Indiana Josh

Harvard. Arabic. Pedagogy. Linguistics. 9 hours a day. Every day of the week. I’m not dead,...

Wed, 30 May 2012 19:23:06 -0500

Harvard. Arabic. Pedagogy. Linguistics. 9 hours a day. Every day of the week.

I’m not dead, Tumblr. I just need sleep.

Bandit and the Butterfly.

Sat, 26 May 2012 17:14:44 -0500

Bandit and the Butterfly.

Harvard Square. Cambridge, MA.

Wed, 23 May 2012 16:22:04 -0500

Harvard Square. Cambridge, MA.

danslefoxbox: 10knotes: This fox is just continually...

Tue, 22 May 2012 08:04:33 -0500

danslefoxbox:

10knotes:

This fox is just continually unimpressed with everything you have to offer.

what is the evolutionary perk to having a face like that god damn

Bigger predators leave you alone because they can’t stand the mockery and non-verbal put-downs

Follow this blog, you will love it on your dashboard

This Tibetan fox kills me.

That face tho

I’m either headed to Harvard or the Sahara.

Mon, 21 May 2012 18:19:01 -0500

I’m either headed to Harvard or the Sahara.

OH MY GOD LITERALLY ALL OF MY BUTTON-DOWN SHIRTS ARE PLAID WHAT HAVE I DONE

Mon, 21 May 2012 08:11:38 -0500

OH MY GOD LITERALLY ALL OF MY BUTTON-DOWN SHIRTS ARE PLAID WHAT HAVE I DONE

I may or may not have adopted a little...

Fri, 18 May 2012 17:21:06 -0500

I may or may not have adopted a little kitten.

“Fostering” for now (that’s what everyone says in the beginning), but we’ll see how things turn (especially between the kitten and Bandit).

And “Kitten” just won’t do. I need names, people. NAMES.

sbalubaid: العلم نور - خط الثلث I love that ink, and those are...

Thu, 17 May 2012 18:43:09 -0500

sbalubaid:

العلم نور - خط الثلث

I love that ink, and those are some very clean thuluth lines.

Never let anybody tell you that you’re too old to not walk...

Wed, 16 May 2012 12:48:00 -0500

Never let anybody tell you that you’re too old to not walk down the stairs.

These guys are killing it right now or like, way back then but...

Tue, 15 May 2012 19:26:00 -0500

These guys are killing it right now

or like, way back then

but they’re killing it way back then right now tho.

These are the photos I submitted to the University of...

Thu, 10 May 2012 14:31:00 -0500

These are the photos I submitted to the University of Arkansas’ Annual Travel Photography Competition, for which I just received first place. The prize, I think, is like a $50 gift card and framed prints of the winning entries.

The winning entries, in order from left-right, top-bottom:

Mopeds & Marabouts: Morocco, 2008. During my moped journey from Marrakech to the Sahara, I stopped at the village of Skoura, just outside the small village where my Amazigh family lives, to rest under the shade of a saint’s tomb (marabout) before moving on.

A Desert Marriage: Morocco, 2008. Before heading into the sea of sand, I got to enjoy the sights and sounds of an Amazigh marriage ceremony at the foot of the dunes. Dancing, singing, and drumming filled the air. Camels were brought as dowry for the bride.

Sandstorm in the Sahara: Morocco, 2008. One of the most visually-striking things you can encounter in the Sahara is a stormy sky, preceding the occasional rain and the more frequent sandstorm. In this case, it began with rain, which evaporated in the intense heat of the summer desert before it could reach the skin, and continued with swirls of sand that made seeing and moving quite difficult.

Bedouin Tea in Wadi Rum: Wadi Rum Desert, Jordan, 2010. One of the highlights of my summer in Jordan, the experience in Wadi Rum was unforgettable. Part of it was the undeniable beauty of the landscape, which varied between mountainous sand dunes, vast stretches of empty space, towering structures of pink rock, hidden oases and natural springs, and the highest mountain range in the kingdom which also happens to constitute the border with Saudi Arabia. But part of it, perhaps the greatest part, was the company I shared not just with our Bedouin guide, but with my Arabic colleagues who accompanied me (two of which are coming to see me in Boston in a couple weeks!).

When a language is being translated, we are crossing entire gulfs of cultural and historical symbols and meanings—many of which find no direct parallel in any other language. As a cultural anthropology student concentrating on ritual and pilgrimage in southern Morocco, where voice and identity are crucial, I have found myself better equipped to navigate these gulfs and understand other cultures by first understanding their languages.

ive just finished my first year of arabic at college and over summer i want to keep up with working on it, do you have any books other than the awful al kitaab that could help me study?

Thu, 10 May 2012 03:47:51 -0500

Honestly, there is not a single Arabic textbook that is not pretty flawed. You should ideally try to find a way to immerse yourself in the language as much as possible if you’re not going to be in a formal classroom environment. Reading literature (children’s literature in Arabic is great for beginning to intermediate level Arabic), watching movies, or preferably traveling overseas to an Arabic-speaking country.

I’ve gone over some of my tips for keeping up Arabic study over the summer here, and more general advice for Arabic acquisition here and here (and other places, too, if you browse through my blog; I’m terrible at tagging all of my posts for easy referencing).

Also, search for an e-book (in PDF format) titled “All the Arabic You Never Learned the First Time Around.” It does a great job of breaking down Arabic in a very easy to understand and readable way. It may or may not be “free.”

How long did it take you to learn master Arabic? And where you live right now?

Thu, 10 May 2012 02:59:50 -0500

I only wish I could say that I’ve mastered Arabic. I’m far from mastery, but I’m getting closer and closer to a functional fluency and I’m definitely more than capable of negotiating most Arabic situations I encounter—whether in print, on screen, or in person. But I have a lot of work left to do before I master the language (if that’s even possible).

I’m currently residing in the Southeast/Midwest U.S.

Is it just me

Wed, 09 May 2012 23:54:46 -0500

or are people who make appeals to religious authority by decontextualizing their religious scriptures for the ultimate purpose of legitimizing and validating their secular political views far more disgusting than two people of the same sex legally loving one another?

i know the verb "to be" or "is" is implied in the structure of the words. how do you say things like professions? such as "it is great to be a doctor (or other profession)?" as opposed to I want to be a doctor?

Wed, 09 May 2012 22:10:08 -0500

There are different ways to say “is” or “to be”—which are often used in quite different ways. الكون is “to be” or “being” (can also mean “existence” or “universe” etc.), from which we extrapolate the verbs كان (was) and يكون (be, or is). We use this when say things like “The test was difficult” (كان الامتحان صعبا), or “Everything will be okay” (كل شيء سيكون بخير).

But we would never use that verb if we wanted to use “is” in many other types of sentences. As you mentioned, “is” is often implied, or occasionally rendered into Arabic as هي or هو.

For the sentence you mentioned, “It is great to be a doctor,” there is actually a very specific construction that is used any time you say something like “It is great to” or “It is difficult to” or “It is impossible to” or any other “It is…to” phrasing.

For these types of phrases, you use the construction: أن + المصدر + من. For instance, “It is great to be a doctor” would be rendered as:

من الرائع أن أكون طبيب.

min + whatever you want to say in terms of “great” or “fun” or “difficult” + an = It is [something] to.

Another example: “It is difficult to explain to you ” would be:

من الصعب أن أوضح لك.

However, if you want to say “I want to be a doctor because it is a great job/career” then you’d be better of going with something like:

أريد أن اصبح طبيبا لأنها مهنة جيدة. Here’s a breakdown of the sentence, most of which I’m sure you’re already familiar with, but it might be of benefit to others:

أريد = I want

أن = to

اصبح = become (I chose this verb because it’s commonly used)

طبيبا = a doctor (in the accusative, because of the preceding verb)

لأنها = because it (“it” is feminine here because we’re speaking about the noun “profession/career” which is feminine)

مهنة = career/profession

جيدة = good

Hopefully that helps. If anything is unclear, ask away.

everytime i'm quite ready to give my salams to arabic and just walk away i come to your blog and remember that it gets better! bit dramatic lol but seriously, u more advanced students are an inspiration to us just starting out and still cant remember our alifs from out ba's! -struggling arabist

Mon, 07 May 2012 20:34:38 -0500

Haha definitely don’t give up! Trust me when I say that the hardest part of Arabic is the beginning. You have to get over this huge learning curve, but there always comes a point when you finally get over that curve and—though it will always require effort and work—you’ll realize that it’s much more downhill than uphill. I went from an absolute beginner to an advanced Arabic speaker in just a few years, and this is coming from a guy who struggled with French for years, was only mediocre at Hebrew, and was just about to salams language studies for good.

It takes quite a bit of work in the beginning, and you’ll feel discouraged often, but one of these days you’re going to sit down and realize “Hey, I kinda’ know this.” And if you’re anything like me or a dozen other people I know, you’ll be hooked.

ya-muqallib-al-quloob: Salams can someone help me with the...

Mon, 07 May 2012 09:43:36 -0500

ya-muqallib-al-quloob:

Salams can someone help me with the meaning of some Arabic words please?

I’ve underlined the words I’m unsure about. It’d be great if anyone could point out the root letter of the verbs so I can look up the word in the dictionary.

Salaam, I’m happy to help. I’m not familiar with your level of Arabic so I’m not sure the extent to which I should try to help you figure out every little thing. I’ll try to guide you through most of it, but will leave you to do much of the work on your own. If you’re still having problems, though, shoot me another message or reblog or whatever.

Up at the very top, the first thing you have underlined is عالم الأطفال. The first word can mean a couple of different things, but first notice that it is the first part of an iDafa construction (noun-noun). The two primary meanings vary greatly, and you should be able to figure out which is correct from context. The first meaning would be related to الدنيا or world, while the second meaning would be the active participle (اسم الفاعل) of the verb ع-ل-م (to know).An active participle describes the person doing the action, so that an عالم would be someone who practices knowledge. It is the singular form of علماء. To guide you a bit more, think of which makes more sense based on the sentences surrounding it: I was the world of children, or I knew (or was familiar with) children.

The second thing you have underlined is أبيت. First, notice the dhamma vowel marking at the end of the word. This immediately tells you that it’s a verb, conjugated in the first-person imperfect (present tense, if you will). Second, notice how similar it looks to the word for “house” (بيت). The word for “house” in Arabic comes from the verb itself, which in Form I means “to pass/stay the night,” or, more generally, “to stay.”

The third thing you have underlined is the sentence يقربونني إليهم لمكاني من أبي. For the first word, notice the shadda over the third letter (ر), which should immediately tell you that this is a Form II verb, and its conjugation reveals that it’s in the third person plural imperfect. The suffix ني refers to the fact that the action that “they” are doing is being done TO “me.” The root of the verb is ق-ر-ب (to be/come near; to approach), so think about what that would mean considering the conjugation of the verb, and the fact that it’s being done TO a person. The rest of it I think you probably know; لمكاني is just مكان with a preposition attached to the beginning of it and a possessive suffix attached to the end.

The next thing you have underlined is يوصي which is the third person singular imperfect of the verb و-ص-ى (to recommend) in Form I.

After that, you have تكسوني which is a really obscure verb that you never really see much. Again, the suffix ني at the end just means that the action is being done to “me” (i.e., the person narrating the story). The verb itself is related to , which is really just an antiquated way to say “clothing.” So for the verb الكسوة, think about what sort of action could relate to “clothing,” particularly when it’s your mother doing it to you.

Next, أصابني is from the hollow verb ص-و-ب (to cause/inflict injury/damage), which should immediately give you a hint as to what the next underlined word, ضرر is, particularly since it has a tanween case-ending (to inflict what on you?). Similarly, the underlined word following that has much the same meaning. ألم is another way of referring to وجع. If that doesn’t help, let me know.

The next word underlined is with هما a shadda. Also notice that it is in the accusative (mansoub) case, and the word is related to the one following it, حزن. He stayed up the night how? Worried and sad/grieving.

After that, you have أجازي which is from the hollow verb ج-و-ز (to pass; to go/get through), which is related to the word جواز in the term جواز السفر (passport). The rest of the sentence should help you figure out exactly what it means.

The next underlined word, كلا, is simply another way of saying “no” used often emphatically or whenever it stands on its own (as in the case above).

البدن is another way of saying الجسد.

أصل is essentially the “origin” or “basis” of something.

المعروف is the passive participle (اسم المفعول) of the verb ع-ر-ف (to know).

I hope that helps you! Again, if any of it is still unclear, please let me know. But try as much as you can to figure out what you don’t know from context. One of the most important ways to improve your proficiency in Arabic is to, rather than look up every word you don’t know, situate it in terms of its context and extrapolate its meaning that way. The more you read and encounter it (and trust me, most of these underlined words you’ll encounter time and again), the more you’ll recognize and understand its different meanings and usages. Good luck!

sara7ara7a replied to your post: Josh Son, if you want that self-pep-talk to work, you have to...

Sun, 06 May 2012 16:11:00 -0500

sara7ara7a replied to your post: Josh

Son, if you want that self-pep-talk to work, you have to address yourself more formally like ‘Joshua Ibn Blah blah ibn blah blah blah’. It always puts pressure on me when I do it

sa7i7, ya Soumia.

يا يشوع بن توما بن بول الغرزاغلياتي، لازم أدرس وأكتب

Ya Yeshu3 bin Touma bin Bol al-Grazzagliatti, lazm udrus wa uktub!

(Oh Joshua, son of Thomas, son of Paul Grazzagliatti, study and write!)

…hope this works.

is it true that arab men go crazy for blondes?

Sun, 06 May 2012 11:23:05 -0500

Let’s find out.

Yalla, Arab men, you going crazy yet?

24 yr old again. I was sitting here refreshing every few minutes for a response, lol. Could you be a bit more specific? I honestly don't know where to start! D:

Sat, 05 May 2012 22:05:24 -0500

If you’re primarily interested in the MENA region, you’re going to want to read general histories of the region in addition to theorists who can help you conceptualize and frame your understandings.

John Esposito’s “The Oxford History of Islam” is a solid, authoritative approach to the development of the religion and the region in which it sprang.

Arthur Goldschmidt’s “A Concise History of the Middle East” offers a great general historical background to the region.

Anything by Edward Said will help you—particularly as a suburban white person—to approach your understandings of other cultures with the appropriate nuance and sensitivity. As starters, I’d recommend his seminal “Orientalism” as well as his “Covering Islam.” From there, you should begin to branch out into his other works.

Read Leila Ahmed to ground your understandings of the region in a proper feminist context, which is essential.

Oxford put out a great book on the international relations of the Middle East not too long ago, although the name currently escapes me.

These don’t even scratch the surface. Not even close. But they’re a good place to start. Read everything.