Arabic language and its subtleties more than most people and tend to correct my teachers at times :p.

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