The instructions are displayed on the wall and visitors are asked to write their names in Arabic, Hebrew, Persian, and Latin script in the guestbook placed on the cart serving as a desk in the writing corner.
In addition to keeping in mind that these three languages are written from right to left, one should also know that
In all three languages, most letters signify consonants, and vowels are overwhelmingly indicated by diacritical marks. In everyday life, texts in Hebrew do not include diacritical marks, as opposed to texts written in Arabic and Persian. If English also omitted the diacritical marks signifying vowels, the word ‘clr’ could mean color and clear equally, and the context would determine its exact meaning.
The Arabic script consists of 28 characters. Persian is written in the Perso-Arabic script, which is the Arabic script with slight modifications to mark pronunciation and the addition of four letters. There are 32 characters in the Persian alphabet. The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters. Neither of the languages distinguishes between upper- and lower-case letters.
The Arabic and Perso-Arabic scripts tie the letters together, as in cursive writing. Letters take different shapes, depending on their place within the word (whether they are at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end). Moreover, some letters stand by themselves or can be connected only to the previous or following letters.
Hebrew assigns two forms to some of the letters. One is used at the beginning and the middle of the word, while the other one appears only at the end.
Arabic and Persian:
A set of diacritical marks are sometimes used to represent short vowels (and certain grammatical endings otherwise left unmarked).
There are six vowels marked in writing. These comprise three long vowels marked by individual letters and three short ones marked by diacritical marks. (Below ’A’ stands for any consonant.)
Long vowels:
may appear anywhere within the word, at the beginning, in the middle, and in the end. It will be pronounced as /a:/.
this comes at the end of the words and may stand either attached or separated. it will be pronounced as /i:/.
This letter has only one form and it will be pronounced as /u:/.
Long vowels (such as the "ee" in "tree") are written out. For example: Freeze: “f”; “r”; “ee”; “z”: فریز
Short vowels:
/æ/ as in the English word "dad."
/e/ as in the English word ”set.”
/o/ as in the English word ”border.”
The short "u" (as in "look"), a short "a" (as in "can") and a short "i" (as in "with") are simply omitted in writing.
Examples:
من /man/ in Persian means I (first person singular). It consists of the letters م and ن. When م connects to the next letter we should use the middle form. Then we should add the ending ن.
mumtaaz in Arabic means excellent. The consonants are “m”; “m”; “t”; and “z.” The short u in the first syllable is not written, but the long “a” in the second syllable is marked with an alif.
Salaam in Arabic means "hello.". To write the word start from the right and connect all the letters: “s”; “l”; long “a”; and “m.”
To write your name in Arabic and Persian, first look at the alphabet and find the consonants corresponding with the consonants in your name. For example, if your name is “Maya,” you can use the letter “م “ for the “m” sound,” ا“ for “a” sound, “ی” for “y[a]” sound, then ا for “a” sound. You just need to put them together and write مایا for “Maya.”
(مایا) م ا ی ا
Some examples:
Russ: راس -- ر ا س
Chris: کریس -- ک ر ی س
Kim: کیم -- ک ی م
More examples:
Sara: سارا
Tom: تام
Jennifer: جنیفر
Sandra: ساندرا
Hebrew
1. The first letter of the alphabet, א (alef) is silent, only with the addition of a diacritical mark (whether written or imagined) can the speaker determine how to pronounce it. For example, אני (ani) means “I” (first person singular) and the unwritten but imagined diacritical mark “complements” the alef so it stands for the sound “a.” At the end of the word, the letter י (yod) is pronounced as “i.” In many words, י (yod) signifies the sound i or y and the letter ו (vav) stands for either “o” or “u.” For example, in the word for letter, אות (ot), the letter vav comes after alef, together they signify the o sound.
2. In Hebrew, the letters that have two forms are:
כ kaf
ך kaf sofit (at the end of the word)
מ mem
ם mem sofit (at the end of the word)
נ nun
ן nun sofit (at the end of the word)
פ pe
ף pe sofit (at the end of the word)
צ tzadi
ץ tzadi sofit (at the end of the word)
So, in the word מכר (makar), which means acquaintance, or the past tense of the verb sell, the letter כ (kaf) is in the middle of the word, hence it is written like this: כ. However, in the word עורך (orekh), which means editor, the letter כ (kaf) is at the end of the word, hence it is written like this: ך.
Another example:
כף (kaf) can mean palm of the hand or spoon. כפיים (kapaim) means two palms of hand. In the singular form, the first letter is כ (kaf) and the second and last one is the letter פ (pe). Since it is at the end of the word, it is written in this form: ף. When in plural, we see that both letters are not at the end of the word.
Exercise:
How do you write the word that is pronounced mitz (juice)?
You need to record the following sounds: “m”; “i”; and “tz.”
Note that “i” is written with the letter yod.
Note that the sound “tz” at the end of the word is written with a tzadi differently than in the middle or the beginning of it: מיץ
Examples of how to write one’s name:
מריה Maria
ג'ון John
ביל Bill
ג'ק Jack
ג'קוב Jacob
היזל Hazel
מרים Miriam
אריק Eric
ג'ף Jeff