I want to clear up some confusion. While Arabic words and names may be spelled many different ways in English, they are only spelled one way in Arabic. Arabic doesn’t have any confusion or ambiguity when it comes to spelling.
So while the US Library of Congress supposedly has twenty-three ways to spell the name of the president of Libya, in Arabic his name is spelled one way and every Arabic speaker knows how to spell it without any confusion. It’s معمر القذافي
And the reason I bring this up is because I occasionally see someone on a message board or a blog get overly creative with transliterating an Arabic word.
For example: Irak. You can’t interchange a ‘k’ and ‘q.’ Different letters, different words. Knock it off. Unless you’re speaking German, in which case, that’s okay.
Another example I saw recently: taqfir. Come on now, what the hell is that? You can not interchange and ‘k’ and a ‘q’!
Q in English represents this Arabic letter: ق
K in English represents this Arabic letter: ك
You change the letter, you change the word. Barking is not the same as parking. Sleep is not the same as sleet.
Wow, this site says there are 87 different official spellings of the president of Libya’s name.
73 Comments
Saturday, 19 April, 2008 at 10:44 am
Can you please tell me how to spell dorothy smith and 1942 – 2008.
thankyou
Saturday, 19 April, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Sure. دوروثي سميث is the name and unfortunately, my keyboard is not letting me type Arabic Arabic numbers.
Monday, 14 July, 2008 at 10:03 am
how do you spell “god willing” in arabic?
Monday, 14 July, 2008 at 4:48 pm
ان شاء الله
Wednesday, 16 July, 2008 at 2:46 pm
how do you spell Sarah in arabic?
Wednesday, 16 July, 2008 at 3:53 pm
سارة…but if you’re going to get it tattooed on you, I recommend that you find a graphic artist who knows Arabic to pretty it up for you.
Friday, 19 September, 2008 at 10:48 am
I just started learning Arabic and I love it. Hope to drop back here if I need help / recommendations.
Nice blog by the way. I’m adding you to my roll.
Friday, 19 September, 2008 at 5:12 pm
That’s great! Please do feel free to ask question or make suggestions. Sometimes I run out of ideas.
Thursday, 2 October, 2008 at 4:37 pm
HOW U SPELL PRESIDENTIAL IN ARABIC
Monday, 13 October, 2008 at 6:25 pm
how doy you spell
i love you sebastian
or
my love for you
or
always will love you
Monday, 13 October, 2008 at 6:50 pm
I love you Sebastian=احبك سباستيان
Thursday, 23 October, 2008 at 10:50 am
how do you spell rebel in arabic and felipe and kiara in arabic
Thursday, 23 October, 2008 at 4:19 pm
The Arabic word for “rebel” is متمرد or ثائر. But “rebel” might have a more negative connotation in Arabic.
Felipe is فيليبي.
For Kiara, it depends on how you pronounce it. If it’s kee-ar-ah, then كيارا, and if it’s keer-ah, then كيرا. If it’s pronounced some other way, let me know.
If you want to say Felipe and Kiara together, then put a و in between them.
Thursday, 13 November, 2008 at 7:53 pm
hey snarla im sorry once againa
how do you write
” I Will Always Love You Sebas M ”
or instead of Sebas M ( Sebastian M )
Friday, 14 November, 2008 at 5:09 pm
سوف احبك دائما يا سيباس م
سوف احبك دائما يا سيباستيان م
Friday, 14 November, 2008 at 5:10 pm
Now that I think about it, you could leave off the سوف
Tuesday, 23 December, 2008 at 8:54 pm
What are the names Cameron and Desiree in Arabic?
Wednesday, 24 December, 2008 at 2:43 pm
Cameron = كاميرون you can tell it’s right because if you copy and paste it into Google, it’ll bring up pictures of Cameron Diaz.
Desiree = ديسيري
Friday, 13 February, 2009 at 1:19 pm
how do you spell Mounir in Arabic?
Friday, 13 February, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Hi Yara, Mounir=منير
Wednesday, 18 February, 2009 at 7:23 pm
How do you spell amen and angel
Wednesday, 18 February, 2009 at 8:15 pm
“Amen,” like at the end of prayer? That’s آمين.
The name Angel is آنجل, but the word “angel” is ملك.
Monday, 23 March, 2009 at 11:46 am
How do you spell the quote this too shall pass
Tuesday, 24 March, 2009 at 4:38 pm
Hi Desiree, sorry I didn’t get back to you sooner. I’d have to think of a phrase they say in Arabic that means essentially the same thing. I’ll have to think about and get back to you.
Saturday, 25 April, 2009 at 12:05 am
Hi snarla, just wondering if you found out how to spell the quote “this too shall pass”
Friday, 27 March, 2009 at 3:00 pm
hey can you tell me how to spell Unique and Random in Arabic please! many thanks
Friday, 27 March, 2009 at 4:23 pm
Tricky one.
The Arabic word for “unique” is وحيد (for a female, وحيدة). Transliterated into Arabic letters, the English word “unique” is يونيك.
The Arabic word for “random” is عشواءي(for a female, عشواءية). Transliterated into Arabic letters, the English word “random” is راندوم.
Sunday, 29 March, 2009 at 3:31 pm
so the last Arabic translations are the ones which i want!!that right? cheers
Friday, 17 April, 2009 at 9:52 pm
Can you tell me the symbols for love and strength?
Saturday, 18 April, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Love= الحب
Strength= القوة
Tuesday, 12 May, 2009 at 7:15 am
German.. or Dutch.
Friday, 22 May, 2009 at 11:53 pm
Hi, how do we spell “strength” in arabic?
Thank you
Saturday, 23 May, 2009 at 1:07 pm
The most common word would be القوة
Monday, 1 June, 2009 at 2:10 pm
How do you spell charlotte in saudi arabia
Monday, 1 June, 2009 at 3:15 pm
Charlotte in Arabic: شارلوت or شارلوط. I think the first version might be a little more common.
Monday, 1 June, 2009 at 2:12 pm
how do you spell maquaela in saudi arabia
Monday, 1 June, 2009 at 3:15 pm
How is it pronounced?
Saturday, 13 June, 2009 at 1:00 am
can you please spell crazy in arabic?
Saturday, 13 June, 2009 at 10:24 am
If you mean the word for ‘crazy,’ it’s مجنون if you´re describing a man and مجنونة if you´re describing a woman. If know someone named Crazy and you want to see how that would look in Arabic, it’s كريزي.
Wednesday, 15 July, 2009 at 11:00 pm
Can you please translate for me the name Felipe and if you also can do Julissa/Juli
i seen you already translated Felipe but i can’t read it or copy it for a tattoo of my husbands name.. if you can please e-mail it to me.
Thursday, 16 July, 2009 at 4:58 am
I’m sorry Julissa, but I don’t send emails. You can try asking on Yahoo Answers.
Juli = جولي
Julissa = جوليسا
Felipe = فيليبي
Thursday, 16 July, 2009 at 7:09 pm
i already tried yahoo.. google and ask.com… thank you tho’ im sure with this i can zoom in …
Wednesday, 5 August, 2009 at 12:29 am
Hello snarla,
I found the word strength in arabic in this website http://images.cafepress.com/image/19634831_400×400.jpg I was wondering its also right because I saw its spells a bit different from what you posted.
And could you please tell me how to spell the name Karolina.
Thanks!
Wednesday, 5 August, 2009 at 5:23 am
Hi Karen. The word in your link is correct. It’s the same as القوة but it also includes the vowels to make it prettier. Karolina is كارولينا. I´ll have to get back to you about “inner strength.”
Wednesday, 5 August, 2009 at 6:49 pm
Thanks a lot snarla!!
Wednesday, 5 August, 2009 at 12:34 am
Oh and if you could also translate “inner strength”
Thank you
Thursday, 13 August, 2009 at 4:49 pm
Snarla, I was just wondering if you had the chance to figure out how to spell”inner strength”.
Thanks so much.
Thursday, 13 August, 2009 at 8:13 pm
Hi Karen,
It’s not that I don’t know how to write “inner strength” in Arabic, it’s that I’m afraid a native speaker might think it’s something that would be written on the side of a can of oven cleaner or a box of laundry detergent. I haven’t had a chance to ask a native about it.
I think it might end up that قوة by itself is the word you’re looking for.
Saturday, 8 August, 2009 at 8:38 pm
how do u spell Karen in Arabic
Sunday, 9 August, 2009 at 6:38 am
كارن = Karen
Sunday, 6 September, 2009 at 5:22 pm
Dear Snarla
Could you please translate ‘Rachel my Angel, forever in my heart’ – into native Tunisian.
My father was tunisian and my wife, partner and best friend of 18 years Rachel passed away last year at 33 from a brain tumor. I am having a portrait of her as an angel tatood on tuesday and would like these words put on it. Please send it in a format that i can copy and print.
Many Thanks
Jason
Monday, 7 September, 2009 at 11:47 am
I’m sorry, John, but I don’t know Tunisian. Good luck.
Monday, 7 September, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Dear Snarla
Could you translate the Rachel sentence into arabic then?
Thamks
Jason (not John)
Tuesday, 8 September, 2009 at 5:08 am
I recommend that you get a second opinion, but here’s my take:
ريتشيل ملكتي في قلبي دائمأ
I don´t know that the Arabs have the concept of female angels. What I have written above also means “my queen.”
If you want something more authentically Arab, go with
ريتشيل قرة عيني في قلبي دائمأ
“Rachel, delight of my eye, in my heart always.”
When you copy and paste this, be absolutely sure that the formatting doesn’t get messed up. That would be embarrassing.
There are some people on the internet who specialize in designing Arabic tattoos. I would consult with them.
Friday, 11 September, 2009 at 7:30 am
Hi. What does “Raida” mean?(smb told me its an arabic word)
Friday, 11 September, 2009 at 4:33 pm
I’d have to see it in Arabic to know, but my best guess based on the English spelling is that that’s رائدة, which means pioneer or scout, female.
Here’s a publication named al-Raida, with the Arabic and the English side by side: http://www.lau.edu.lb/centers-institutes/iwsaw/raida.html
Sunday, 13 September, 2009 at 3:03 am
What does ‘Rhaida’ mean?(somebody told me its an arabic word)
Sunday, 13 September, 2009 at 7:25 am
‘Rh’ is not a sound in Arabic. If the ‘h’ matters, it’s not Arabic. See my answer to your question on 11 September.
Friday, 18 September, 2009 at 3:42 pm
hey could you tell me how to write
’steadfast and adversity’
or
‘in hardship faithful’
in arabic please?
Saturday, 19 September, 2009 at 11:08 am
isla, I asked a friend for suggestions and here are his answers:
Anyway, for the the latter of the two I have a good phrase taken from the title of a an Arabic song I found on the web.
The title of the song is:
رافع رأسي بتحدي صامد في وجه الشدة
And I think صامد في وجه الشدة would be good for “in hardship faithful”
And you can always reverse it to match the English:
في وجه الشدة صامد
Sunday, 20 September, 2009 at 2:36 pm
how do your write love is pain in arabic
Sunday, 20 September, 2009 at 5:37 pm
الحب الم is the simplest way. I can try to find some love songs with some more poetic lyrics, but it’ll probably be a while before I get to it.
Tuesday, 29 September, 2009 at 3:56 pm
How do you spell the word Two in arabic?
thanks
Tuesday, 29 September, 2009 at 4:09 pm
Hi Gilly. It’s اثنينand also اثنان.
Thursday, 8 October, 2009 at 11:14 am
can you please spell this in arabic I would like to get it as a tattoo.
“If you can’t handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don’t deserve me at my best”
Thursday, 8 October, 2009 at 4:10 pm
Hi Kristy, I’m not a native speaker of Arabic, so I’m not going to try to come up with a good way to say that. But I will keep an eye out in case I see something like that.
Thursday, 8 October, 2009 at 5:34 pm
how do you spell= live in freedom
and
karen and samuel
Wednesday, 14 October, 2009 at 9:45 am
can u plz tell me how to say in english – arabic_what is the time?
Wednesday, 14 October, 2009 at 7:00 pm
In Arabic: كم الساعة؟
Saturday, 24 October, 2009 at 6:29 pm
how do you spell desiree in arabic
Saturday, 25 April, 2009 at 6:32 am
Hi Desired, no, sorry, I forgot about it. Well, I’ve been keeping an ear open for an idiom in Arabic that conveys the same message. I think it’s better to say what the natives would say than to translate the words literally and end up with a phrase that sounds awkward or even nonsensical to a native. But now that you’ve prodded me, I’ll look around and see if I can find anything.
Sunday, 7 June, 2009 at 4:03 pm
could you please tell me how to spell the name Ameenah? Thank you
Sunday, 7 June, 2009 at 6:14 pm
Sure, Will. It’s امينة.