Reem Makhoul and her husband, Stephen Farrell, decided to write their own stories in colloquial Arabic. In 2015, they set up their own publishing house, Ossass-Stories, in New York. Courtesy Reem Makhoul
Reem Makhoul and her husband, Stephen Farrell, decided to write their own stories in colloquial Arabic. In 2015, they set up their own publishing house, Ossass-Stories, in New York. Courtesy Reem Makhoul
Reem Makhoul and her husband, Stephen Farrell, decided to write their own stories in colloquial Arabic. In 2015, they set up their own publishing house, Ossass-Stories, in New York. Courtesy Reem Makhoul
Reem Makhoul and her husband, Stephen Farrell, decided to write their own stories in colloquial Arabic. In 2015, they set up their own publishing house, Ossass-Stories, in New York. Courtesy Reem Makh

Inspired by their daughter, couple write colloquial Arabic books for children


  • English
  • Arabic

When Reem Makhoul wanted to read Arabic stories to her daughter, she wished they were in colloquial Arabic, the language she heard and spoke every day at home.

Ms Makhoul is not against standard Arabic but says it is too formal for children, like her 6-year-old daughter, Sheherazade, growing up in the diaspora.

It is already a challenge for parents to pass on the language to the next generation if they do not live in an Arab country, and equally hard for children to relate to and understand standard Arabic.

So Ms Makhoul, a Palestinian journalist who grew up in Galilee, and her husband Stephen Farrell, a journalist who was born and raised in London, decided to write their own stories in colloquial Arabic. In 2015, they set up their own publishing house, Ossass-Stories, in New York.

Ms Makhoul wanted her daughter —  who was born in Jerusalem, moved to New York with her parents as a baby and now lives in London —  to stay connected to Arabic, especially because she was surrounded by English at school and among her friends.

“I read Arabic books to her every day, but as a parent I found it as frustrating to read these fussha [standard Arabic] books as I had found it reading them myself as a child,” she said. “My daughter didn’t relate to the formal language, and I found it exhausting — at the end of a long day as a working mother — to read them out in amiyyeh [colloquial], translating them in my head from fussha.

“I needed to do something about it: that night the idea of writing our own children’s books in amiyyeh was born. It was March 2014. A year and a half later, we published our first book.”

Inspired by their daughter, whom Ms Makhoul describes as funny and clever, the couple wrote The Girl Who Lost Her Imagination, which would become the first in a series of books to help children appreciate their language and culture.

It was about a young Arab girl, Sheherazade, who was living in New York City and loved to explore the world. One day, the protagonist wakes up and realises that she had lost her imagination. However, her passion to explore takes her to the streets around her home in the city and provide endless material to reactivate her imagination. She learns about rainbows and colours.

The book was published in Egyptian and Shami (Levantine) dialects, spoken in Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

This month, the couple published their second book called Where Shall I Hide?.

Sheherazade is a bit older, more independent and goes out into the big city and then has to deal with the unexpected departure of some dear friends. On one level, the story is about a journey dealing with change, which is hard for all children. On another, it is to teach children about shapes.

Despite Ms Makhoul’s enthusiasm to get children interested in Arabic, language experts are concerned that standard Arabic — the sixth official language of the UN since 1973 — is at risk.

Experts argue that this is in part due to the use of colloquial Arabic on social media as well as the methods used in teaching the language in different Arab countries.

Meanwhile, Arabs have been emigrating to the US in significant numbers since the late 19th century.

According to the Arab American Institute, a non-profit organisation, nearly 3.7 million Americans trace their roots to Arab countries, including Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Palestine, Iraq, Jordan and Yemen.

In Latin America, there are up to 30 million people of Arab descent — by far the highest number of Arabs outside the Middle East.

"I respect colloquial Arabic, but only for speaking and listening skills. I encourage my students to learn it," said Basma Dajani, an associate professor of Arabic at the University of Jordan. "But writing colloquial poses a threat for the unity of the language. Arabic is one language, it is like a tree with many branches and colloquial is one branch.

“There are different dialects and, if we use colloquial in writing, we will not understand each other."

For Ms Makhoul, the idea behind using colloquial Arabic in children’s books was to encourage them to read for fun.

“I think fussha is very important. But I equally believe that there's a place for amiyyeh in books,” she said. “It's our everyday language, the language of our life, and it should have a place in our literature.

“I believe that if we create fun and good books in amiyyeh, it will only help children later on in their transition to learning fussha.”

Milestones on the road to union

1970

October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar. 

December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.

1971

March 1:  Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.

July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.

July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.

August 6:  The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.

August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.

September 3: Qatar becomes independent.

November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.

November 29:  At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.

November 30: Despite  a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa. 

November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties

December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.

December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.

December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.

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%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EDirector%3A%20%3C%2Fstrong%3EGuillermo%20del%20Toro%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EStars%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Tim%20Blake%20Nelson%2C%20Sebastian%20Roche%2C%20Elpidia%20Carrillo%3Cbr%3ERating%3A%204%2F5%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Key facilities
  • Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
  • Premier League-standard football pitch
  • 400m Olympic running track
  • NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
  • 600-seat auditorium
  • Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
  • An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
  • Specialist robotics and science laboratories
  • AR and VR-enabled learning centres
  • Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
What drives subscription retailing?

Once the domain of newspaper home deliveries, subscription model retailing has combined with e-commerce to permeate myriad products and services.

The concept has grown tremendously around the world and is forecast to thrive further, according to UnivDatos Market Insights’ report on recent and predicted trends in the sector.

The global subscription e-commerce market was valued at $13.2 billion (Dh48.5bn) in 2018. It is forecast to touch $478.2bn in 2025, and include the entertainment, fitness, food, cosmetics, baby care and fashion sectors.

The report says subscription-based services currently constitute “a small trend within e-commerce”. The US hosts almost 70 per cent of recurring plan firms, including leaders Dollar Shave Club, Hello Fresh and Netflix. Walmart and Sephora are among longer established retailers entering the space.

UnivDatos cites younger and affluent urbanites as prime subscription targets, with women currently the largest share of end-users.

That’s expected to remain unchanged until 2025, when women will represent a $246.6bn market share, owing to increasing numbers of start-ups targeting women.

Personal care and beauty occupy the largest chunk of the worldwide subscription e-commerce market, with changing lifestyles, work schedules, customisation and convenience among the chief future drivers.

Brief scores:

​​​​​​Toss: Pakhtunkhwa Zalmi, chose to field

​Environment Agency: 193-3 (20 ov)
Ikhlaq 76 not out, Khaliya 58, Ahsan 55

Pakhtunkhwa Zalmi: 194-2 (18.3 ov)
Afridi 95 not out, Sajid 55, Rizwan 36 not out

Result: Pakhtunkhwa won by 8 wickets

The Perfect Couple

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Creator: Jenna Lamia

Rating: 3/5