Translating Arabic

It was the last day of editing on the White City film today, but I feel restless, largely because I had to leave editor Louise beavering away, so that I could get back home to attend a dinner party which I was supposed to be hosting. Poor Nathan had to do all the cleaning and cooking on his own. 

I really thought I'd be coming away from the edit with a DVD of the film in my hand to watch over a celebratory glass of Ribena, but it wasn't to be. I'm told delayed gratification is almost as pleasing as getting something instantly? 

The process of checking the grade and putting credits on the film seemed to take forever, largely because we're working on such a low-fi computer that every change we made needed to be rendered (consolidated) before we could watch it. We spent much of the day twiddling our fingers, looking at the computer and shouting "hurry up!" 

Still, it's done, and very soon this information will filter into my brain...

The highlight of the day was almost certainly our lengthy quest to translate what Islam the Imam said in the film in Arabic, which we blithely included in the hope that it was a positive message rather than a cheeky a call to burn the pope! The sequence from the film was turned into an MP3 and then a movie file and circulated on Facebook and via email with several frustrating responses. Several people "liked" it, others told me they loved me, some said "I speak Arabic, how can I help?" before vanishing into the cyber ether and Brother Edward helpfully suggested google translate forgetting that it only works when there's some kind of notion of the spelling of the word! I've not yet mastered the Arabic alphabet! 

Eventually, a friend of a friend pointed us to a young Egyptian lad, who dutifully translated, proclaiming excitedly; "this Imam is Egyptian! I can tell by his accent." We spent much of the afternoon (whilst waiting for the computer to catch up) Facebook messaging each other. I was much taken with the thought that he was in Cairo, fighting for democracy. 

Turns out the Imam's words are gracious and wise, "Islam means love, security, love and prosperity" which gives me a warm glow. I sincerely hope that most Muslims feel that this truly is the meaning of their religion.