Between English and Arabic by Noor Nasser

Solid color When two languages intersect, a third language forms in between.

‫ب�� ي� ن�‬ ‫ن��‬ ‫ال� ج � يل�� ي�� ة�‬ ‫إ‬ ‫ز‬

‫وا�لعر ب �� ي� ة�‬

‫ن��ور ن��اصر‬

Between English & Arabic

Noor Nasser

Contents Forward 9 the Space Between Languages with Maan Jalal

The Shape of Words

Arabic Type Anatomy

& Typographic Terms 27

Modernizing Arabic Type

for a Digital Audience

The Shape of Letters 35

‫�م ق�دم ة�‬

‫أنا أتكلم لغتين و أحتل ثالث‪ .‬س‬ ‫اإلنجليزية‪ ،‬العربية‪ ،‬وما بينهما‪ .‬س‬ ‫ما بينهما لست مجرد اندماج لغتين‪،‬‬ ‫بل اندماج ثقافتين‪ .‬في هذا المكان أنا‬ ‫أتك ّون‪ .‬ش‬ ‫عندما تنفصل اللغتين‪ ،‬هناك خسارة‬ ‫ال مفر منها بسبب فروقات عديدة‪.‬س‬ ‫يدرس هذا الكتاب الفروقات القابلة‬ ‫للقياس‪ ،‬مثل تكوين الكلمات والحروف‪،‬‬ ‫ويشمل مقابلة مع كاتب ما بين اللغتين‪.‬‬ ‫ب‬ ‫و‬

Forward As a bilingual, I occupy two spaces. The spaces of English and Arabic. But I also occupy the space in between. The intersection of the two languages is where I form. This space in between is not just a merging of languages, but a merging of cultures. It is in this space that I find others like me, people who must identify with both languages or both cultures in order to understand every little nuance of this space. When you separate the two languages, how do you not get lost in translation? This book studies the formation of the English and Arabic languages and the space between them, and examines what it means to be a creator in this space.

“I think language is alive. It’s organic. And really interesting things happen when people take ownership of language and do what they want with it.”

� � � The � Space ‫�ما ب ي ن‬ Between � ‫ل‬ ‫ل‬ � � ‫غ‬ � �‫ا ت ي ن‬ Languages

Maan ‫�مع ن� ج‬ ‫��لال‬Jalal Maan Jalal is Iraqi by blood, UAE born, and New Zealand raised. Born to a family of mixed Arab heritage, he completed his undergraduate and graduate studies in New Zealand before moving back to Dubai, where he currently resides. He is a creative writer, a journalist and a content producer living in the intersection between the English and Arabic cultures. The following is a conversation we had on Zoom.

I feel like the only logical first question I can ask is how are you and how are you holding up in this difficult time? Aw, thanks. I’m good. I’m fine. I’m working from home. I think I was built for a lockdown life. I like being at home. I miss going outside, but it’s fine. I’m always working on a million things at once, so sometimes not having the distraction or the excuse of going out and meeting people just gives you more time to work, you know? I mean, I’m looking forward to everybody getting vaccinated and all that, but it is what it is. Where are you from? Where did you grow up? I am mixed Arab heritage. My father is from Yemen. My mother is from Iraq. But I sort of grew up within the Arab culture. I grew up in Dubai. I was born here and then I left Dubai when I was 12 and my family immigrated to New Zealand. So all the way to the end of the earth. And I lived there for, I don’t know, 25 years? I did my high school education, my university education, and I worked there for about five, six years, but I was always coming back to Dubai because I have family here and my dad was working here. And then The Space Between Languages

about eight years ago, I decided to make a permanent move back here and work here. How do you like living in Dubai now? I love Dubai. I think it’s a really great city for people who are like me and probably like you who are, um, Arab but grew up somewhere else. And you can be as Arab as you want here, or you can be as westernized as you want here. And I think it’s a really interesting space because there’s a lot of people from all over the middle East. There’s a lot of ex-pats. And so there’s definitely different spaces depending on what your intention is to create something really interesting where there is an intersection between different cultures and different ways of thinking and different languages. So there’s interesting spaces you can create. Have you always wanted to be a writer? That’s a funny question. I was always a writer, but I didn’t realize I was a writer until my last year at art school. I went to art school in New Zealand. It was a very prestigious, tough to get into art school. I didn’t enjoy it for a myriad of reasons.

What was your major?

١٤

It was Fine Arts and my major was Painting the first two years and then halfway through, I thought, what am I doing? So I switched to Photography and I was a minor in English, Literature and Art History. In my last year we did one big project, and what I did was I interviewed and photographed lots of Iraqi immigrants in New Zealand who are my age and asked them about the immigration experience and you know, where they feel more akin to, Iraq or New Zealand, all that kind of stuff. And I ended up handing in a big written book with all of the interviews and stories and photos, and my tutor was like, you seem like you’re more of a writer than an artist. Has anyone told you that? And I was like, oh, funny that you say that because I read a lot, I keep getting told from teachers, “you should get into journalism or writing,” and then it just kind of took me a while to be like, oh yeah, I’m a writer. But I was always a reader, ever since I was really little. And it was after I graduated from my undergrad and I started working, I started thinking more about different kinds of writing; journalism, creative writing, fiction writing. And then three or four years after my undergrad, I thought, I really

want to know if I can write fiction. And I was already working on bits and pieces of novels. So I got into an MCW, Masters of Creative Writing. What did you do in the time between your undergrad and your MCW? What didn’t I do? I did everything. I was a freelance fashion photographer. I was a freelance journalist. I was writing for any publication that would take my stuff. I ended up getting a job with this ice cream company that wanted me basically to just photograph and write an ice cream magazine once every quarter, which was really cool. Because it was basically a quarterly publication about what’s happening in the company from new products, to marketing, interviewing all the different staff. And that really taught me what it takes to create a print publication. So everything from A to Z, finding the stories, interviewing, writing, laying out, dealing with publishers and all that kind of stuff. And I really enjoyed that even though, you know, ice cream is fun, but I don’t know if that’s something I really wanted to write about. I’m not a fan of corporate things. So I just thought, okay, I’m good at writing. I did a really small course

“I was trying to find that sweet spot

on creative writing to see if I was actually any good. And then after that, I decided to do my masters. So I was kind of doing a little bit of everything in those three, four years. I was trying to find what I enjoyed, what I’m good at and trying to find that sweet spot between the two, journalism and creative writing. And the Masters of Creative Writing wasn’t to help my career. It was just something I really wanted to do because I want to be a novelist. I want to be a published writer. This will at least give me the discipline to craft and write a novel from beginning to end and to know if I can do it. And that’s what I got out of it.

between the two,

I think this is super interesting because I’m also someone who is between fields or has a lot of interests. So everything you’re saying makes complete sense to me. That whole A to Z process, I’m very familiar with that. And to me, it seems very normal and it makes sense that these interests overlap, but I don’t think you find many people like that.

journalism and

Yeah. In the past a lot of the writers and photographers that I really love dabbled within all those different things. But I think in these days, this has been accelerated and these sectors kind of seep

The Space Between Languages

into one another because of social media and because of the multimedia world or digital world. So people’s ways of looking at stories and storytelling and writing is kind of shifting, for the better or for the worst, whatever. So I think in their purest form, there are some people who are existing in these different sectors, like people who are strictly designers and they’re not interested in writing, but I think there are people like me and like you, that maybe can operate in more than one thing. And I think those things all feed into one another. Do you know what I mean? Definitely. Let’s talk a little bit about your fiction versus your journalism. First of all, you’ve done a lot of work within the journalism field, but you didn’t study journalism. So how did this start? Was it a very natural process where because you enjoyed writing, you decided to get into journalism?

Exactly. I love writing and I’ve always been very curious about subjects. I’ve always been interested in people and I’m the kind where if there’s a topic or subject that really interests me, I just keep asking questions about it.

creative writing.”

And yeah, I didn’t really go to journalism school and funnily enough, I never even thought of that as an issue. I just thought oh yeah I’m going to be a journalist now, obviously. I think particularly because of my last year at art school, I was basically operating as a journalist. I was finding people, interviewing them, photographing them and writing about them. I didn’t even think twice about it.

Now that you’ve experienced both journalism and creative writing, do you find that one is more fulfilling than the other?

“News is a cycle

١٦

that disappears.

As for my journalism versus my fiction, there is a difference, but when I first started getting into journalism, I didn’t see the difference. Because my whole thing was, I want do something I enjoy and I enjoy writing, but I just knew that writing as a journalist is a different voice than writing as a creative, as a novelist. And the voice of journalism is based on who am I writing for and what am I writing about? And I have a passion for particular subjects in journalism, like entertainment, pop culture, arts and culture, and Arab issues. So I thought, let me just write about these things that I like. So it never felt like work, just me interested in something and writing about it for a particular kind of person.

It doesn’t last.”

I guess it depends what your definition of fulfilling is. Right? So I think with journalism, it’s always great when you see your name in print, like the next day when you write a story, or if you’re working really hard to get an interview and you get it, you write it up and it’s published online and it gets lots of hits… That’s always fulfilling. For better or for worse, what’s interesting about journalism is that, your name is on printed newspapers today, and tomorrow someone’s using that paper to wrap up their books and parcels because they’re moving houses, or someone’s using it to wrap fish or something. News is a cycle that disappears. It doesn’t last, even online, your story might be about this particular topic, but nobody will give a shit about it in a few days or a few weeks. That’s what makes news kind of exciting and a bit sad. But I think with a novel and with creative writing, it’s completely different because sometimes you don’t know what you’re going to write about. Or you think you know what you’re writing about, then you start writing and it takes you

“My love, my first priority,

somewhere completely different. And you’re spending a little more time, a lot more energy. More of yourself goes into it. And the aim there when you finish a creative fiction piece is that it’s not going to disappear. It’s supposed to last forever. If you get it published in book form, then somebody buys that book, invests in it. Not because they want to get the latest news, but because they want to go into this world that you’ve created.

Zealand consulate here under the title of communications advisor. I’m basically writing articles and trading social media messaging and content for them.

will always be creative writing. So I think you get two different things from each one as a writer. But for me, my love, my first priority, will always be creative writing because I was a reader first. It’s just something that’s part of my DNA.

Do you still practice journalism on top of creative writing?

It’s

Yes, I’m still a journalist, in all the ways that means. I freelance right now. I have my own platform, called the Arab Edition, which I haven’t updated in a while. We paused just before COVID because of lots of reasons. I have my own website that I update regularly with blog pieces. I also just launched a podcast about pop culture, entertainment and media. So, you know, a journalist is not just writing, a journalist is talking as well. I also work now for the New

Talk to me a little about how you launched the Arab Edition and what brought that about, was it that interest in Arab issues?

It wasn’t only the interest in Arab issues. It was the fact that, you know, I’ve been a journalist in Dubai for eight years and I was getting really frustrated. I was working for Khaleej Times for four years. And before that I was working for a couple of high end luxury publications. And what I found really frustrating working in all of those publications was that they were very focused toward accommodating the English ex-pat or the Indian ex-pat. Even though we’re an Arab country. And I just saw so many opportunities and so many interesting stories.

part of my DNA.”

The Space Between Languages

So I was getting frustrated because I was always arguing with editors like, “this person’s interesting,” “this story’s interesting,” and they would say, “no, advertisers are not interested, the audience is not interested.” So I was just getting frustrated because I thought, you know, there are so many Arab immigrants living all around the

I grew up in Jordan, actually. I’m Palestinian-Jordanian. And my family is pretty interesting. My mom and dad, who grew up in Jordan, got married and moved to Saudi for my dad’s job. I’m the youngest. So my two oldest siblings finished high school in Saudi and went to college in Boston. Once I was in second grade and my second brother was in ninth grade, we moved back to Jordan with my mom, but we still visited Saudi frequently. So I mostly grew up in Jordan. Now, we’re dispersed between Jordan, Saudi, Boston, Dubai, and the UK. There was a lot of in-between, and constant traveling. So we all carry different cultures within us.

world doing really interesting stuff from singers, rappers, entrepreneurs. And I was always interested in this question of what does it mean to be an Arab? What is an Arab? If you’re an Arab who doesn’t speak Arabic, does that make you less of an Arab than one who grew up in an Arab country and only speaks Arabic? What if you’re a second generation Arab and you know how to cook Arabic food, but you don’t know much about your culture?

١٧

There’s 22 Arab countries out of the Arab league and those countries are so diverse. And within those countries, there are so many cultures that are diverse. Forget diaspora. Just that alone, there are so many interesting stories and there’s a lot of things that we don’t know about each other. You’re Palestinian, right? There are so many things I don’t know about Palestine and the Palestinian experience. And you’re a Palestinian who I assume was raised in the States, or spent a lot of time in the States?

“What does it mean to be

That is exactly what I mean. I think that’s so interesting, and it makes us more diverse and it means that we have interesting stories to tell, more experiences to share. And I thought the publications I was working for here were not capitalizing on that. So I decided to launch the Arab Edition, which is an online platform for Arabs all over the world to send us stories, for us to create stories, for anyone who’s interested in the Arab world, and Arabs who don’t know much about their culture.

an Arab?”

So tell me a little about your novel that’s yet to be published, Eye of the Garden. Like I said, I’m from Iraq, and I’ve always been interested in Iraq and the Gulf War and the sanctions, not so much the political side of things, but more the social aspect, because I thought nobody was ever talking about that. How people were living, how teenagers met other teenagers, how they dated, who was getting married, how they were getting married, what people were wearing. What was the pop culture like there? And during that time, between 1993 and 2003, Baghdad was in this bubble, separated from the world. Hard to get in, hard to get out. And all of my mom’s family never left it off. They were all in Baghdad during that time. I think what sparked that for me is that somehow I was able to email one of my cousins and for two or three years before the 2003 war, we were sending each other two emails a day. I was getting all of this interesting information. And I was so fascinated with how they were living their lives. It was so different for me because my family was very disconnected from them. I didn’t get the opportunity to grow up with The Space Between Languages

my cousins or my grandparents. So hearing about that side of things from my cousin, but then also realizing that she was watching Friends like I was watching Friends. So I did my masters, where you focus on one piece of writing throughout the whole year. Before the masters I already had these characters in my head that I’d been writing about. And I kind of knew something was there, it was based on my family a little bit, and based in my grandfather’s house, which I remember from when we used to visit when I was little, and it kind of just built up from there. So I spent ten months writing a story about two sisters from a family in Baghdad and how they lived through the sanction and lived through each war and between the Wars. And by the end of it, I had like 400,000 words, which is insane and crazy. 400,000. Wow. I only realize now looking back how crazy that was, but I think because I’d spent so many years before doing my masters, thinking about this novel and these characters and these stories in my head, but never really writing it down. So I had four or five years of just imagining this world and creating these characters and

“I was just thinking I love this story. basing them on my mother’s family. So that when it actually came down to writing it, it was already in my head and it was just like, verbal diarrhea kind of thing. Since then, I decided to split it into three. And I’ve been working on refining the first novel of the three over the past couple of years, and it’s finally at a stage where it’s kind of ready.

about war? So lots of this kind of, you know, lost in translation. This is an English novel in an Arabic setting and, to us, this feels very normal because we exist in multiple cultures and we speak multiple languages. You want to write in English, but those experiences are in Arabic.

In 2013, I started submitting to I just want to write it.”

٢٠

agents and getting feedback on it from different agents and publishers, and then I would stop submitting and I would fix it and then I would send it again and then I would get more and so on and so forth. The publishing industry has changed a lot as well. Ten years ago, nobody gave a shit about diversity. Nobody was looking for diverse stories. Now they’re more interested in diverse stories, but it’s still a very difficult industry to navigate because... I don’t even know where to start. There’s finally an interest in other stories from other places. But even when they’re saying that, they’re looking for a specific kind of story. They’re not looking for real stories. I’ve submitted to a few agents who have said, “this is really great, but you know, this first chapter where you describe the war, this is not what we imagined war to be like.” Okay. Okay, STEVE, who lives in London, what would you know

When I first wrote this novel I wasn’t thinking about who’s going to read it. I wasn’t thinking about the publishing industry. I was just thinking I love this story. I just want to write it. I believe these characters, I believe this world, and I’m just going to write it as authentic as possible, based on the information and stories that I was getting throughout my whole childhood. Right. So I didn’t give a shit about who was going to read it. I was just writing things as they would have existed. And at the time, my supervisor, who was a white man, would ask these questions, why things were done this way or that way, why can’t you hold a Quran if you’re in the bathroom, for example. These little nuance things that you and I probably would never even think twice about. So, a lot of the feedback I was getting was, “this needs to be explained more. We don’t get it. Why is this like this? Why is this like that? Why,

why, why?” I was getting stuff like the names are too complicated, not going to be easy to remember. Why don’t you use more Arabic words and put them in italics? There were all these issues coming up in terms of not so much what is the story about, but more like, how are you going to package the story for people to understand? Some of these concerns that I was getting from like industry people were valid. For example, should I be writing thank Allah, or thank God? Should I be writing it all in English and then some phrases in Arabic, or not?

understand these names, some of the customs and cultures. But I figured it out. So I think readers are not as dumb as some of these industry people make them out to be.

“It’s about that balance So I had to find that balance between being authentic of that world that I’m trying to show within the English language and also making sure that someone is not completely lost in it. It’s about that balance of giving just enough context, and they can make up the rest. They can fill the blanks in.

of giving just enough

I had one agent assistant call me up. And what’s interesting is she’s half Arab half British. She speaks Arabic. And she said, “listen, I’m going to be honest with you, these white guys I work with at the agency, they’re not going to get this, I get what you’re trying to say, cause I’m Arab and I understand this world. But you need to dumb this down like a million degrees and really explain things to them.”

and they can fill

What did you decide about including Arabic words?

context,

Then I realized that’s really stupid. Why am I having to dumb things down? Why am I catering to just a white audience? One of the first novels that really influenced me growing up was Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin, which I read when I was like 13. I didn’t know what a dowry was. I didn’t

I decided not to use Arabic words (in English letters) because I’m writing in English, you’re reading in English. And I feel like when you get that random Arabic word, it’ll feel jarring to the reader. They’ll think, hang on, they’re already speaking Arabic, even though I’m reading in English. So how come there’s a random Arabic word? Particularly with religious phrases, I wanted to get rid of those. Because for example, I’m not the most religious person.

the blanks in.”

The Space Between Languages

We use these phrases and religious words that are a part of the lexicon that is a part of our culture. It doesn’t necessarily mean that you go to the mosque

“I think in two languages

all the time.

every Friday and you pray five times a day or you fast. But I don’t think the Western reader gets that. Somebody says the word Allah, and this person becomes a fanatic. So I just didn’t want that complication in there because my novel isn’t really about religion.

Some unpredictable translations worked. For example, in Arabic, if somebody asks you something and you don’t answer, a mom or dad or whatever will say ”‫ ”إنطق‬which in English is pronounce. When I would use that, my supervisor was like, “this is really cool.” But then other things didn’t work. In Iraqi, we say, ”‫ ”عيني‬but when I would write it in English, and it becomes, my eye. It didn’t work. And I didn’t want a translation like, the apple of my eye, because it’s too Western and it sounds weird. So I just picked a different word.

fix this, lean into it and see what you can do in this space. I would always think the dialogue in Iraqi, and then I would try my best to find what makes sense in English for the dialogue. Give me an example of a phrase that just would not translate. ”‫”يخرب بيتك‬How do you translate, “May God ruin your home”? God curses your house? But then it ends up sounding a bit Shakespearian when you say, a thousand curses to your ancestors. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. It’s just about finding what fits.

After a while

٢٢

I thought...

Other things I had problems with was stuff like, me as a bilingual person writing, the way I write and my tone of voice in written dialogue, I realized is not super English. It doesn’t mean that it’s bad English. The way I structured sentences was not the typical English way to do it. And I realized it’s because I think in two languages all the time. And I’m sure you can relate as well. At first I thought I need to fix this. And then after a while I thought, no Maan, don’t

Can you think of anything that can help us out in the translation process? Is there anything else that may can exist out there that would work to bridge this gap between two languages?

I think we have to come to terms with the fact that there are never just two languages. There’s always a third language in between. And I think that is where a lot of the cool stuff can happen.

lean into it.” I think it’s really interesting, the idea of, how do you describe words in a visual sense? So that they make sense? I don’t have a

specific answer, but all I’ll say is that people are always trying to create a bridge from one language to another, or we need to find a way for us to translate from one to the other. But my whole thing is that there shouldn’t be a bridge, we shouldn’t be trying to create a walkway through or translate one from the other. The two languages should be talking to each other. So there’s a space in the middle for a third language. Do you know what I mean? To me, language is not a static thing. It shouldn’t be stagnant. You shouldn’t be putting rules around language, even if it’s Arabic. I think language is alive. It’s organic. And really interesting things happen when people take ownership of language and do what they want with it.

I just have one more question. What do you think is the future of media? I think that’s like the million-dollar question. Everybody wants to know. I think that the future of media isn’t one thing. I think it’s lots of different things. It’s lots of different ways of us consuming information and consuming news. And I don’t think that’s a bad thing. And I think, if it’s long form journalism, if it’s podcasts, if it’s stories on Instagram, if it’s Twitter, if it’s short news pieces, I think all of those things are going to keep existing in different ways and forms. But I do think that the future of media isn’t anymore publications in the media and the people. There’s all this stuff in the middle now, and mostly pushed by social media. There isn’t just one authoritative voice telling everyone what is going on. It’s lots of different voices that are talking to people and talking to the media and in between. When before it used to be top to bottom, I think now it’s probably kind of a sphere and everyone’s just going through everything. It’s about trying to find your niche in that.

“There are never just My point with this is, back then, no one was questioning language. Language began evolving based on so many different influences. And I think, especially for people like us, who grew up in the East and West and dealt with two languages, we always get this question of like, you don’t speak Arabic well, you don’t speak good English, why are you mixing these words up? And I’ve come to realize, we don’t have to pick one or the other. We don’t have to be excellent in both. We can be mediocre in both, and be able to create something in the middle.

two languages. There’s always a third language in between.” The Space Between Languages

The Shape of Words 25

Arabic Type Anatomy & Typographic Terms

��‫�� ي‬ ‫ت ش�ر ح و ش�روط‬ ‫�ل‬ � � � ‫لع‬ �‫�ط ب�اع ة� ا خ�ط ا بر ي‬

: Pascal Zoghbi [English] : Zein Noureddeen [Arabic]

Since most documentation and references about the Arabic script stem from the calligraphic methodology, this article will tackle the problem of allocating typographic terms to Arabic type and typography.

‫بينما نجد معظم الوثائق والمراجع التي‬ ‫تتناول جذور الخط الطباعي العربي من‬ ‫ تعالج هذه‬،‫ناحية المنهجية الطباعية‬ ‫المقالة مشاكل تحديد صفات الحرف‬ ‫والخط الطباعي العربي‬

The following typographic demonstrations compare the anatomy of Arabic type to that of Latin type. The diagrams show a contemporary Naskh / Sans Serif typeface, called Suisse Int’l that comes in eight (8) weights designed by Pascal Zoghbi and SwissTypefaces.

‫االستدالل التالي يقارن تشريح الحرف‬ .‫الطباعي العربي بالحرف الطباعي الالتيني‬ /‫تظهر الرسوم البيانية خط النسخ المعاصر‬ ‫( الخالي من التذييل‬Sans Serif) ‫المسمى‬ ‫«سويس إنتل» ذو الثمانية أوزان المص َّمم‬ ‫ ن‬.‫من قِبل باسكال الزغبي‬

The Shape of Words

٢٨

Latin type conventionally sits on a baseline, with five main vertical levels of reference: baseline, x-height, ascender, descender, and caps-height. By contrast, Arabic type is less constrained, with more invisible typographic levels at the type designer’s disposal. A humanistic typeface inspired by the cursive Naskh scripts, such as this one, may make use of up to twelve imaginary typographic levels, whereas a typeface based on a geometric Kufic script may require only four or five levels. This means that it is essential for Arabic type designers to possess expert knowledge of Arabic calligraphic styles and systems in order to be creative and to translate the calligraphic rules into typographic guidelines for their typefaces. For each of the cursive Arabic calligraphic styles (Naskh, Thuluth, Diwani, etc.), the proportions of the letters are governed by several systems—dot, circle and similarity—which act as guides for Arabic type designers. There is no one set of typographic levels in Arabic type anatomy as there is in Latin type anatomy. Type designers decide on the number of levels needed for the typeface they are designing, and according to the calligraphic style that the typeface is based on.

‫يجلس الخط الطباعي الالتيني عادة على‬ ‫ بخمسة مستويات عمودية‬،‫خط ارتكاز‬ ،‫ ارتفاع الحرف إكس‬،‫ خط االرتكاز‬:‫مرجعية‬ .‫ خط ارتفاع الحرف الكبير‬،‫ النازل‬،‫الصاعد‬ ‫ فإن الحر الطباعي العربي أكثر‬،‫بالمقابل‬ ‫ مع مستويات غير مرئية أكثر في‬،ً‫تحررا‬ ‫ يمكن لخط إنساني كهذا‬.‫خدمة المصمم‬ ،‫الخط مستوحى من مخطوطات بخط النسخ‬ ً‫أن يستخدم حوالي إثني عشر مستوى‬ ‫ في حين يستخدم خط آخر مرتكز‬،ً‫وهميا‬ ‫على الخط الكوفي فقط أربعة إلى خمسة‬ ‫ هذا يعني أنه على المصمم أن‬.‫مستويات‬ ‫يمتلك المعرفة المحترفة ألساليب وأنظمة‬ ‫التخطيط العربي ليكون مبدعا ً ويترجم‬ ‫قواعد التخطيط لخطوات توجيهية في الخط‬ ‫ ت‬.‫الطباعي الستخدامها في انشاء الخط‬ ،‫ ثلث‬،‫في كل أسلوب تخطيط عربي (نسخ‬ ‫ تتحكم عدة أنظمة بنسب‬،)..‫ إلخ‬،‫ديواني‬ ‫ الدائرة والمشابهة‬،‫ النقطة‬،‫األحرف‬، .‫والتي تمثل الدليل لمصممي الخط العربي‬ ‫هناك مجموعة واحدة من مستويات‬ ‫التخطيط الطباعي في تشريح الحرف الطباعي‬ .‫العربي كما في تشريح الخط الطباعي الالتيني‬ ‫يقرر مصممو الخطوط عدد المستويات‬ ‫التي يحتاجونها في الحرف الذين يصممونه‬ ‫استنادا ً على أسلوب التخطيط الذي‬ ‫ ت‬.‫يرتكزون عليه‬

Instead of one mean-line—in Latin typefaces, the x-height—there may be several: tooth-, loop-, and eye-heights. Instead of a single ascender, there may be two, called the ‘Sky’. In place of a single descender, there may be two or three, called the ‘Earth’. In between the previously mentioned guidelines, there are two further invisible lines that define the baseline’s position and thickness.

‫عوضا ً عن مستوى وحيد – في الحرف‬ ‫س – يمكن أن يكون‬-‫الالتيني هو ارتفاع‬ ‫ ارتفاع‬:‫هناك العديد من المستويات‬ ً ‫ وعوضا‬،‫ ارتفاع العين‬،‫ ارتفاع الدورة‬،‫السن‬ ‫ يمكن أن يكون هناك‬،‫عن صاعد واحد‬ .”‫ يطلق عليهما اسم “السماء‬،‫مستويان‬ ‫ يمكن أن يكون هناك‬،‫وبدل النازل الواحد‬ ‫” وبين‬.‫اثنان أو ثالثة اسمهم “األرض‬ ‫ هناك مستويان‬،ً‫المستويات المذكورة آنفا‬ ‫إضافيان غير مرئيان يحددان موضع خط‬ ‫ ت‬.‫االرتكاز وسماكته‬

The Shape of Words

Modernizing Arabic Type for a Digital Audience

‫ل‬ � ‫ا خ�ط‬

�‫ا�لع بر�� ي‬ ‫ا�لعص‬ �‫ر‬ ‫ي‬ : Google Fonts

Designers are finally doing justice to the complex, contextual alphabet with a fresh approach to Arabic fonts and digital typography Arabic script is beautiful, and imbued with a rich history; the alphabet used today can be traced to classic texts that date back over a thousand years. The language itself has evolved over time, but modernizing Arabic typography— translating the intricacies of this uniquely complex, calligraphic style into a digital format—has been a major challenge. Arabic readers and writers deserve resources that allow them to communicate completely online, with font options that do justice to their written texts; designers like Mohamed Gaber and Khaled Hosny are working to fully realize the expression of this ever-growing group by ushering in a new era of Arabic type. Context is everything: The specific challenges of digitizing Arabic type The distinct qualities of written Arabic are rooted in calligraphy. Like the cursive writing many of us are taught in grade school, each letter changes based on the letters around it—these myriad combos, along with deceptively decorative features like ligatures and diacritic marks, are inherently complicated The Shape of Words

to mechanize, whether in metal type or in code. “Arabic script has a great and extensive history of development and refinement, and this is reflected in how many forms a letter can take, depending on its context,” explains Egypt-based type designer Hosny. “There are lots of tricks to balance the black and white in the line, or even the page as a whole. But these things are hard to automate, and trying to emulate calligraphy in type often backfires.” In the centuries when Latin typefaces were blossoming, Arabic printing was comparatively neglected. Foundries of the twentieth century developed just a few dozen Arabic typefaces compared to the many hundreds of Latin designs. The challenge of Arabic type design continued into the digital age. The limited collection of Arabic fonts included in early desktop computers and web browsers were dull and clumsy— sometimes missing characters and often riddled with errors. As the Arab-speaking world came online, this gap in type design became even more conspicuous, and people responded by inventing an ad hoc vernacular, transliterating Latin to Arabic in emails, chats, and text messages; for example,

“3” would be used to represent “‫ ;”ع‬and ‫ عين‬would be written as “3ain,” instead of the more formal transliteration of “Aain.” Balancing Arabic identity and Latin language traditions

٣٢

The number of web users in the Arab world was estimated by the UN to have grown from about 46 million users in 2007, to over 170 million as of last year. For Gaber, a type designer in Cairo, this rapid increase in readers fuels a clear mission: develop free web fonts that faithfully and expressively render Arabic online that everyone can use. His initial practice began with a focus on extending existing Latin designs to the Arabic script, and three of his projects are the most widely used Arabic typefaces in Google Fonts: El Messiri, Lemonada, and Cairo. Maintaining a sense of balance and consistency between each letter is a painstaking task, but ultimately necessary to the success of a type family. Gaber says the goal is “to create an Arabic typeface that matches the Latin without bending the Arabic letters or ‘Latinizing’ them—to maintain the classic rules of Arabic lettering while matching the Latin type.” Cairo’s Latin and Arabic characters are so neatly aligned that their strokes can be woven together

and layered on top of one another, creating an elegant union of the two scripts to visually suggest that both languages are being spoken simultaneously. Cairo’s crisp, minimal, sans-serif design is useful for many contexts. In lighter weights and smaller sizes, it’s highly legible as body text; at larger sizes and heavier weights it cuts a distinct form widely praised as a prime display font—check out the title text for the Almost There poster on the right—and was even named one of the best display typefaces of 2016 by Granshan, an organization founded to recognize excellence in non-Latin typography. Even after a font is published, the work continues through refinement and expansion. Over the past year Gaber has reviewed the Google Fonts catalog of Arabic type to ensure their fidelity, coherence, and functionality—especially when it comes to subtle points like the placement of diacritic marks and ligatures—and these updates will be available soon.

The impact of OpenType on the future of Arabic typography A decade ago the Arab world had no choice but to read and write digital text in inadequate, oversimplified web fonts. By leveraging all of the advanced features in the OpenType font format, designers today are proving that it’s possible to create fresh, efficient, and truly engaging digital Arabic typography. Hosny is quick to acknowledge that even the most thoughtful Arabic type design must harbor certain concessions and compromises, but the dream of achieving the delicate balance between hand-drawn heritage and software-centric progress is finally coming true—with more exciting developments to come.

The Shape of Words

The Shape of Letters 35

The following typographic demonstrations compare the anatomy of the Arabic alphabet to that of the Latin alphabet. The order follows that of the Arabic alphabet, paired with the Latin equivalent. The Arabic alphabet consists of 28 letters, meaning several letters do not have a Latin equivalent. For such letters, I have provided phonetic information or close alternatives if possible. The orientation of the two alphabets is a distinct difference. Furthermore, different typefaces in Arabic will result in a very wide range of possibilities for the letter forms, due to the alphabet being very decorative in nature.

The Shape of Letters

IBM Plex Sans

Kufi Standard

‫آي يب إم‬

‫كوفي‬

Beirut

Farisi

‫بيروت‬

‫فارسي‬

٣٨

A The Shape of Letters

IBM Plex Sans

Kufi Standard

‫آي يب إم‬

‫كوفي‬

Beirut

Farisi

‫بيروت‬

‫فارسي‬

٤٠

B The Shape of Letters

IBM Plex Sans

Kufi Standard

‫آي يب إم‬

‫كوفي‬

Beirut

Farisi

‫بيروت‬

‫فارسي‬

٤٢

T The Shape of Letters

IBM Plex Sans

Kufi Standard

‫آي يب إم‬

‫كوفي‬

Beirut

Farisi

‫بيروت‬

‫فارسي‬

٤٤

TH From “Think”

The Shape of Letters

IBM Plex Sans

Kufi Standard

‫آي يب إم‬

‫كوفي‬

Beirut

Farisi

‫بيروت‬

‫فارسي‬

٤٦

J The Shape of Letters

IBM Plex Sans

Kufi Standard

‫آي يب إم‬

‫كوفي‬

Beirut

Farisi

‫بيروت‬

‫فارسي‬

٤٨

? Closest alternative: H

The Shape of Letters

IBM Plex Sans

Kufi Standard

‫آي يب إم‬

‫كوفي‬

Beirut

Farisi

‫بيروت‬

‫فارسي‬

٥٠

KH The Shape of Letters

IBM Plex Sans

Kufi Standard

‫آي يب إم‬

‫كوفي‬

Beirut

Farisi

‫بيروت‬

‫فارسي‬

٥٢

d The Shape of Letters

IBM Plex Sans

Kufi Standard

‫آي يب إم‬

‫كوفي‬

Beirut

Farisi

‫بيروت‬

‫فارسي‬

٥٤

TH From “That”

The Shape of Letters

IBM Plex Sans

Kufi Standard

‫آي يب إم‬

‫كوفي‬

Beirut

Farisi

‫بيروت‬

‫فارسي‬

٥٦

r The Shape of Letters

IBM Plex Sans

Kufi Standard

‫آي يب إم‬

‫كوفي‬

Beirut

Farisi

‫بيروت‬

‫فارسي‬

٥٨

z The Shape of Letters

IBM Plex Sans

Kufi Standard

‫آي يب إم‬

‫كوفي‬

Beirut

Farisi

‫بيروت‬

‫فارسي‬

٦٠

s The Shape of Letters

IBM Plex Sans

Kufi Standard

‫آي يب إم‬

‫كوفي‬

Beirut

Farisi

‫بيروت‬

‫فارسي‬

٦٢

SH The Shape of Letters

IBM Plex Sans

Kufi Standard

‫آي يب إم‬

‫كوفي‬

Beirut

Farisi

‫بيروت‬

‫فارسي‬

٦٤

? Sounds like: thick s

The Shape of Letters

IBM Plex Sans

Kufi Standard

‫آي يب إم‬

‫كوفي‬

Beirut

Farisi

‫بيروت‬

‫فارسي‬

٦٦

? Sounds like: dh

The Shape of Letters

IBM Plex Sans

Kufi Standard

‫آي يب إم‬

‫كوفي‬

Beirut

Farisi

‫بيروت‬

‫فارسي‬

٦٨

? Sounds like: thick T

The Shape of Letters

IBM Plex Sans

Kufi Standard

‫آي يب إم‬

‫كوفي‬

Beirut

Farisi

‫بيروت‬

‫فارسي‬

٧٠

? Sounds like: thick th (from “that”)

The Shape of Letters

IBM Plex Sans

Kufi Standard

‫آي يب إم‬

‫كوفي‬

Beirut

Farisi

‫بيروت‬

‫فارسي‬

٧٢

? The Shape of Letters

IBM Plex Sans

Kufi Standard

‫آي يب إم‬

‫كوفي‬

Beirut

Farisi

‫بيروت‬

‫فارسي‬

٧٤

? Sounds like: GH

The Shape of Letters

IBM Plex Sans

Kufi Standard

‫آي يب إم‬

‫كوفي‬

Beirut

Farisi

‫بيروت‬

‫فارسي‬

٧٦

F The Shape of Letters

IBM Plex Sans

Kufi Standard

‫آي يب إم‬

‫كوفي‬

Beirut

Farisi

‫بيروت‬

‫فارسي‬

٧٨

? Closest alternative: k

The Shape of Letters

IBM Plex Sans

Kufi Standard

‫آي يب إم‬

‫كوفي‬

Beirut

Farisi

‫بيروت‬

‫فارسي‬

٨٠

k The Shape of Letters

IBM Plex Sans

Kufi Standard

‫آي يب إم‬

‫كوفي‬

Beirut

Farisi

‫بيروت‬

‫فارسي‬

٨٢

l The Shape of Letters

IBM Plex Sans

Kufi Standard

‫آي يب إم‬

‫كوفي‬

Beirut

Farisi

‫بيروت‬

‫فارسي‬

٨٤

M The Shape of Letters

IBM Plex Sans

Kufi Standard

‫آي يب إم‬

‫كوفي‬

Beirut

Farisi

‫بيروت‬

‫فارسي‬

٨٦

N The Shape of Letters

IBM Plex Sans

Kufi Standard

‫آي يب إم‬

‫كوفي‬

Beirut

Farisi

‫بيروت‬

‫فارسي‬

٨٨

h The Shape of Letters

IBM Plex Sans

Kufi Standard

‫آي يب إم‬

‫كوفي‬

Beirut

Farisi

‫بيروت‬

‫فارسي‬

٩٠

o/w The Shape of Letters

IBM Plex Sans

Kufi Standard

‫آي يب إم‬

‫كوفي‬

Beirut

Farisi

‫بيروت‬

‫فارسي‬

٩٢

y The Shape of Letters