Educational resources - Arabic studies

Installing Arabic on your computer

It's now very easy to install the Arabic keyboard on computers:
- On Windows 10, it's in Settings > Time and language > Language > Add language (the tree structure is quite similar in earlier versions)
- On Mac, it's on the System Preferences > Keyboard > Input methods side

There's no need to buy a special keyboard or stickers. Just have a picture of the keyboard and refer to it. With daily practice, you'll find your way around after two or three days, and you'll know the keyboard by heart after around ten days.

Learning to type in Arabic

There are also free software programs for learning to type, such as Klavaro (but Arabic is only offered with a QWERTY keyboard). Some sites allow you to practice online, such as Typingstudy.com (English interface).

Note that the ذ and شدة, in some configurations, are not on the */µ key as in the image above, but on the ² key (located to the left of the 1/& key). This, among other things, is what makes the difference between the different kinds of Arabic keyboards (Algeria), Arabic (Syria), etc.

Arabic keyboards online

You'll find an online keyboard for typing in Arabic here.

This other handy virtual keyboard is connected to Google and YouTube for direct searches.

Transliterating Arabic means transposing an Arabic text into a Latin alphabet, letter by letter, generally using additional signs (diacritical signs: dots, hyphens or chevrons) added over or under the Latin letters. To do this, you need 1) to know the rules of transliteration (there are several) and 2) to install on your computer a system of keyboard shortcuts enabling you to type these letters with their diacritical signs using a Unicode font.

Unicode transliteration fonts

To ensure that your transliteration remains stable when moving from one computer to another or from one word processing program to another, your computer must use a font that meets the universal Unicode standard (for example: Arial Unicode MS, Gentium, Lucida Grande, Times New Roman and many others). Recent computers come with such fonts, but if you're using an older system (pre-2003), you may need to install one or more Unicode fonts (you can download Gentium here, for example).

Arabica transliteration rules

There are several rules and systems for transliterating Arabic; the key is to adopt one and adhere to it rigorously.
The pdf below recalls what the rules are for academic transliteration of Arabic (system of the French-language journal Arabica).

Arabica transliteration system (.pdf / 79.72Kb)

This document sets out the Arabica system for transliterating Arabic into Latin characters (letter equivalence table and transliteration rules)

Transliteration keyboard (1)

The Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale du Caire (Ifao) allows you to download keyboard tools and Unicode fonts to install on your computer (Macintosh or PC) in order to obtain transliteration characters corresponding to the Arabica standard. We recommend that you familiarize yourself with the use of these keyboards as early as L3.
Publications section > Publish at Ifao > Special characters > Fonts > Downloads (at the bottom of the page).

Transliteration keyboard (2)

The AFU keyboard, developed by the Langage, Langues et Cultures d'Afrique laboratory (LLACAN, UMR 8135), provides the symbols of the transcription alphabet by combining keyboard keys. It is very easy to use, and installs itself in the keyboard choices after installation on the computer.
It can be downloaded from this page (at the end of the page).

Customize your transliteration keyboard

It is possible to customize your transliteration keyboard (or any other keyboard) with the software Ukelele, downloadable here: this means deciding for yourself where to place the transliterated letters on your keyboard (with which key combination to obtain the letter with its diacritics, e.g. ā, ṣ, ḫ, etc.). Here you'll find a text tutorial on how to use Ukelele on the Macintosh.

Ukelele Mac Tutorial (.pdf / 32.63KB)

This text tutorial explains how to create a customized keyboard on your Macintosh with the Ukelele software

Online keyboard

You'll find an online keyboard for transliteration typing here.

The Doha Historical Dictionary of Arabic

- https://www.dohadictionary.org/

Modern Arabic

Al-Maʿānī Dictionary:

• Unilingual version
• Bilingual version Arabic/English

Dictionary al-Mawrid (Arabic/English)

Hans Wehr dictionary: see below, Arabic Almanach.

Classical Arabic

Arabic Almanach: access to the digitized version of the main bilingual dictionaries for classical Arabic (English, French, German: Hanw Wehr, Kazimirski, Lane, etc.), unilingual dictionaries of classical Arabic (Tāǧ al-ʿarūs, Lisān al-ʿArab, etc.), dictionaries of modern Arabic (Hans Wehr) and Egyptian Arabic (Hinds and Badawi: Egyptian Arabic-English), with a search engine by Arabic root (in Arabic or Latin characters).
The Menu section, top left, lets you choose which dictionaries to display and in which order; the Search section, top right, lets you search for a specific root.

The www.baheth.net site brings together several unilingual Arabic dictionaries (Lisān al-ʿArab, Maqāyis al-Luġa, etc.). Search is by word, not by root.

Dialectal Arabic

• Maghrebian Arabic: access to Dictionnaire pratique arabe-français, by Beaussier (Algiers, 1958) on the BnF website.
• Egyptian Arabic: Hinds and Badawi's dictionary (Egyptian Arabic-English) can be accessed at Arabic Almanach.

al-Maktaba al-Šāmila: site offering a wealth of Arabic texts from medieval times, with the option of downloading them. Search by author or work name. Texts are made available in text format, from published works; the "information" section specifies which edition was used, and the text-reading interface specifies the volume and page of the reference edition. Works can be downloaded in .bok format, or some in pdf format. Entirely Arabic-language site. Possibility of installing a Shamela application on your smartphone.

Bulac's digital resources give you access to numerous databases of articles, encyclopedias and more. Access is via your Bulac reader ID at the following addresses (you will be asked to log in to access them):

Encyclopédie de l'Islam 3rd edition (in English; incomplete as it is currently being edited)

Encyclopédie de l'Islam 2nd edition (in French)

Encyclopedia of Arabic Language and Linguistics

JSTOR (platform storing articles in pdf version, which can be read online or downloaded)

Finally, this Bulac page brings together several resources for Arabic studies, accessible online.

Use this page to convert dates between the Hegirian and Gregorian calendars.

- al-Baḥḥār: online software that allows you to determine the metre of an Arabic poem