Arabic Language & Culture

Today,  I am reading the Arabic translation of “ Diary of a Wimpy Kid”. You can download the first part of the diary below. 

Diary of a Wimpy Kid

Cheerz

أثقل من جبل  Heavier than a mountain

أبطأ من سلحفاة Slower than a turtle.

أرفع من السماء Higher than the heavens(sky).

أرق من النسيم Smoother than a breeze.

أزهى من طاووس More arrogant than a peacock.

أسبق من الأجل Faster than death(fate).

أسبق من الأفكار Faster than thoughts.

أسرع من البرق Faster than lightning.

أسرع من الريح Faster than the wind.

أسرع من سهم Faster than an arrow.

أصفى من الدمعة Purer than a tear.

أظلم من الليل Darker than the night.

أقسى من الحجر Tougher than a stone.

أقبح من قرد Uglier than a monkey.

مرت  ثلاثة  عقود  على سقوط   جدار   برلين ،  و  هي   ذكرى   يحييها  الألمان   كمحطة    تاريخية   في   تاريخ    بلادهم. سقوط   الجدار   كان   يعني   نهاية   الحرب   الباردة    و    أهم    شيء    بالنسبة    للألمان هــــــــو توحيد   بلادهم.

3 decades have passed since the fall of the Berlin Wall which is an aniversery that the Germans celebrate as a historical point in their country’s history. The fall of the wall means also the end of the cold war and what is most important for the German is the unification of their country. 

PS, when it comes to translation, I always try word by word method which sucks actually..I mean it results in awkward style

 

إسمي أسد و عمري 13 سنة. أنا من سورية و أعيش في ألمانيا. كل يوم أستيقظ على الساعة السادسة. أثناول الفطور ثم أذهب إلى المدرسة. مادتي المفضلة هي الألمانية و الرياضيات. أصدقائي المفضلين هم يانيس و فغيدغيش.

My name is Assad and I am 13 years old. I am from Syria and I live in Germany. everyday I get up at 6 o’clock. I take my breakfast and then go to school. my favourite subjects are German and Maths. my

“favourite” / closest / best friends are Janis and Friedrich.

 

The bird says: I am sorry

* the Rabbit was living in a farm.

She  has two friends: the frog and the bird.

The three lived in one house.

And they had a peaceful and happy life

And the whole farm  was talking about the three friends and says: this is the best friendship.

PS, in English we use the pronoun”it” to refer to animals. Here I chose “she” because the rabbit is feline in Arabic

2)  the bird and the frog and the rabbit divided the work between them

The bird flies over the farm

And looks for grains, worms and vegetables

And brings all the food the household need

And works everyday and knows no laziness (awkward translation)

3)and the frog carries a sick on its shoulders

And at the end of the stick there are two small packets

It gos to the brook regularly

And brings the needed water for the house

And works everyday and knows no laziness

4) the rabbit stayed home, guard and maintain the house. It sweeps and cleans the house.

It cooks food, fill in the water

It prepared the table (food) for,her, the bird and the frog.

And works everyday and knows no laziness

5) one day, the bird was in the farm.

The crow saw him bring vegetables from her and there

And he found him collecting the grains and the worms and he does not eat them.

The cross was surprised and said:

My dear bird, why do you collect all these things and you do not eat them?

6) the bird removed the sweat from his body and said:

I do collect the food and the rabbit cooks it

And the frog brings the water and we eat together and live together.

The crow said:

Poor you.poor you my dear bird.

Your job is so hard.

7) the bird came back home. He was suffering. He sat down alone silently.

He did not eat the food the rabbit had prepared and did not drink the water that the frog had brought. The rabbit and the frog asked him what’s going on and he said:

I am angry! I am angry!

8) the frog said:

bird, why are you angry

And the rabbit said:

Did we di something that made you mad?

The bird said:

My work is tiresome! My work is tiresome!

9) the rabbit said:

My dear bird, let´s change the work.

You bring the water

And I collect the vegetables and grains

And the frog cooks.

The bird said: I do agree

10)The bird carried a stick on his shoulders

And the right end there was an empty bucket

And at the left end there was an empty bucket

He went to the brook and filled the buckets

He tried to carry them but he could not.

11) the bird tried to carry less water 

And tried to carry them but still could not

Finally, he got back home with little water

That is not enough to clean, cook and drink

His body was sweating heavily

He was saying: Oh! Oh! This work is hard

12) the rabbit went to collect the grains and vegetables and her way, she found a brook.

She tried to cross the brook

But she could not and fell into the water and her belly / stomach got swollen.

And finally, she escaped death

And said: Oh! Oh ! This work is hard

13) the frog tried to cook food.

She lit the fire and out the pot on the fire

She put the vegetables and grains in the pot

But her hand did not help her

The hot pot fell on her and she burnt her hand

And she said: Oh! Oh ! This work is hard

14) at the end of the day, the three met at home. The frog was crying because of her burnt hand and the bird was cleaning her wounds, put some ointment, and out a bandage around it.

The rabbit was crying because of her swollen stomach. The bird was tried to “empty / take water out of her stomach”.

Today´ s lesson is about demonstrative pronouns mainly: this, that, these and those. In Arabic, it is the following:

* This masculine, we use  هذا

examples:

هذا كتاب

هذا ولد

هذا رجل

هذا باب

2) This feminine, we use هذه

Examples :

هذه سيارة

هذه معلمة

هذه ممرضة

هذه مدرسة

3) that masculine, we use ذلك

Examples: 

ذلك المتجر

ذلك النهر

ذلك الشارع

4) that feminine, we use تلك

Examples: 

تلك البنت

تلك الشجرة

تلك السيارة

تلك الوسادة

5) these masculine dual ( for 2 persons/things) we use هذان

Examples:

هذان الولدان

هذان الرجلان

هذان المعلمان

6) these feminine dual  we use هاتان

Examples:

هاتان السيارتان

هاتان الشجرتان

هاتان البنتان

7) these masculine, feminine and plural ( plural in Arabic is more than 2), we use  هؤلاء

Examples: 

هؤلاء الرجال

هؤلاء الأطفال

هؤلاء الشيوخ

8) those masculine, feminine and plural, we use أولائك

examples:

أولائك الرجال 

أولائك النساء