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الثوابت

English translation: principles/fundamentals

17:45 Oct 16, 2005
Arabic to English translations [PRO]
Government / Politics
Arabic term or phrase: الثوابت
علينا التعاضد و التكاثف حول الثوابت الوطتية و القومية المتزهة عت كل المصالح با ستثناء مصلحة الوطن حصرا، علما بان هذه الثوابت تستدعي ضرورة التعبير على مستوى الأقتناعات الراسخة و تجاوز الأعتبارات الشخصية و ذلك لحتمية بلورة موقف جامع لكل الأرادات الطيبة و الوطنية و مانع لأي خطر ناجم عن التحديات الداهمه.
sithanem
Local time: 17:45
English translation:principles/fundamentals
Explanation:
You could translate using one of the above terms or translation by transliteration - thawabit - and then use a fairly literal translation in brackets, e.g. fixed elements/constants, depending on your wider context and which country you're talking about.
Selected response from:

Aisha Maniar
Grading comment
Thank you and I apologize for the delay.I had problems with my computer
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
4 +8principles/fundamentals
Aisha Maniar
5 +2constants
Alaa Zeineldine
5National Symbols
ocean2gulf


Discussion entries: 2





  

Answers


13 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +8
الثوابت
principles/fundamentals


Explanation:
You could translate using one of the above terms or translation by transliteration - thawabit - and then use a fairly literal translation in brackets, e.g. fixed elements/constants, depending on your wider context and which country you're talking about.

Aisha Maniar
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 60
Grading comment
Thank you and I apologize for the delay.I had problems with my computer

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Alexander Yeltsov: or foundations
47 mins
  -> yes, thank you
agree  ahmadwadan.com
1 hr
  -> thank you
agree  A Nabil Bouitieh
2 hrs
  -> thank you
agree  Sam Berner
3 hrs
  -> thank you
agree  Mariam Osmann
10 hrs
  -> thank you
agree  Nancy Eweiss
1 day 22 hrs
  -> thank you
agree  Mohamed Elsayed
1 day 23 hrs
  -> thank you
agree  Arabella K-
7 days
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36 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
الثوابت
National Symbols


Explanation:
I think this is the best translation, please check:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_symbols


    Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_symbols
ocean2gulf
Egypt
Local time: 23:45
Native speaker of: Native in ArabicArabic
PRO pts in category: 4
Login to enter a peer comment (or grade)

1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +2
الثوابت
constants


Explanation:
الثوابت الوطنية والقومية
national and pan-Arab constants

Realize that the word قومية is context dependent in Arab countries, but the cue here is that قومية and وطنية must be different, so قومية must refer to pan Arab nationalism.

For usage examples, you can google for "moral constants".

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Note added at 6 hrs 17 mins (2005-10-17 00:02:14 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

A comment on Aisha's remark:

Terms like الثوابت القومية , ثوابت الأمة , and ثوابت الدين are also new in Arabic discourse. Like many new terms, they emerged out of necessity. When used, the word ثوابت is often deliberately chosen instead of مبادئ or أصول, but the average reader or listener does not realize the subtlety of the choice. In most cases these terms -which are increasing in popularity in the Arab world- are used in two situations:

- By a party that advocates that everything is subject to change in the name of progress, but they qualify their statements by excluding ثوابت الأمة to protect their backs. They will never be caught defining precisely what those ثوابت are, but by waving this term, they avoid alienating the public.

- By a party that advocates adherence to traditional principles but have taken the other party's bait and instead of talking about adhering to مبادئ الأمة or أصول الدين , etc., they talk about adhering to ثوابت الأمة and ثوابت الدين. They do not realize that by adopting this terminology, they have concurred with their adversaries.

The debate about political, social, and religious change in the Arab world has been as live as it is today. Vocabulary is being used extremely effectively in this debate, and in the most subtle of ways, by intellectuals and politicians who grew up having to learn how to walk through minefields before learning to crawl.

The best way to reflect the distinction between these different terms in English is to translate the new coinage.



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Note added at 6 hrs 19 mins (2005-10-17 00:04:01 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

I meand "has never been as live as it is today".

Alaa Zeineldine
Egypt
Local time: 23:45
Works in field
Native speaker of: Native in ArabicArabic, Native in EnglishEnglish
PRO pts in category: 28

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Dina Abdo
56 mins
neutral  Aisha Maniar: "moral constants" is used in philosophy, not politics, and there's no such thing as a "national constant" in English/note: hence I suggest transliteration and literal translation above as a way of getting around the peculiarity of this concept in the SL
1 hr
  -> There also ethical constants, historic constants, universal constants of justice, and other similar formulations. Constancy aside, I think the word is more malleable than you suggest.
agree  Mona Helal
8 hrs
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