Languagle #14: Arabic
الاتحاد قوة
al-ittihad quwwa
"Unity is strength."
What it means
Together, people are strong; divided, they are weak. A short, direct saying in Arabic, used in speeches, schools and as a motto, and with close equivalents in many languages, such as the motto of Belgium, 'L'union fait la force'.
How to say it
al-it-ti-HAAD QUW-wa
The q is a k said from far back in the throat. Double letters like tt and ww are held for a moment.
Word by word
- الاتحاد al-it-ti-HAAD: the union, unity (al- means 'the')
- قوة QUW-wa: strength
Arabic often leaves out 'is', so 'unity strength' is a full sentence.
Where it was found
A traditional Arabic saying, from a list of Arabic proverbs on arab.org.
Similar sayings
- Kazakh: Бір жеңнен қол шығар, бір жағадан бас шығар. Let the hands come out of one sleeve and the heads out of one collar. (Languagle #5)
- Dutch and French: Eendracht maakt macht / L'union fait la force. Unity makes strength: the motto of Belgium.
How to recognise Arabic
Arabic is written right to left in joined-up letters. Its tells are ال (al-, 'the') at the start of many words, the round ة at the end of others, and a ي with two dots underneath at the end of words. Persian and Urdu use the same alphabet, but add letters Arabic doesn't have: پ, چ, ژ and گ. If you see none of those and plenty of ال, it's very likely Arabic.
About the Arabic language
Arabic is a Semitic language spoken by over 300 million people across the Middle East and North Africa. It exists as a spectrum: Modern Standard Arabic is used in writing, news and formal speech everywhere, while the everyday spoken dialects, such as Egyptian, Levantine and Moroccan, can differ from each other as much as separate languages. It is written from right to left, and letters change shape depending on where they fall in a word.
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