Dictionaries

“There is a great need” for English-Arabic and French-Arabic dictionaries in refugee camps and villages in Eastern Chad, according to our on-the-ground partner CORD. For the refugees from Darfur, who view learning English as a “road to freedom,” English-Arabic dictionaries can turbo-charge their studies. For the Chadian villagers, who are enrolled in the thousands in literacy and early school programs, knowledge of French, an official language of Chad, can give them greater opportunities in life.

CORD has requested 150 English-Arabic and 50 French-Arabic dictionaries, and we would like to meet this need through a combination of in-kind and financial donations. If you have such dictionaries at home — not so old that they do not reflect modern usage, and not so worn that they cannot stand up to the heavy demands that will be placed on them in Chad — please send them to us, so we can forward them to the very needy. Instructions for making in-kind donations can be found here. Pictorial dictionaries would be especially appreciated, as would dictionaries covering specialized fields, which could be used in occupational training.

Regardless of whether you have a dictionary to send, if you have experience using English-Arabic or French-Arabic dictionaries, please comment to make recommendations for or against particular titles and editions. We hope to send a variety of titles, to make a broad pool of knowledge available. The following titles have been especially recommended:

Hippocrene Standard Dictionary Arabic-English, English-Arabic, by John Wortabet and Harvey Porter, 1995.

Arabic Compact Dictionary: Arabic-English/English-Arabic, by Mahmoud Gaafar and Jane Wightwick, 2004.

Arabic Practical Dictionary: Arabic-English/English-Arabic, by Nicholas Awde and Kevin Smith, 2004.

Arabic-English/English-Arabic Dictionary, by Nicholas Awde and Kevin Smith, 2003.

Elias Pocket Dictionary: English/Arabic Arabic/English, by Mitri Elias, 1989.

Dictionnaire de Poche. Français-Arabe/Arabe Français, by Mitri Elias, 1996.

Al-Kamel de Poche: Dictionnaire Français Arabe, by Youssof M. Reda, 2004.

Al-Kamel de Poche: Dictionnaire Arabe Français, by Youssof M. Reda, 2002.

Mini Al-Kamel: Dictionnaire Français-Arabe Arabe-Francçais, by Youssof M. Reda, 2007.

Dictionnaire français-arabe, arabe-français, by Jean-Jacques Schmidt, 1998.

If you do not have a dictionary to send, but want to help, please make a donation earmarked for “Dictionaries.” The cost per dictionary will depend on the particular titles and the availability of used dictionaries in suitable condition; we estimate $10-$30 per dictionary we need to purchase.

The dictionaries will be sent to the Bredjing, Treguine, and Gaga refugee camps, as well as the 18 nearby Chadian villages of Abougkni, Barde, Bahkita, Bredjing, Faguire, Fodji, Hadjer Hadid, Kadjala, Kinouane, Kodolok Koundjan, Korkoguine, Koundoubla, Lira, Louma, Mobouguine, N’gourkoudji, Rataye, and Sira. Even if you have been following Darfur-related news and are familiar with these camps, where nearly 70,000 refugees live, you probably have not heard of most of the villages. Our partner CORD manages schools in them, where, in December 2007, 3,329 girls and boys were enrolled in primary school, 11,296 in pre-school, and 4,778 in literacy programs. That is a huge number of people who can benefit from the dictionaries, people who are often overlooked, but desperately poor and needy.