Word for the Travel Wise (02/17/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

Why I had to go through great lengths to get this word today is beyond me. Here I thought finding the words for colors in different languages would be fairly easy, but proved myself wrong. Or let me put it this way instead, I found the word, but couldn’t read the text and then wanted to check for accuracy, but couldn’t find a second source to do such. Normally I would have picked the brains of my Arabic speaking friends, but not a single one could be found online. So I’m just throwing this one out there blindly, hoping that is somewhat correct. If not I’m sure you’ll correct me in my error, but without further delay here it is.

Today’s word is an Arabic word used in Libya:

akhdar – green

Now, the Arabic 2000 site from which I found this word had it written in Arabic text and in its phonetic form as ‘aXDar.’  From what I’ve found in learning Farsi and little Arabic the ‘X’ is often used for the ‘kh’ sound and I for one prefer the ‘kh’ version of the word when learning. ‘X’ is a great letter, but it looks off. That’s just me. In any case in discovering Libya is one of the only countries to have a completely solid colored flag I thought I’d explore the word for the color green. Little things like that excite me as you can probably tell.

My Language Exchange is an excellent site in making friends across the globe while zoning in on the areas that give you the most trouble in your language of choice. While most services are free, contacting other members does cost a very small fee. Other learning tools for free standard Arabic online include this Learn Arabic site which has some remarkable lessons. The audio sounds a bit off for me, but they’ve got both the Naskh script (easy to read when learning the alphabet) and the Latin spelling of the letter. Babel Arabic is another good source. Planet Edu has an online listing of Arabic schools all over the Middle East, Africa and the U.S. Lastly, for purchase and a quick pocket guide there’s the Lonely Planet Egyptian Arabic Phrasebook, which should be the closest to that spoken in Libya verses Moroccan Arabic.

Past Arabic words: wafin

Travel to Libya

by Erik Olsen on

First a quick question. You know the Marines’ Hymn, the part that goes “to the shores of Tripoli!”, who here knows where that comes from? What battle, historical event, I mean? The answer is provided on the next page if you click “next page”

OK, now down to business. Travel to Libya. Only recently did the country’s somewhat deranged leader Col. Muammar Qaddafi start welcoming US tourists to the country. And only recently did the US and the UN lift sanctions on traveling there. Before that, most international airlines could not fly to Libya, and the country remained a kind of international pariah. But now, with a new Ministry of Tourism making pretty pamphlets and a recently-hired British PR agency helping burnish the country’s image, Libya is becoming one of the hot new destinations. History buffs will delight in scrambling over Libya’s spectacular seaside Roman ruins which, let’s face it, would be thronged with tourists if they were almost anywhere else. But the numbers show that tourism is still in its infancy. Just 350,000 tourists visited the country in 2003, a number that is expected to triple by 2010.

So now is really a good time to consider a trip to Libya. And for inspiration, herewith I provide a link to a nice story in the Sydney Morning Herald on travel to Libya that will certainly whet your appetite to travel there. As you will read, it’s still rough. Amenities are scarce and the infrastructure is in need of repair, but that’s what makes travel to a place like Libya interesting. Once the tourist hordes discover the place and the knick-knack shops start popping up like mushrooms after a storm, well, we’ll miss these early days.

(answer:)
OK, The Tripoli reference is an allusion to the First Barbary War when on April 27, 1805 U.S. Marines and Berbers under the command of William Eaton & Lt. Presley O�Bannon attacked the Tripolitan city of Derna. For the longest time, I thought it had something to do with World War II, but that�s because I am a doofus and forgot the Hymn was composed long before that.

Let Loose in Libya

by Erik Olsen on

Following the lead of several other publications who have discovered the new travel opportunities for American in Libya, the New York Times today has a piece by Peter Wilkinson on his April trip to the desertified African nation. With Tuareg guides showing the way, Wilkinson ventures to the dunes and through rocky passes to reveal the soul of a place that for over 30 years has been off-limits to Americans.

I confess a passionate curiosity about Libya, and have been reading articles like this with interest, wondering when to go. The country seems chaotic and not without danger, but as the times points out, is eerily beautiful, and full of pleasant surprises, like wonderfully friendly people and delicious food. So, who wants to go?

The Shores of Tripoli

by Erik Olsen on

It is not often that an entirely new country suddenly becomes available to travelers. But that is more or less what has recently happened with Libya. Earlier thiis year the US lifted its ban on travel to the North African country. Like China up to the 1970s, Libya has remained a mystery to most travelers, due to those 20 years of sanctions against traveling there. And yet the country, made up of vast desert, is the site of several marvels of the ancient world including the 2,000-year-old ruins of Sabratha and Leptis Magna, which had been part of the Roman Empire. Also, there is Tripoli, the country’s capital city, the site of much action during the second world war.

Then don’t forget 1,250 miles of Mediterranean coastline. As part of our “new relationship” with Libya, the country has opened it’s borders to travelers, including those from the US. But apparently it is still quite hard to get in, according to this article. If you’re thinking about going because the place remains “untouched”, then you better hustle, because already about 300,000 visitors went last year, most of them Europeans. But also keep in mind that it’s not that easy to do, and it can end up being expensive, as this story from Slate attests.