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Understanding Misunderstandings
Sometimes the differences in languages can cause misunderstandings. This is evident when someone translates the Qur'an and doesn't understand that a word in Arabic can have several different meanings in English. And visa versa. For example many languages have a different word for different types of love; the love between brothers and sisters, love between husband and wife, love between parent and child or the love between friends. In English we have just one word for all these different types of love: Love. Unfortunately these differences can often cause misunderstandings, hard feelings and even war. This is what happens with the word "pride." It can sometimes lead to hard feelings within our own community, within the Ummah. In English the word "pride" has many different meanings from "positive pride" to "negative pride" to even a group of lions. In Arabic the word "pride" has only a negative meaning. 3. Write the Arabic word for "pride"
The differences in meanings of a word can even happen between people who speak the "same" language. For example a "lift" in London is an "elevator" in New York. Or a "flat" in London is an "apartment" in Los Angles. But you don't even need to look across an ocean for this to be true. Take for example the word "frap" in Massachusetts, is a "milkshake" in Colorado. "Woohdundees" in Rhode Island are "long johns" in Kansas, but many other places know them as "long thermal underwear." 4. On the back of this page: |