i would like to know how i can go about typing in arabic or other language besides english?

Question

i would like to be able to type a friend from egypt a letter using his own language of arabic how do i do that>

Answer 1

Unless you know Arabic, I would say use a translation service.

Here are a couple of English-Arabic translation services:

http://translate.sakhr.com/sakhr/elogin_ET.asp

http://www.ectaco.co.uk/English-Arabic-Dictionary/

Now, your best shot is to have an Arabic speaker translate for you. Arabic is entirely different from English so even if you know the alphabets it's going to be hard to read (for your friend) if you do not write Arabic words (that is Arabic letters are not phonetically the same as their latin counterparts).

If you are using Windows XP, this is how to make your keyboard type Arabic:

Go to Start >> Settings >> Control Panel >> Language and Regional Settings.

There you will find a Languages tab, click on that, then you will find a button with the word details on it. Click on that, then install Arabic keyboard settings (you might need to you your Windows XP CD for that).

The following are the Arabic alphabets, now if you cannot view the characters, depending on the browser that you are using, do one of the following:

Internet Explorer: Right-Click anywhere in the page, then go to Encoding, and choose Arabic from the list.

Firefox: Go to the "View" menu and choose Character Encoding and then arabic.

ِأ = A
ب = B
ت = T
ث = TH (as in Thursday)
ج = J (as in Joker)
ح = H (Very sharp H, as if you were coughing)
خ = KH
د = D
ذ = Th (as in The)
ر = R
ز = Z
س = S
ش = sh
ص = S (A whistling S)
ض = Dh
ط = T (A louder T, with a heavy use of the tongue)
ظ = Th ( No real equivalent in the English language)
ع = A (A strong "A")
غ = Gh
ف = F
ق = K (a louder K, from the throat)
ك = K
ل = L
م = M
ن = N
ه = H
و = W or O
ي = i, e or y

Notice that there are only 3 vowels in the Arabic alphabet. That is because we use accents (strokes) to show the way a word is pronounced.

They are:
أ = A. This letter would sound like the A in Animal.
و = O, U This letter sound like the O in hello, the ou in You, basically any W or oo or ou or u sound.
ي = I, E, Y This letter sound like any EE sound.

Window XP is especially good about installing other languages the way I explained to you above. you can use any QWERTY keyboard for that purposes.

This is what an Arabic/QWERTY keyboard looks like:
http://www.datacal.com/products/arabic-keyboards_l.htm

Hope this crash course in Arabic helps :)

Answer 2

Are you an Muslim? I Know the letters of the Arabic language (alif, be, the, se, geem , hai, Kai, Dal, zaal, ray, zay, suad, zuad) There is so much more. You cant just type Arabic. You need to learn it first. That takes years and years. Arabic is not like the English alphabet. My parents know Arabic and you cant just type anything. You need to learn the Zara's and all the other things. I a sorry.

Answer 3

Other than English, I speak Arabic and French. Also I'm learning Farsi as well :) Good luck with your studies, languages are a beautiful thing to have. English: Hello Arabic: مرحبا French: Salut

Answer 4

Learn the language. That would be a good start.

Then go buy a Mac, as all those fonts are available for a Mac!

Answer 5

Go to Download.com and out arabic in the search bar and it will automaticaly show you if there are any software for Arabic.

Answer 6

try a arabic writing class

Answer 7

you just type an um email me @ [e-mail] if you speak spanish.

Answer 8

http://clavierarabes.org

Answer 9

see i m from egypt too so u can tell me wat u wanna to tell him
and i do the write thing then i send to u & u send to him
or
take a class ................