Culture (8)

When learning Arabic, many Westerners are surprised to learn that the numerals used in Arabic are not the same as the Western numbers. This astonishment is due to the fact that in Western languages, the numerals used are known as "Arabic numberals" and so it is natural to assume that they are also used by Arabs, but that is not the case.

So why do Western languages refer to these numbers as "Arabic numbers" when most Arabs don't even use them and they don't call their own numbers "Arabic"? This is because the numbers used in Europe actually are the form of numbers used in the western part of North Africa over 1000 years ago, from which they were transferred to Europe via Spain.

The most commonly used numbers used in the Arabic-speaking world today are known in Arabic as the "Hindi (هندي) numbers." This is because they originated in India, although the form used in most Arabic speaking countries is different from the original form of numbers used in India.

Today, most Arabic-speaking countries officially use the "Hindi numerals" but "Arabic numerals" are widely used and recognized as well, especially on things like electronics, appliances and printed price tags.

The small class sizes and friendly atmosphere at Arab Academy naturally leads to friendships between our teachers and study abroad students. Often the two groups enjoy socializing outside of class time. Last Friday, a number of teachers and students decided to go to al Azhar Park together.

Al Azhar Park is one of Cairo's success stories. For 500 years, it was a garbage dump covering 74 acres in the heart of Islamic Cairo. Then the Aga Khan Trust for Culture decided to transform it into a beautiful green space that commands a panoramic view of the city of Cairo. During the building of the park, archaeologists found a wall built 800 years ago by Salah al-Din that they restored. In this city of 20 million, a park such as this provides a much-needed breathing space for citizens and visitors to enjoy the great outdoors.

The weather was lovely for the outing and the teachers and students enjoyed speaking Arabic, seeing the historical sites and learning and playing some traditional Egyptian games.

Like belly dancing, Arabic calligraphy (الخط العربي , sometimes known as  Islamic calligraphy), is one of the Egyptian arts that today is neglected by Egyptians but is enjoying great popularity among foreigners, as Egypt Today reports.

It doesn't help that Arabic word processing is now the norm for writing Arabic. It is not even necessary anymore to remember the different forms of the letters when typing them, as computers automatically produce the shape of the letter required by its position in the word.

However, learning Arabic calligraphy is still a good way to help learn and retain one's knowledge of the Arabic script. To this end, one of Arab Academy's teachers, Ahmed al-Sha'er, teaches study abroad students Arabic calligraphy. His lessons consist of the different styles of calligraphy and its rules. With his helpful guidance, students learn how to write each letter and simple sentences.

Egyptian Arabic is the most widely understood Arabic dialect due to its widespread use in Arabic movies, music and television. But did you know that many words in Egyptian Arabic come from the ancient Egyptian language? The latest stage of the ancient Egyptian language, Coptic, was still spoken in Egypt at the time of the Islamic conquest and therefore many words from ancient Egyptian survived in Egyptian Arabic.

Every Sunday starting next week, we will be featuring one of these words on our Twitter feed. Follow us on Twitter to get started learning about the origins of these Egyptian Arabic words. You can study Egyptian Arabic online and in Cairo with Arab Academy.

At Arab Academy, we believe that learning the Arabic language is enhanced by knowledge of Arab and Egyptian culture. Therefore, Arab Academy offers free weekly lectures (in Arabic or English) to all study abroad students. These lectures are given by instructors and staff on cultural topics about which they have a lot of knowledge. Not only do these lectures increase the cultural knowledge of students, but they also help develop students' Arabic listening skills.

This past week Ustaza Mervat (الأستاذة مرفت) gave a lecture entitled "Journey of the Egyptian Woman throughout Modern History" (رحلة المرأة المصرية عبر التاريخ الحديث). In this lecture, she spoke about the status of women in Egypt in the late 19th century and the beginning of the women's movement in Egypt during the 1919 revolution and about the leader of the women's movement, Huda Shaarawi.

The students are able to practice their comprehension and composition skills by writing essays the next day about what they learned during the lecture.

February 26th is the birthday of the Prophet Muhammad (p.b.u.h.). Though it’s not an official feast of Islam and not all Muslims celebrate it, Egyptian customs around Al-Mulid al-Nabawi (المولد النبوي) go back to the Fatimid caliphate, which ended in the 12th century CE. Over the centuries, the celebration has included Sufi parades with flags, banners, and tambourines, and Quranic readings and gatherings in the mosques. These days Egyptians buy bride-shaped candies (عروسة) decorated with multicolored sugar for their daughters and similar knight- and horse-shaped candies for their sons. A new groom has the special obligation of buying a large bride doll for his wife as well as special mulid candies like Turkish delight (ملبن). Study abroad students learned about this holiday at a party at which they sampled these Egyptian sweets with their Arabic instructors.

One of the biggest daily challenges in Ramadan is how to resist the temptation of the oriental dessers.  What a lovely variety of desserts we have:  konafa, katayef, basbousa, bala7 el-shaam, etc.  After iftar, they go very well with our favorite tea with minth.  Well, who cares, we should not watch our calories in Ramadan!  We can do that in the 11 other months of the year.