I definitely see the resemblance here, which makes it way easier to remember. Next time you say it to a friend over text, try saying “5alas” rather than خلص. In the first video of our Speaking of Arabic series, we went over the meaning of khalas (stop it/enough). I don’t think the character looks much like the number, but I promise it’ll stick once you memorize it. As you saw in the video, if you want to type, “good morning,” (صباح الخير) using Arabizi, you can say “9ba7 el 5air” (read below for more details on the 5). When learning the alphabet, you may have asked yourself, “is there really a notable difference in pronunciation between ص (Saad) and س (siin)?” While it may not seem like it, there definitely is a difference–– ص is a slightly stronger “s” sound, so merely typing the “s” in the Latin alphabet doesn’t quite convey it well. I can see how this kind of looks like a 9, though it’s less intuitive than the previous two. You can say “t3ai 3andi” (تعي عندي ) if you don’t have the Arabic keyboard on your phone or laptop. But, why not take a chance and try to text your Arabic-speaking friends like a local? Arabizi is your friend! Let’s say, for example, you want to text your friend to come over to your place. If you write the letter “a” in place of the ع, chances are that native speakers will know what you mean. If you decide to learn Arabic, you’ll notice that pronunciation is one of the biggest challenges––but it’s equally rewarding! 3 = ع (‘ayn)ĭo you see how the ع (‘ayn) looks like a backwards number 3? This was by far the most difficult character for me to learn to pronounce well––it literally took me months! I watched in awe as native speakers pronounced it so seamlessly in casual conversation, while I on the other hand sounded like I was about to vomit (if you know, you know). In formal Arabic writing, the comment would have said, حلوة كتير. I later learned that this is very common, and the 7 was replacing the ح (Haa), which is a stronger “Hh” sound than the ه (haa). However, I noticed that more words contained random numbers, so it must have been done on purpose.
At first, I thought it must have been a typo. I noticed that the first comment said, “ 7elweh kteer!” (very beautiful). A couple years ago, I was scrolling through my Facebook timeline and noticed a comment thread between two Lebanese friends I knew from college. Notice how the actual letter kind of looks like the number 7. Let’s look at a a few examples: 7 = ح (Haa) This is where the numbers come into play.
But what about those letters that have no English equivalent? If you’ve learned these letters, you’ve probably found yourself at a learning curve trying to pronounce them––which is totally normal, given that the phonetics between English and Arabic are so different.
#ARABIC TRANSLITERATION NUMBERS HOW TO#
Reading them in your default alphabet can also help you learn how to better pronounce the words.
You’ve seen how you can make sense of Arabic words when writing them in the Latin alphabet. However, it’s also important to be familiar with Arabizi, as it’s very popular online. I definitely encourage you to learn the Arabic alphabet if you want to understand the true essence of the language. It is a product of the globalization of English-based technology, which made many people reliant on the Latin alphabet to communicate. Arabizi refers to the Arabic chat alphabet predominantly used by young Arabs when communicating digitally.
While this may seem a bit confusing at first, it’s totally normal––it’s called Arabizi. If you have any Arab friends on social media, you may have noticed that when writing in Arabic they often mix numbers in the middle of their words.
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