The BBC has launched a new Arabic language TV channel.

The channel is free to everyone in North Africa and the Middle East with a satellite or cable connection.

It will distinguish itself from other state-funded channels by reporting “without fear or favour”, BBC World Service director Nigel Chapman said.

This is the BBC’s second attempt at an Arabic channel. The first closed in 1996 in the wake of an editorial dispute with its Saudi funders.

Read more

Arabic article:

BBC Arabic TV behind the scenes

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Source of Realia:

• BBC Arabic TV Channel

The following is a collection of miscellaneous Realia items (with English translation) which reflect the topic of Human Rights in the Arab world.

These realia items were carefully selected to include a wide range of the most commonly used law and human rights vocabulary.

In the events and demonstrations banners/posters realia, they are particularly used in the context of increasing awareness about the situation of Human Rights concerns in the Arab world.

The realia types available in this post are:

1. Organisations logos
2. Book covers
3. News Video Report Realia
4. Events and demonstrations banners/posters

Links to relevant vocabulary learning resources are listed at the end of this post.

V-tivity

Translate the text/meaning of the following realia items:

• Book/Journal Cover No. 4
  • What are the main front cover articles?
• Events and demonstrations banners/posters

Organisations Logos

PCHR – Palestinian Centre for Human Rights

Palestinian Human Rights Foundation

Syrian Human Rights Organisation

Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights -

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The International Declaration of Human Rights – Dignity and Justice for All

Book Covers

Human Rights Competition/Quiz for university and school students

Women’s Rights (International Documents)

Human Rights Constitutionality

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Going to extremes in Human Rights - A brief general encyclopedia

The Right to Health is a Human Right

A Directory/Guide for Human Rights Education

Human Rights, Essential Concepts – Why, How and When?

حقوق الإنسان.. بين النظرية والتطبيق في مجال إستراتيجيات حماية الطفل

Human Rights between Theory and Practice in the field of Child Protection Strategies

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News Video Report Realia

استمرار التعذيب في سجون مصر

Watch video

Events and Demonstrations Banners/Posters

Translate the following banners/posters?

Poster 1:

Poster 2:

المؤتمر العالمي حول اننتهاكات حقوق الإنسان تحت الغزو والإحتلال العراقي

Poster 3 :

حقوق المرأة – حقائق و أباطيل

Poster 4 :

Poster 5 :

Poster 6 :

Poster 7 :

سلب طفولتهم … جريمة

اليوم العالمي لمكافحة عمالة الأطفال

Poster 8 :

Poster 9 :

التعذيب جريمة نظام – مصريين ضد التعذيب

Poster 10 :

Poster 11 :

بالأرقام : 42% من الشباب هاجروا

Poster 12 :

ثلاثة أشهر بدون رواتب

بدنا (نريد) خبز للأولاد – يكفي ذل و استعباد

Poster 13 :

لن أبقى لاجئ – سأعود|

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Poster 14

Newspaper article / Poster 15

click to enlarge

Source of Realia

• Achr.nu
• a-tarakji.maktoobblog.com
• frontlinedefenders.org
• Libya-today.com
• Idsc.gov.eg
• cihrs.org
• bettna.com
• geelsa7wa.blogspot.com
• zamakan.gharbeia.org
• www.almaghar.net
• 20at.com
• saleem55.maktoobblog.com
• egwriters.com/admin

Vocabulary learning resources (Human Rights)

• Human Rights Vocabulary
• Human Rights Abuse Vocabulary

(Click image to enlarge)

 What are the main headlines ? 

Source of Realia:

Iraqataglance.blogspot.com

(Click image to enlarge)

This is a newspaper realia that dates back to the 80s. (29th Oct 1983)

Due to a lack of printing resources, note that the front headlines were handwritten and the text in the articles were typed with a typewriter

Activity:

What type of newspaper is this?

Translate the headlines of the newspaper?

Source of Realia:

Library.ucla.edu

Answers 

1. An assassination attempt on the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein
2. Iran launches a widespread attack on the Northern Iraqi Front
3. Iraqi Kurds shot down a Turkish military helicopter/plane and arrested it’s pilot

Just recently, a political campaign took over most of the Lebanese billboards with the message (I love Life) and other messages in three languages : Arabic, English and French.

The key voabulary you may learn from these realia are:

• Life : الحياة
• Debts: ديون
• Colours: ألوان
• to live : عاش / يعيس
• Country/nation : وطن

This is the Campaign’s mission:

One simple question: Is our future destined to be victim to cynicism and apathy, or should broad participation at the grassroots determine our fate?

The I Love Life campaign is challenging citizens in communities across the country to answer this question with every day constructive actions and activities.

We believe that Lebanon stood up to all angst because it has always embraced the Culture of Life. Deprecation is an offense to the civic heritage upon which Lebanon’s democratic republic is based. Indifference cannot solve our common problems; it only demonstrates our disability to function in the public arena, where political speech surpasses the limits of democratic opposition.

The Culture of Life is shorthand for a concept that human life, through all its stages, has to be respected above all.

We understand the Culture of Life, as opposed to the Culture of Death, as a deep, well-developed sense capable of discerning true values and interpreting authentic needs in our communities and society.

We want to take a stand of empowerment and embrace the change towards a new life, towards a fresh perspective that would entail new social and economic norms.

For more information about the campaign visit www.lebanon-ilovelife.com

More realia images :

Download the Arabic wallpaper (PDF)

These two signs are not part of the (I Love Life) Campaign.

Source : iheartcapitalism.wordpress.com

Source of Realia:

• I love life Campaig
• Arabictype.com
• Yalibnan.com
• iheartcapitalism.wordpress.com/

 Al-Bilaad (البلاد ) is a bilingual Canadian newspaper published in London both in Arabic and English

جريدة كندية تصدر باللغة العربية و الإنجليزية في لندن

Read the newspaper in PDF

Read/Download the front page (PDF) – Feb 2008

Access the newspaper site

Souce of Realia:

albilad.net

This is a new book on the US war in Iraq published in 2006, which was translated into Arabic.

The editrorial review states:

” The graphic photographs of U.S. military personnel grinning over abused Arab and Muslim prisoners shocked the world community. That the US was systematically torturing inmates at prisons run by its military and civilian leaders divided the nation and brought deep shame to many. When Steven H. Miles, an expert in medical ethics and an advocate for human rights, learned of the neglect, mistreatment, and torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo Bay, and elsewhere, one of his first thoughts was: “Where were the prison doctors while the abuses were taking place?”

In Oath Betrayed, Miles explains the answer to this question. Not only were doctors, nurses, and medics silent while prisoners were abused; physicians and psychologists provided information that helped determine how much and what kind of mistreatment could be delivered to detainees during interrogation. Additionally, these harsh examinations were monitored by health professionals operating under the purview of the U.S. military.

Read more

• Oath : القسم
• Betrayal: خيانة
• Torture : تعذيب
• Medical Complicity : التواطؤ الطبي
• The War on Terror :الحرب على الإرهاب

كيف لطخ أطباء أميركا شرف المهنة في أبوغريب؟

‘خيانة القسم’ يكشف عن تورط الاطباء الاميركيين مع الجنود في الانتهاكات الخطيرة لحقوق الانسان في العراق.

Read more

Source of Realia:

Amazon.com

Middle-East-Online.com

The following realia is a collection of Arts & Literature magazines front covers

V-tivity:  Can you recognise the following items:

1. The magazine’s name and motto
2. Front cover articles
3. Name of Publishing house

Key Vocabulary

Creativity : إبداع

Expression (artistic or linguistic) : تعبير / تعابير

to absorb, understand (learning) : استوعب / يستوعب

Methodology : منهجية

Analysis : تحليل

Characteristic, attribute: ميزة

Generation : عصر

Magazine 1:

More magazines

Magazine 2 :

Magazine 3:

Magazine 4:

Magazine 5:

Magazine 6:

Magazine 7:

Source of realia:

deviantart.com

Pre-Listening task:

To gain some understanding of this news read the following article:

The Calgary Sun newspaper in Alberta, Canada, chose Monday to publish no bad news and made the story of a found dog its front page banner piece.

The tabloid said it was filling the paper with “good news” on a gamble “the news gods would cooperate with us and not deal us any world catastrophes or local tragedies that would elbow for space on Page 1.”

None of the Sun newspapers in Vancouver, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Toronto or Ottawa followed suit.

“It’s not something we would do every day and the nature of news being what it is, we can’t promise a sequel with any certainty,” the Calgary paper said. “But it was a relatively tranquil day yesterday in our (oil) boomtown …”

The front page story was about a dog that went missing on Christmas Eve and reunited with it owners on Jan. 27, while the other Sun papers fronted bombings in Afghanistan and local missing person reports.

Source of the article

Listening task:

The first half of the podcast contains the following:

1. Introduction – see transcript below
2. Mock news bulletin – Good news
3. Real news bulletin recording – Bad news
4. Interview with وائل الإبراشي , the editor of the Egyptian newspaper (صحيفة صوت الأمة)
5. Discussion and debate
6. Miscellaneous News

Listen to the Audio Podcast :

The following article is a transcript of the Podcast introduction:

كوارث وحروب.. اين هي الاخبار السعيدة؟

قررت الصحيفة الكندية الSun، عدم نشر أي أخبار سيئة أيام الاثنين من كل أسبوع، بهدف عدم تعكير مزاج القاريء وتشجيعه على اتخاذ موقف إيجابي ومتفائل من الحياة. قد يقول البعض ان هذا ممكن ربما في كندا. انما في العالم العربي؟ اخبار كاملة بدون اي خبر سيء؟ كيف؟

اردنا ان نعطيكم مثالا لكيف يمكن ان تكون نشرة اخبار طيبة. بحثنا جاهدين في ارشيفنا ولكننا لم نجد نشرة كاملة. فاضطررنا الى ابتكارها. للأسف.

ولكن نشرات الاخبار الحقيقية، للأسف، ليست كذلك. استمع الى كيف تكون عادة نشرات الاخبار الحقيقية

وائل الإبراشي رئيس تحرير صحيفة صوت الأمة، وهي صحيفة مصرية مستقلة تهتم بنشر التحقيقات، وتتحدث عادة عن قضايا كالفساد والرشوة، تحدث الى بي بي سي اكسترا

.

Find out more:

BBC Arabic Xtra Radio Programme

كوارث وحروب.. اين هي الاخبار السعيدة؟ – BBC Arabic Xtra

Canadian Newspaper bans bad news for one day – United Press International

]]> http://varabic.wordpress.com/2008/02/22/bbc-podcast-canadian-newspaper-bans-bad-news-for-one-day-%d8%b5%d8%ad%d9%8a%d9%81%d8%a9-%d9%83%d9%86%d8%af%d9%8a%d8%a9-%d8%aa%d9%86%d8%b4%d8%b1-%d8%a7%d9%84%d8%a3%d8%ae%d8%a8%d8%a7%d8%b1-%d8%a7/feed/ 1 MD http://varabic.wordpress.com/2008/02/20/caricature-%d9%83%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%8a%d9%83%d8%a7%d8%aa%d9%8a%d8%b1%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d8%a7%d9%82%d8%aa%d8%b5%d8%a7%d8%af%d9%8a%d8%a9-the-economic-situation-of-the-arab-world/ http://varabic.wordpress.com/2008/02/20/caricature-%d9%83%d8%a7%d8%b1%d9%8a%d9%83%d8%a7%d8%aa%d9%8a%d8%b1%d8%a7%d8%aa-%d8%a7%d9%82%d8%aa%d8%b5%d8%a7%d8%af%d9%8a%d8%a9-the-economic-situation-of-the-arab-world/#comments Wed, 20 Feb 2008 13:40:27 +0000 MD http://varabic.wordpress.com/?p=321 ]]>

The following is a selection of caricature that address the topic of the Economic situation of the Arab World. It’s a good revision for your Economic vocabulary.

These caricatures are either insulting or complimentary, can serve a political purpose or be drawn solely for entertainment.

What message is being communicated with these caricatures?

Discuss and share your thoughts for every caricature in the comments section

Caricature 1:

Caricature 2:

More caricatures

Caricature 3:

Caricature 4:

Caricature 5:

Caricature 6:

Caricature 7:

Caricature 8:

Caricature 9:

Caricature 10:

Caricature 11:

Caricature 12:

Caricature 13:

Caricature 14: