Dawkak tool

Mohamed Marwen Meddah, startuparabia.com, Dakwak: A Tool For Website Localization Into 60+ Languages, 29 Jul 2010 "Dakwak is a new startup that was recently launched from Jordan that aims to provide a solution for website localization into 60+ languages."

Cool tool, nice name and logo too!

tweetmeme Arabic

arabcrunch.com, Retweet Button Now Multi Lingual And Translates Retweeted Stories In Many Languages Including Arabic! nice idea, but arabcrunch notes there are some content/tech issues re. google translation (nothing new there then!).

"Tweetmeme has been an innovative startup, its Retweet button that allows people to Retweet any story ( repost to their Twitter stream) has been installed according to the company by over 200,000 websites ( we are one of them.)"

Google translation tools

arabcrunch.com, Google Adds RealTime “Word” Translation to Any Website in 41 Languages Including Arabic, 20 Apr 2010 "Google is pushing further to support Arabic and other 41 International languages in its quest to further increase its Internationalization revenues."

Microsoft translator widget

Gaith Saqer, arabcrunch.com, Translation War Intensifies: Microsoft Launched Translator Widget in 32 Languages Including Arabic and Chinese, 25 Mar 2010 "Microsoft released Maren a desktop Transliteration application last year, and already has 150,000 downloads according to sources, an app that is superior to Yamli and Ta3reeb as It works on all MS Windows applications where users can compose documents, blogs, e-mails, instant messages, or even leave comments on friends’ Facebook pages all in Arabic."

Maren is here

I've previously blogged on these tools. Here's the widget for this page:

As with all machine translations, this carries an accuracy warning! I cannot get it to function in the sidebar at present.

Google translation of Virtually Islamic blog

Google Translate: Virtually Islamic blog. In response to reader requests, I have included a link to a machine-translation into Arabic of this blog, for a test period. The usual warnings about machine translations apply, but I hope some readers find it helpful.

'American Qur'an'

AP, 'American Qur'an' blends US life, Quranic verses, 7 Oct 09 "In Birk's version, each chapter of the Quran has been carefully copied in English in a calligraphy modeled on the urban graffiti of America's inner cities. The stark black text is bordered by scenes from American life both mundane and extraordinary: gangsters flashing signs, Hurricane Katrina's devastation, migrants working the fields, a crowded airport lounge and a raging California wildfire among them."

This has raised a number of potentially controversial issues relating to text and depiction of the Qur'an.

"Even when completed, Birk’s “American Qur’an” is not to be considered a “Holy Qur’an” in that it does not contain the original text in Arabic. Tradition holds that since the Qur’an was revealed to Muhammad in Arabic, that only the Arabic text – or a translation that also contains the original Arabic verses – may truly be considered as the “Holy Qur’an”. Translations into any other language are not “true” Qur’ans, but merely approximations of God’s revelations." Source: koplindelrio.com

For further information, and examples of the illustrations (which can be viewed online), see koplindelrio.com, Sandow Birk, 'American Qur'an'