Geovana Pagel
São Paulo – In 1988, after 30 years of much study, dedication, and patience, the first "Portuguese-Arabic-Portuguese Dictionary", produced in a completely artistic manner was published in Brazil. "Everything was typed and copied with carbon paper," recalls the professor and monsignor Alphonse Nagib Sabbagh (84).
The Lebanese man, who came to visit his family in 1957, "with a round trip ticket," he recalls, decided to stay in Rio de Janeiro. Two years later, he founded the Arabic literature discipline at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), where he became a professor. "In the beginning, we had no support material, but we still managed to develop various booklets for grammar and vocabulary," he recalls.
According to Sabbagh, the UFRJ Arab Study Center has 15 new openings every year. According to him, the main objective is to provide Oriental Letters students with Portuguese-Arabic habilitation. "Some professors and students of the University collaborated by organizing and illustrating the dictionary," he says.
The professor explains that the first edition was 5,000 copies with 3,000 dictionary articles, distributed by Rio de Janeiro publishing house Ao livro técnico, with the support of the UFRJ. The Lebanese edition will be 500 pages long and will include 30,000 articles, being called "Portuguese-Arabic Dictionary". Publishing house Libraire du Liban, located in Beirut, should release the work in 2004.
Sabbagh explains that the dictionary will first be released in the Arab countries, and it will then go to other eastern nations. "But Portugal, Spain, and Paris have already shown interest in the book," he states.
Lebanese publishing house
In 1993, the Arabic literature professor participated in a congress in Paris where he met a Libraire representative. The publishing house specializes in editing Arabic books with translations to other languages.
"I told him about the work of the university Study Center, and about the additions that had been made to the dictionary. A little later they got in contact with me to ask for the manuscripts necessary for the second edition," he recalls.
The professor recalls how the Brazilian edition was organized. "In the first column we had the Arabic world, in the second column came the pronunciation in Latin letters, and in the third column was the word in Portuguese," he explains. "In the Lebanese edition, the first column will contain the word in Portuguese, and beside it will come the translation and, when necessary, the respective Arabic expressions," he completes.
Although he is retired, Sabbagh still presides committees and collaborates in university projects, especially in the Center for Arabic Studies. "He who does not have children writes books," he jokes.
"I am developing a new method to teach Arabic speakers and preparing another study about Arabic teaching to Portuguese speakers," he says, happily.
