Project description

Title: Arabic-German Dictionary
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Regional Division Mediterranean Region and Middle East (MENA)
Lead executing agency: Arab League Educational Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO)
Overall term: 2008 to 2014

Context

Access to knowledge of the world is the prerequisite for sustainable development. Young people in the Arab world face huge obstacles in gaining access to such knowledge. A significant hurdle is the language barrier between the Arab world and the industrialised nations to the north that generate the majority of technical innovations.

Even at many universities in the Middle East and North Africa, the teaching material for numerous subjects in the natural sciences and engineering is only available in either English or French, as there are no Arabic translations. Students are often given texts in English or French while receiving instruction in Arabic during class time. This makes teaching the future specialists difficult. For the growing number of young people enrolled in German-Arabic university programmes and training courses, this problem is even more severe.

In response, numerous efforts are underway to translate course material, curricula, standard textbooks and other teaching aids into Arabic. However, given the diversity of the many spoken dialects in the region, there is often no distinct or standard term for technological innovations.

Objective

On behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), GIZ is supporting efforts to standardise technical Arabic. Together with the Arab League Educational Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO), an online supported technical dictionary is to be published in twenty volumes. Access will be available free of charge to teachers and students, translators and engineers alike. The first two volumes on automotive engineering and the water sector are scheduled for publication in 2010. Additional volumes on themes as diverse as renewable energy, electrical engineering and the textile industry are in the pipeline.

Downloads

• Wissen der Welt
  Ein technisches Wörterbuch für die arabische Welt.
  Arabisch – Deutsch – Englisch - Französisch.
  de-technisches-woerterbuch-arabisch-projektinformation.pdf, 0.32 MB (German)
• Un dictionnaire technique pour le monde arabe
  arabe – allemand – anglais – français
  fr-technisches-woerterbuch-arabisch-projektinformation.pdf, 0.02 MB (French)
• Knowledge of the world
  A technical dictionary for the Arab world.
  Arabic – German – English – French
  en-technisches-woerterbuch-arabisch-projektinformation.pdf, 0.29 MB (English)
• Knowledge of the world
  A technical dictionary for the Arab world.
  Arabic – German – English – French
  ar-technisches-woerterbuch-arabisch-projektinformation.pdf, 0.30 MB (Arabic)

Further information

• arabterm – Technical dictionary
  A technical dictionary for the Arab world.
  Arabic – German – English – French
  http://www.arabterm.org