GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW) | ||||||
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00:31 Apr 13, 2003 |
English to Arabic translations [Non-PRO] Art/Literary - General / Conversation / Greetings / Letters | ||||
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| Selected response from: Fuad Yahya | |||
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Summary of answers provided | ||||
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5 +5 | Birthdays are not traditionally celebrated, but. . . |
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5 | Wszystkiego najlepszego z okazji urodzin! |
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Discussion entries: 2 | |
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Wszystkiego najlepszego z okazji urodzin! Explanation: Chyba tak |
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Birthdays are not traditionally celebrated, but. . . Explanation: Contemporary Arabs have been known to don funny hats, toot noise makers, blow out candles, eat cake, open presents, and sing "Happy Birthday to You" (in English, mind you). You can immagine how the song sounds with the P in "happy" turned to B. My aunt Zaynab thinks the expression actually say, "HABEEBATI TOO TOO." When I asked her what "TTO TOO" meant, she said, "Funny you ask. I have meant to ask you the same question." The AOL Time-Warner copyrighted song aside, birthday felicitations follow the same generic format as all other felicitations, with regional variations: KULL `AM WA ANTUM BI KHAYR KULL SANA WINTA TAYYIB (or WINTI TAYYIBA for females) `EED SA`EED AJMAL AL-A`YAD . . . and so on. They all have the same basic meaning of "many happy returns." A birthday-specific felciatation would sound something like: `EED MEELAD SA'EED . . . which is not very different from "Merry Christmas." To distinguish Christmas, the word SA`EED ("happy") is replaced with MAJEED ("glorious"). The idea of a person's birthday being something significant to remember, let alone celebrate, is so novel that a big percentage of Arabs do not know their own date of birth. The percentage varies regionally and generationally. If you want any of the above expressions written out in Arabic script, let us know, assuming you area able to display Arabic on your system. Fuad |
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