kambiyuutar

Audio with Theyab's pronunciation

How do you ask someone in Arabic to print something on the kambiyuutar for you?

When learning a language, nine times out of ten the first lesson is about the house,
food, or the family. Why? These days, what is the most relevant and pressing set
of words that are good to know after ee and laa?

Words related to the kambiyuutar, of course.

Imagine you need a print-out of your qaalib. You need it badly. There's a plane to catch
and it requires a printed paper ticket. And you cannot even begin to ask for it.

The mental lamentations begin: why did you spend so much time memorising the Arabic
for "grandson" and "banana" when you could have learned:

"tagdr  tiTba:lii  faayl-ii?"

But you thought ahead, you did commit these words to memory. Not only this, you are
asking the Arabic-speaking internet cafe guy with a sexy Apple kambiyuutar to iDqaT
File then isHab the cursor down to Tibaa:ah. The printer comes to life. And suddenly,
you have your faayl and your flight. 

Historically, al-kambiyuutar has not always assumed the sexiest of forms. Check out
Theyab's childhood one from 1980s, a commercial success in Kuwait:

The brand of this computer was called Sakhr, which equates to:

And since trends move in circles, who knows, maybe we'll be holding this thing
to our ears in fifty years' time - and charming our local bank manager for the
necessary loan to acquire it.

إي	ee	Yes
لا	laa	No
قالب	qaalib	Document
تقدر	tagdr	Can you
تطبعلي	tiTba:l-ii	You print for me
فايلي	faayl-ii	My file
اضقت	iDqat	Click!
إسحب	isHab	Drag!
طباعة	Tibaa:ah	Print
صخر	Sakhr	Rocks
وين	wain	Where is
حاسوبچ الآلي	Haasuub-ich al-aalii	Your (>f) electronic calculator