From ALIF to HAA

 

Found a perfect rendition of the Arabic alphabet
on the Internet, trying to remember the letter KHa
is pronounced with a guttural G and the first vowel
as “aah” while all the previous letters, from ALIF
through BAA TAA THAA, JIIM to HAA, start
with an A (pronounced like ‘bAd’) -armed with
new knowledge I try to sing along:

A[bAd] OO EE, BA BOO BEE, TA TOO TEE,
THA THOO THEE, HA HOO HEE; KHa[Gaah]
KHOO KHEE - to a monotonous, repetitive beat
without melody - it feels as if the singer is trying
to hammer the alphabet into the listener’s head by
cutting tunnels in the grey matter in my cranium,
it reminds me of my frivolous remark

When I told the ACALAN congregation we should
make Arabic the common language in Africa – then
we shall all be equally disadvantaged – seeing in my
mind’s eye how we start singing the alphabet in unison
AHA, a new scene in my Government Service Opera,
sonorous voices, baritones and mezzo-sopranos, all
walking through the corridors while singing

A OO EE, BA BOO BEE, TA TOO TEE, THA THOO
THEE, till falling down, exhausted by the effort while
an exasperated Arabic teacher runs up and down trying
to improve everybody’s diction at the same time...

ACALAN: Académie Africaine des Langues
(French: African Academy of Languages)

 

 

 

A OO EE, BA BOO BEE, TA TOO TEE, [S]THA [S]THOO
[S]THEE, JA JOO JEE, HA HOO HEE
[G]KHa [G]KOO [G]KEE Da DOO DEE,
THa THOO THEE, Ra ROO REE,
ZA ZOO ZEE, SA SOO SEE, SCHA SCHOO SCHEE,
Sa SOO SEE, Da DOO DEE, Ta TOO TEE,
THa THOO THEE
A OO EE, FA FOO FEE…………….Qa QOO QEE,
KA KOO KEE, LA LOO LEE, MA MOO MEE,
NA NOO NEE, HA HOO HEE………….
WOW WOO WEE…………YA YOO YEE