Flash Cards Designed to Teach English Translations of Arabic Have a Curious Way of Doing It

Received in an email from ACT for America.

We’ve all seen flash cards used to teach math functions and simple words. But we’re sure you haven’t seen flash cards like these!

One of our chapter leaders happened to be in a Barnes & Noble bookstore in Minnesota, and saw a package of flash cards apparently intended to help someone translate Arabic words and phrases into English.

What he saw when he bought the cards was, to say the least, far different than what he expected.

Here is a sample of some of the English words and phrases translated from the Arabic in this flash card set.

“assassination attempt”
“counter strike”
“attack”
“air strike”
“enemy”
“The army seized power”
“We buried the dead man yesterday”
“to seize power”
“martyr”
“to die in a battle”

To see a PDF image of the actual flashcards, designed by Fethi Mansouri, please click here. You will need Adobe Reader or similar software to view the image.

I guess we’re pretty straight-laced here in America. Our flashcards designed to teach English have such controversial words and phrases such as “thank you,” “could you please help me?”, and “what time is it?” I don’t think you’ll find an English translation flashcard set with words like “assassination attempt.”

One has to wonder who would need an Arabic flash card set that translates “assassination attempt” into English. Then again, maybe we shouldn’t have to wonder at all.



Guy Rodgers
Executive Director

ACT for America
P.O. Box 6884
Virginia Beach, VA 23456
www.actforamerica.org