Languages

In writing an Arabic word, like the word for Palestine for
example, does the writer add the dots for the /f/, /y/ and
/n/ as they go, or do they write the connected word without
lifting the pen, then go back to add the dots. Just curious.

"Geoff" <> wrote in message
news:fcCmc.10336$ ink.net...
> In writing an Arabic word, like the word for Palestine for
> example, does the writer add the dots for the /f/, /y/ and
> /n/ as they go, or do they write the connected word without
> lifting the pen, then go back to add the dots. Just curious.

You may get a more "expert" answer but all of my books that
mention it, suggest after the word is complete.

I would also imagine it varies individually to some extent.

The idea seems to be to write the word unbroken until the
end or a non-connecting letter is reached.

Herb Martin wrote:
> "Geoff" <> wrote in message
> news:fcCmc.10336$ ink.net...
>
>>In writing an Arabic word, like the word for Palestine for
>>example, does the writer add the dots for the /f/, /y/ and
>>/n/ as they go, or do they write the connected word without
>>lifting the pen, then go back to add the dots. Just curious.
>
>
> You may get a more "expert" answer but all of my books that
> mention it, suggest after the word is complete.
>
> I would also imagine it varies individually to some extent.
>
> The idea seems to be to write the word unbroken until the
> end or a non-connecting letter is reached.
>
>
Thats essentially how I do it. But I'm not a "native writer" so to
speak. But generally I think I write until I reach either the end of a
word or a non-connection character(generally the former) then fill in
the dots. Which leads to the predictable forgetting of dots, etc(well,
actually I use the line/carrat method instead of dots), but its faster
that way(well, hostinghostinghostinguming there are non-connecting characters in the word,
since in any case picking up your pen while writing continuous
characters is kinda annoying.)

Geoff wrote in message ...
>In writing an Arabic word, like the word for Palestine for
>example, does the writer add the dots for the /f/, /y/ and
>/n/ as they go, or do they write the connected word without
>lifting the pen, then go back to add the dots. Just curious.
>

According to Awde and Samano in _The Arabic Alphabet_,
"Put in all the dots and any other accessory part of the word
_after_ you have finished writing the whole basic shape of
the word. Also, put in the dots from right to left. " I think I read
a similar advice in _Beginner's Arabic Script_ in the "Teach
Yourself" series, but I cannot find it right now.

Clearly, they are suggesting that even the non-connecting letters
should be written and then the dots, vowel marks (if used),
hamza's, shadda's, etc. should be put in. (Similar to
crossing one's t's and dotting one's i's after the word is
written!)

I am myself merely in the very initial stages of learning to read
and write Arabic. I find that what I am doing is putting in the dots
and so forth as I write the individual letters. Though as I practice
more I am able to write more of the "flowing" part of the word and
then return for a second phostinghostinghosting for the dots.

I definitely need a course because (a) a Syrian-Armenian friend
(practically a native speaker of Arabic) thinks my pronunciation
sounds "French", and (b) I tell him I don't want to have an Armenian
accent in Arabic. Lebanese is OK if I can phostinghostinghosting myself off as
a Maronite. ;-)

Fr. O'Malley

"Fr. O'Malley" <> wrote in message
news:
> I am myself merely in the very initial stages of learning to read
> and write Arabic. I find that what I am doing is putting in the dots
> and so forth as I write the individual letters. Though as I practice
> more I am able to write more of the "flowing" part of the word and
> then return for a second phostinghostinghosting for the dots.


May I offer a suggestion for learning the alphabet,
and how to use it rapidly?

[It may not apply to everyone, or it may be a supplementary
method instead of the full one I use.]

I have made (practially) no attempt to "write" Arabic, but rather
learned to type it - in about a week of just using it to look up
words during my study.

In my case, I have no one locally to read my Arabic so ANY
use by me of the script will be on the Internet and therefore since
I use it in emails, study guides, chat, etc it makes sense to type
and it is MUCH quicker to learn this way.

You might also need or wish to learn to write the script by hand,
but you will likely find that easier once you know how to type and
read.

There are also some (modestly priced) programs for teaching
typing.

The key for me was to download the Arabic keyboard diagrams.

Herb Martin wrote:
> "Fr. O'Malley" <> wrote in message
> news:
>
>>I am myself merely in the very initial stages of learning to read
>>and write Arabic. I find that what I am doing is putting in the dots
>>and so forth as I write the individual letters. Though as I practice
>>more I am able to write more of the "flowing" part of the word and
>>then return for a second phostinghostinghosting for the dots.
>
>
>
> May I offer a suggestion for learning the alphabet,
> and how to use it rapidly?
>
> [It may not apply to everyone, or it may be a supplementary
> method instead of the full one I use.]
>
> I have made (practially) no attempt to "write" Arabic, but rather
> learned to type it - in about a week of just using it to look up
> words during my study.
>
> In my case, I have no one locally to read my Arabic so ANY
> use by me of the script will be on the Internet and therefore since
> I use it in emails, study guides, chat, etc it makes sense to type
> and it is MUCH quicker to learn this way.
>
> You might also need or wish to learn to write the script by hand,
> but you will likely find that easier once you know how to type and
> read.
>
> There are also some (modestly priced) programs for teaching
> typing.
>
> The key for me was to download the Arabic keyboard diagrams.
>
>
>
an arabic-english keyboard can be purchased from
for a relatively cheap price(~$11 US) if you pursue this suggestion. Its
a nice enough keyboard, too(keys are a bit shallow for my tastes, and
the backspace is small, but otherwise its good. Nicely responsive.

Geoff <> wrote in message news:<fcCmc.10336$ link.net>...
> In writing an Arabic word, like the word for Palestine for
> example, does the writer add the dots for the /f/, /y/ and
> /n/ as they go, or do they write the connected word without
> lifting the pen, then go back to add the dots. Just curious.

you write it then dot it.

otherwise it would look amateurish.

in Latin handwriting with diacritics I would normally write and then
dot as well, though perhaps occhostinghostinghostingionally not.

> > There are also some (modestly priced) programs for teaching
> > typing.
> >
> > The key for me was to download the Arabic keyboard diagrams.
> >
> >
> >
> an arabic-english keyboard can be purchased from
> for a relatively cheap price(~$11 US) if you pursue this suggestion. Its
> a nice enough keyboard, too(keys are a bit shallow for my tastes, and
> the backspace is small, but otherwise its good. Nicely responsive.

Although, I considered this, it took me just a few days
to memorize the keys without the marked keycaps (a
bit longer for the hostinghostinghostinghostinged keys, vowel marks and such.)

In fact, it may have sped up my touch typing progress
since I CANNOT see the Arabic.

--
Herb Martin
"Alexander Magidow" <> wrote in message
news:c7gs73$hgi$
> Herb Martin wrote:
> > "Fr. O'Malley" <> wrote in message
> > news:
> >
> >>I am myself merely in the very initial stages of learning to read
> >>and write Arabic. I find that what I am doing is putting in the dots
> >>and so forth as I write the individual letters. Though as I practice
> >>more I am able to write more of the "flowing" part of the word and
> >>then return for a second phostinghostinghosting for the dots.
> >
> >
> >
> > May I offer a suggestion for learning the alphabet,
> > and how to use it rapidly?
> >
> > [It may not apply to everyone, or it may be a supplementary
> > method instead of the full one I use.]
> >
> > I have made (practially) no attempt to "write" Arabic, but rather
> > learned to type it - in about a week of just using it to look up
> > words during my study.
> >
> > In my case, I have no one locally to read my Arabic so ANY
> > use by me of the script will be on the Internet and therefore since
> > I use it in emails, study guides, chat, etc it makes sense to type
> > and it is MUCH quicker to learn this way.
> >
> > You might also need or wish to learn to write the script by hand,
> > but you will likely find that easier once you know how to type and
> > read.
> >

Alexander Magidow (or somebody else of the same name) wrote in message
<c7f2o0$i26$> thusly:

> Which leads to the predictable forgetting of dots, etc(well,
> actually I use the line/carrat method instead of dots), but its faster
> that way(well, hostinghostinghostinguming there are non-connecting characters in the word,
> since in any case picking up your pen while writing continuous
> characters is kinda annoying.)

How comprehensible is Arabic script if the dots are omitted?

I once worked on a computer system where characters were generated using
"stroke vectors" rather than a dot matrix. The system was for sale to a
middle-east destination. When writing the test spec for the system, I added
a warning about what would happen if the memory block for storing
user-defined characters had not been loaded with meaningful data: "this
area will be occupied by random dots and squiggles".

And then it struck me: "random dots and squiggles" is exactly what Arabic
looks like to Western infidels like myself. Suppose these random dots and
squiggles just happend to make up something obscene, insulting or
blasphemous? I did suggest that the user-defined character area be removed
from the system, but to no avail.

Incidentally, designing characters as stroke vectors gave a practical use to
those puzzles where you have to draw some figure without going over a line
twice or lifting the pen from the paper. Going over a line twice would make
that one stroke look brighter than the others, while "dark strokes"
(equivalent to lifting the pen from the paper) wasted time and had to be
avoided if possible.
--
Paul Townsend
I put it down there, and when I went back to it, there it was GONE!

Interchange the alphabetic elements to reply

Prai Jei wrote:
>
> Alexander Magidow (or somebody else of the same name) wrote in message
> <c7f2o0$i26$> thusly:
>
> > Which leads to the predictable forgetting of dots, etc(well,
> > actually I use the line/carrat method instead of dots), but its faster
> > that way(well, hostinghostinghostinguming there are non-connecting characters in the word,
> > since in any case picking up your pen while writing continuous
> > characters is kinda annoying.)
>
> How comprehensible is Arabic script if the dots are omitted?

Try reading an early Kufic Qur'an ms., and let us know! They also
generally don't use word spacing -- spaces within words are as big as
spaces between words.
--
Peter T. Daniels