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Why is leaning Arabic difficult? Because Arabic has its own special characters, pronunciation, and writing. Arabic is also a language with long history—modern Arabic is the derivative of classical Arabic, which was used in around 6th century AD.
In this blog post we interviewed one of our Arabic colleagues, Laith Ibrahim.
Monterey Language Services (referred to as “M”): Thank you for participating in this interview. Can you briefly introduce Arabic to us?
Laith (referred to as “L”): Arabic is one of the Middle Eastern languages, which also include Dari, Urdu, Farsi, Pashto and Kurdish. These languages all use Arabic letters but depending on the language, each one may have additional letters or extra sounds. I am originally from Iraq. Before settling in the U.S. I have worked in Jordan and the United Arab Emirates, where I used a mix of standard Arabic and the local and Iraqi dialect.
M: I’ve heard that in Arabic the term “lion” can have hundreds of names. That sounds very interesting? How is it possible?
L: There are in fact at least 500 names for the word “lion.” The word “sword” is another example. It has around 300 different names that are given based on the characteristics of the sword like shape, size, thickness, weight, etc.
M: Can you share more differences between Arabic and English?
L: There are many differences, for instance:
• Arabic is written from right to left and in cursive format, with no distinctions between upper and lower case. Arabic has 28 letters and each has up to 4 shapes depending on its location: the beginning, middle, or end of the word. The shape of a letter is also affected by the predecessor and successor.
• Arabic has no vowel letters. Instead, it uses small characters that are written above or below the letter to change the sound of the letter. These are called diacritics (in Arabic, “Harakat”) indicate sounds not represented by the basic alphabet. Arabic text is usually written without them unless a word can be read in a different way if they are not used.
• Arabic has letters that produce sounds that don’t exist in English. Also, the sound for P, CH, V, X don’t exist in Arabic.
• Most words have one form and are written in one way. For example, my name “ليث” has only one way of writing it in Arabic. In English it can be written as “Laith” or “Layth.”
M: Thank you for sharing! One last question, what does your name “Laith” mean in Arabic?
L: (Laughs) “Laith” is actually “lion” in Arabic. It’s a bold, strong lion.
In this blog post we interviewed David Thomson, who is currently a second-year graduate student in the International Policy Studies program at Monterey Institute of International Studies. Fluent in English, Spanish, and Mandarin, David exemplifies how language learning has opened multiple doors for him.
What makes a quality medical interpreter? The previous blog post pointed out the balance between compassion and professionalism. In reality, medical interpretation requires more than those skills. Cultural understanding and sensitivity, along with compassion and professionalism, are equally crucial in the makings of a successful medical interpreter.
A medical interpreter? What comes to your mind? Medical interpreters, like court interpreters, are considered as “community interpreters” because they usually work within a local community, serving in both public and private sectors. Last October one of our team members joined a medical interpretation training sponsored by California Healthcare Interpreting Association (CHIA). The focus of the training was palliative care, an area of healthcare that concentrates on alleviate the symptoms and suffering of the patients. The training was truly a great experience, as it emphasized both the professional and human aspects of an interpreter.
During the holiday, we saw an inspiring movie, Dancing Across Borders, about a young Cambodian dancer who came to the United States at the age 18 to learn classic ballet. We cannot help but notice that he found comfort through a Cambodian interpreter and a Cambodian family that the interpreter introduced to him. This reminds us again of the importance of interpreters assisting in communication. 
I recently received a translation assignment, which consisted of only one sentence. The assignment came from a Chinese restaurant owner, who gave me a picture with the sentence in it. Many customers, including English and Spanish speakers, always asked her about the meaning of that sentence. My first reaction was, “This should be a piece of cake!” However, the assignment turned out to be a fulfilling learning experience.Because I followed the Chinese sentence structure very closely, my initial translation was a little confusing to some native English speakers. This raised a very interesting question: can Chinese be translated word for word? The answer seemed to be negative, as Chinese and English have very different syntaxes. One sensible approach is to understand the meaning first. However, even with the understanding of the Chinese text, searching for the perfect English equivalent will require time and patience.And then it all became clear to me. Only through meticulous analysis and review, a quality translation can be produced. Quality lies in every single word that I chose to use — even if it means going over the minutest details. It was an assignment with only one sentence, but it gave me a priceless lesson on the value of quality. ~ By Ringo Li
