Google Earth in Arabic

أبريل 2nd, 2008

At least the help pages of Google Earth are in Arabic, so I expect the program is also available with an Arabic language interface. When looking at the help pages in English, I noticed a drop-down box which allows you to view the help page in a different language. Arabic is one of the choices, so this is one more opportunity to build vocabulary and practice reading.

The particular help page I looked at asks the question:
كم عمر صور القمر الصناعي التي لديكم؟

كم (kam) - this is the question word, asking “how many”, “how much”, or in this case, “how old”

عمر (’umr) - age; this word can also be used as: كم عمرك؟ (kam umrak?) or “how old are you?”

صور (sur) - picture, image

قمر (qumar) - normally, this word means “moon”, but it can also refer to an artificial satellite, such as one that collects imagery

صناعي (sinaa’i) - artificial

التي (leti) - that, which

لديكم (ladikum) - you have

Thus, the question is asking “How old is the satellite imagery that you have?”

Google Earth help page

Weather in Saudi Arabia

مارس 2nd, 2008
توالي درجات الحرارة إرتفاعها التدريجي على معظم مناطق المملكة وسماء غائمة جزئياً على شمال المملكة وقد تظهر بعض السحب المنخفضة على مرتفعات جنوب غرب المملكة .

- Weather for March 2, 2008 - Saudi Arabia

Important words to know to understand a weather forecast:

توالي - to follow, come in succession, come continually, continue

درجات الحرارة - temperature (degrees of heat)

رَفَعَ - rafa’a - to lift, rise, elevate; A number of other words are derived from this verb, including رفعة (rif’a) - height; رفيع (rafi’) - high, high-ranking, loud; إرتفاع (irtafa’) - rise (of prices, temperature, …), increase, height, altitude.

تدريجيّاً (tadrijian) - gradually

معظم (moa’tham) - most

مناطق (manatiq) - areas

المملكة (al mamalika) - the Kingdom

With these words, the first part of the initial sentence translates as: “Temperatures continue to gradually rise in most areas of the Kingdom.”

سماء (samaa’) - sky

غائم (ghai’m) - cloudy

جزئياً (jazi’yan) - partly

شمال (shamaal) - north, northern

This part of the sentence translates as: “and partly cloudy skies in the northern Kingdom”

ظهر (thahara) - to appear, overcome

بعض (bau’da) - some

سحب (suhub) - clouds

منخفضة - low

جنوب (junub) - south

غرب (gharb) - west

The last part of the sentence translates as “some low clouds appearing in the southwest of the Kingdom.”

About This Blog

I am studying Arabic at the Middle East Institute in Washington, DC, and will be in Egypt in the summer. This site covers Arabic grammar, vocabulary, and other aspects of the Arabic language, and makes frequent use of YouTube videos, news, and other Arabic language resources on the Internet.