Help! Anyone Speak Conversational Arabic?

On the Road

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Sat Dec-20-03 10:14 AM
Original message

Help! Anyone Speak Conversational Arabic?

I have been working with a young Egyptian man to get him a job overseas teaching English. He was supposed to be travelling Thursday but seems to have gotten lost and we have not heard from him. The only contact I have is his family, which seems to have no English speakers.

Would anyone be willing to get on a three-way call with me and his family to find out what happened and where he is? If so, please PM me. I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks.

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Nlighten1

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Sat Dec-20-03 10:19 AM
Response to Original message

1. I speak Jive...

but not Arabic...sorry

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the_boxer_

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Sat Dec-20-03 10:28 AM
Response to Reply #1

2. I'm PMing you....I have a suggestion..

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the_boxer_

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Sat Dec-20-03 10:34 AM
Response to Reply #2

3. I PM'd you but for anyone else with similiar trouble here's this..

If you are communicating by email there are translation websites that you can go to. You simply type the text in English and pick the language that you want to translate it to. Then when they send you something, copy and paste their text into the translator and pick English to translate to and it will do it. You can google any number of translator sites. Some are better than others.

Just an FYI to everyone else...

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Interrobang

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Sat Dec-20-03 11:24 AM
Response to Reply #3

4. Don't do it, man!

I don't speak Arabic, but I wouldn't trust a translation site as far as I could sling a piano, or collectively throw the Republican Party. Basically put, people who suggest using translation sites don't speak other languages, and therefore have no clue how bad what comes out the other end really is. Machine translation = unreliable. For something this important, you really do need someone who knows the language.

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Lydia Leftcoast

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Sat Dec-20-03 12:34 PM
Response to Reply #4

7. Avoid the translation sites, yes!

Arabic is not related to English at all, and the farther a language is from English, the worse the translation sites do. The translations into "Japanese" are laughable.

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supernova

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Sat Dec-20-03 11:28 AM
Response to Original message

5. Egyptian embassy

Edited on Sat Dec-20-03 11:29 AM by supernova

try the Egyptian embassy in DC. They may have someone who can help you translate. They could also hook him up with the embassy/consulate whereever he's going, assuming Egypt has relations with that country.

Good luck.

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Lydia Leftcoast

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Sat Dec-20-03 12:32 PM
Response to Reply #5

6. I second that suggestion

One function of embassies is to help their citizens who are overseas.

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On the Road

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Sat Dec-20-03 02:31 PM
Response to Original message

8. Thanks, Folks

My arabic guy just emailed after three days incommunicado.

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