jeudi, septembre 07, 2006

Arabic. How to pronounce al Qaida.

There are 3 choices:

1. Pronounce Q as glottal stop. I.e. "glo'al". Ask a (London) Cockney to pronounce "a better bit of butter." He'll say "a be'er bi'a bu'er" . This is the glottal stop and is similar to the Arabic Q.

2. Pronounce as in the Gulf (Gatar, UAE etc.) as a G. If you're asked why you're using the Gulf pronunciation, refer to your happy days there; if it turns out your questioner has been there, just change the subject.

3. Pronounce as in most of Egypt. Drop the Q altogether. Al Aida. (Not A-eeda)

Incidentally, al Gaida probably doesn't really mean the Foundation, but the military base. There was some speculation a few years ago as to whether Bin Loony had been inspired by Asimov's "Foundation & Empire". (See Wiki, I presume).

The root is Q ' D, meaning to sit (s'asseoir). I haven't yet found a Hebrew equivalent.

(Prononciation de Al Qaida/Qaeda. Arabische Aussprache von Q.)

Salaam/shalom. [The Malteser 'Sliema']

1 commentaire:

N a dit...

According to the Sagas (true or not?), Idi Amin's problems with pronouncing the word "Uranium" prevented him from getting his hands on an atomic bomb. So, confuse the pronounciation of Ap Cuidhar and stop terrorism!

By the way, "uran" is quite easy to say in Norwegian, but we do not agree about the pronounciation of the ai/ae of Eb Ghaetar.

Pax vobiscum!