<div dir="ltr">Khaled, Yes, that makes perfect sense, as many words in English have Arabic roots as well.  I believe it's common and no fault or weakness of a language to make use of some words from another.  However, I do suggest that classical Arabic be used as a Moroccan user may not completely get "Baas" because they use a combination of Arabic with French influence, but they do understand the classical Arabic term.  You ever tried asking for a mobile phone in the middle east?  There are 4 words for it, but everyone seems to understand 5elewi. <div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Aug 2, 2008 at 3:05 PM, Jad/Hakam madi <<a href="mailto:Jad@ubuntu.com">Jad@ubuntu.com</a>> wrote: <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="border-left: 1px solid rgb(204, 204, 204); margin: 0pt 0pt 0pt 0.8ex; padding-left: 1ex;">I'm not sure about Egypt but in Jordan Arabizi (Arabic Mixed with English) is very popular and English is very popular, actually in many cases people prefer to use English terms as they are used to it more than Arabic ones, to sum it up, it's all about getting used to it rather than understanding the meaning 100% . for example in Jordan we call public bus a باص although the Arabic term been there for long time حافله  but we still use the word باص even in some official documents and that's because we are used to it. So it's not just about translating a term but about using it. Now we are discussing Arabic translation issue in English :-) Happy translation. 2008/8/2 Khaled Hosny <<a href="mailto:khaledhosny@eglug.org">khaledhosny@eglug.org</a>>: <div><div></div><div class="Wj3C7c">> Nice article, but if not so much interest in case of Arabic translators. > Arabic is a completely different language with a different script, using > English terms as such isn't a viable option, transliteration is as bad. > In the same time, you can't depend on the common usage because of the > diglossa status, what works with vernacular Arabic isn't (most of the > time) suitable for the written classical or modern standard Arabic. > > Regards, >  Khaled > > On Sat, Aug 02, 2008 at 09:11:19AM +0300, Jad/Hakam madi wrote: >> <a href="http://www.proz.com/translation-articles/articles/33/1/Technical-terms---translate-or-not-translate" target="_blank">http://www.proz.com/translation-articles/articles/33/1/Technical-terms---translate-or-not-translate</a> >> >> -- >> Your Freedom is worth more than you think. Take advantage of it while >> you can. >> >> <a href="http://Ubuntu.com/" target="_blank">http://Ubuntu.com/</a>  Linux for Human Beings >> <a href="http://Nashmi.org/" target="_blank">http://Nashmi.org/</a> Ubuntu Jordan LoCo >> Mobile: 962 77 7795404 >> Skype: jadmadi >> 1024D/1BC049D2 >> CBBB C94C 7F28 8F65 1696 CF01 82DD 2C87 1BC0 49D2 >> >> -- >> Ubuntu-l10n-ara mailing list >> <a href="mailto:Ubuntu-l10n-ara@lists.ubuntu.com">Ubuntu-l10n-ara@lists.ubuntu.com</a> >> Modify settings or unsubscribe at: <a href="https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-l10n-ara" target="_blank">https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-l10n-ara</a> > > -- >  Khaled Hosny >  Arabic localizer and member of Arabeyes.org team > </div></div><div class="Ih2E3d">> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- > Version: GnuPG v1.4.9 (GNU/Linux) > > iEYEARECAAYFAkiUU+cACgkQRoqITGOuyPJmRACcDe3c9OWKgGSuQFmbJhDcFLIS > alIAnj0woUkfcD7p3Gs0YFi9IdtTYpJq > =ke0n > -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- > > -- </div><div class="Ih2E3d">Your Freedom is worth more than you think. Take advantage of it while you can. <a href="http://Ubuntu.com/" target="_blank">http://Ubuntu.com/</a> Linux for Human Beings <a href="http://Nashmi.org/" target="_blank">http://Nashmi.org/</a> Ubuntu Jordan LoCo Mobile: 962 77 7795404 Skype: jadmadi 1024D/1BC049D2 CBBB C94C 7F28 8F65 1696 CF01 82DD 2C87 1BC0 49D2 -- </div>Ubuntu-arabic mailing list <a href="mailto:Ubuntu-arabic@lists.ubuntu.com">Ubuntu-arabic@lists.ubuntu.com</a> Modify settings or unsubscribe at: <a href="https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-arabic" target="_blank">https://lists.ubuntu.com/mailman/listinfo/ubuntu-arabic</a> </blockquote></div> </div>