Access
This article is part of Nature's premium content.
Published online 28 November 2007 | Nature 450, 591 (2007) | doi:10.1038/450591b
News
Now in Arabic...
Science classics get translated.
Hundreds of science books, including classics by Isaac Newton and Stephen Hawking, will be translated into Arabic for the first time. The ambitious plan by a non-profit group in Abu Dhabi has the backing of the Crown prince and funding from the Abu Dhabi Authority for Culture and Heritage.
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
Comments
Reader comments are usually moderated after posting. If you find something offensive or inappropriate, you can speed this process by clicking 'Report this comment' (or, if that doesn't work for you, email redesign@nature.com). For more controversial topics, we reserve the right to moderate before comments are published.
Hi sirs, This would be a great step,i would like to suggest adding Darwin's books about the evolutionary theory as well as Einestien's books about special and general relativity. best regards. sayed sarhan
A welcome initiative, pity it's not happened before. There's a great deal of untapped (and sadly presently stagnant) intellectual potential in the Middle East, but the roots of this lie in the education system and are deeper than a mere lack of translations.
Although a great first step that has been overdue for many years, there is a caveat that truely needs to be carefully considered for any success for a project of this scale. Arabic language is still divided to two major forms with supporters for each holding onto their guns. The first is the “Faseeh†or the original Arabic which is still taught and understood, but hardly used in everyday John Q public use! The other so called “Aameeh†or common is so fragmented that sometimes Arabic speaking people my misunderstand each other. Having experienced the difficulties in understanding such translations attempted by Syrian scholars with the former and those of Iraq and Egypt with the latter, it was easier to learn English than to comprehend the translated texts. I hope those working in this project have thought about this issue and developed ways to overcome these problem. With my whole support for this project, I encourage them to go forward with open mind since criticism will follow soon and they will be better of if they are aware of it and expecting it. Godspeed.
I think that the "Kalima" project is a very good initiative and should be applauded and supported. I feel however that this article is misleading. The passage "The project, called Kalima (“word†in Arabic), is an attempt to address the fact that, although there are more than a quarter of a billion Arabic speakers worldwide, only a few hundred books are translated into Arabic each year.", gives the impression (albeit not explicitly) that very few in the Arab world have heard of these books or read them before. In fact, most educated Arabs can read either French or English fluently, and have access to these volumes in their English or French editions.
The excellent action.I thing that it would be suitable put on an edition too a life´s works Galileo Galilei, Kurt Gödel and S.M.H.Tabátabá´Ã- realism (by S.V.R.Nasr). Rudolf Polach
A good initiative. I think, "Kalima" must ask arab scientists in all world to participate in this initiative. This action will be accelerate and diversificate the scientific subjects.