Journal of Advanced Social Research Vol.2 No.

4, June 2012, 191-201

How to Make the Most of the Mother Article Info

Tongue in an English Language
Class? Received: 15th May 2012
Accepted: 24th May 2012
Omar Osman Jabak Published online: 1st June 2012
Department of English, Teachers College, King Saud
University, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
jabak73@yahoo.com

ISSN: 2231-8275 © 2012 Design for Scientific Renaissance All rights reserved

ABSTRACT
This research aims at identifying and analyzing the advantages of using the mother tongue of
students who learn English as a second language. Despite the fact that many second language
teachers are averse to using students' native language in an English class where English is
learned and taught as a second language, there are some valuable advantages to the use of
students' first language in teaching English as a second language. Some of these advantages
include the comparison of the linguistic systems of both students' native language and
English. Moreover, teachers can also draw on some culture-bound elements of English such
as proverbs, idioms, collocations and metaphor which they can compare to their equivalent
counterparts in students' mother tongue. The researcher supplies some examples of these
culture-specific items in both English and Arabic since the mother tongue of the students
whom he has been teaching is Arabic. The researcher uses the introspective and retrospective
research as well as qualitative research in the form of a questionnaire as the research
methodology for this study because there is data taken from the courses and students the
researcher has been teaching at the Department of English of Teachers College in King Saud
University in Saudi Arabia, mainly Principles of Text-linguistics and Translation, Debate and
Discussion (1, 2) and Reading (1, 2, 3) since 2009. The data is then analyzed qualitatively
to suit the purposes of the study. The study arrived at some practical findings pertaining to
the use of students' native language in English classes. The researcher then wraps up the
study with some recommendations for future research in this area or other areas related to this
field.

Keywords: EFL, first language, foreign language, L1, mother tongue, native language,
second language, source language, target language, TEFL

1. Introduction

Teaching English as a foreign language has become very popular the whole world over
due to the increasing demand for learning English for academic, recreational and business
purposes. There are general English courses, courses on English for specific purposes, and

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 Journal of Advanced Social Research Vol.2 No.4, June 2012, 191-201

English major programs at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. There are two kinds of
English teachers; native speaker teachers and non-native speaker teachers. As far as the
former group is concerned, there is no use of the mother tongue of the learners who learn
English as a foreign language especially if the teachers don't speak the learners' native
language. The other group, however, includes non-native speaker teachers whose first
language, in most cases, is the same as that of the students whom they teach. This group is
the focus of this study because teachers who use the mother tongue of the students who learn
English might use their native language which is also the students' native language to
highlight some differences in the linguistic systems of the first language of the students and
English, explain some new difficult vocabulary and draw comparisons or distinctions
between some cultural aspects of both the first language and the second language such as
proverbs, idioms, fixed expressions and collocations. By doing so, teachers might pique their
students' interest in learning English as a second language as it shares some intriguing
cultural elements with their first language.
Within this context, teachers here are used to refer to Arab teachers who specialize in
teaching English as a second language. In this respect, these cultural sensitivities help bridge
the gap between cultures as they prove that people's mentality and way of thinking is similar
regardless of time, place and/or language. Towards realizing the aims of the present study,
the researcher handed out a questionnaire to 100 students majoring in English and studying at
the Department of English of Teachers' College in King Saud University in Saudi Arabia.
The questionnaire includes ten statements on the situations and occasions where the students'
first language, Arabic, is used properly and educationally. A copy of the questionnaire along
the statistics it reveals will be provided at the Appendix section. The Arabic translations of
the examples given in this article will also be provided at the Appendix section.
Moreover, the examples provided in this study are taken from the researcher's lectures,
quizzes, tests and exams he has been giving at the Department of English of Teachers'
College in King Saud University in Saudi Arabia since 2009. The courses on which these
examples have been given are Principles of Text-linguistics and Translation, Debate and
Discussion (1, 2) and Reading (1, 2, 3).

2. Literature Review

It might seem surprisingly interesting to know that learning a second language besides
acquiring the first language is as old as language itself. In fact, people have been learning a
second language ever since they came into interaction with other people from different
countries. There have been many approaches to teaching a second language. Perhaps one of
the oldest methods of teaching a second language is the Grammar Translation Method (Diane
Larsen-Freeman, 2000) which is based on translating from the second language, the target
language, into students' mother tongue so that they find equivalents for the new vocabulary
and grammatical concepts they encounter in the second language.
There is another method which supports the use of students' first language in learning a
second language which is Community Language Learning (Diane Larsen-Freeman, 2000).
This approach to teaching a second language encourages teachers to provide equivalents for
some target language words and concepts so that their meaning becomes clear to the students

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 Journal of Advanced Social Research Vol.2 No.4, June 2012, 191-201

who then can put them in well-structured sentences in the target language with the help of
their teachers. In fact, even in the Communicative Language Learning method, the use of the
native language of students is allowed but with a lot of care and caution on the part of the
teacher (Diane Larsen-Freeman, 2000). David Atkinson (1987) provides some suggestions
for the judicial use of the mother tongue in a foreign language class. Some of these
suggestions include translating new vocabulary items, comparing forms and meanings in both
students' first language and the second language they are learning and explaining exercises
which might sound difficult to understand. Auerbach (1993) is of the opinion that English
teachers should use students' mother tongue in such ways as to help them improve their
English skills. She goes on to say (1993:19) “Starting with the L1 provides a sense of security
and validates the learners’ lived experiences, allowing them to express themselves. The
learner is then willing to experiment and take risks with English.” Within the same context,
Lucas and Katz (1994) stress the point that the use of students' native language on the part of
both English teachers and students of English as a second language renders some benefits
such as better communication between teachers and students as well as making students feel
psychologically at ease while learning English.
Moreover, Swain and Lapkin (2000) are of the opinion that the use of the mother tongue
in a second language class encourages students to carry out their tasks and assignments in
class smoothly and fruitfully. In addition, if foreign language teachers use their students' first
language in a foreign language class as a teaching tool to be employed along with other
monolingual tools, they can bring about positive educational results embodied in students'
motivation to attend the foreign language classes and benefit from them (Carless, 2001). By
the same token, Wolfgang Butzkamm (2003:29-39) believes that the first language is very
important to the second language learning because both languages have some universal
aspects in common such as linguistic systems and cultural elements, and there is no harm in
using the mother tongue in a foreign language class to highlight these universal aspects. In
most of the Arab world, English is taught and learned as a second language; therefore, there
has been a lot of controversy over the use of Arabic in English classes.
Although the dominant opinion in this respect is that Arabic, students' mother tongue,
should be avoided or reduced to a minimum, some TEFL and EFL teachers and researchers
commend the careful use of Arabic in English language classes as this will lead to better
understanding and learning. In fact, some Arab researchers have done some significant
research into the use of Arabic in English classes and come up with some enlightening
results. Mr. Mouhamad Mouhanna (2009), for example, conducted a research study that
targeted 124 students at a tertiary institution in the United Arab Emirates, and came up with
the conclusion that most of the sampled students thought of the use of Arabic in their English
classes as "an important part of effective learning." But at the same time, Mr Mouhanna is
against the overuse of students' native language in an English class which will be at the
expense of learning the target language / the foreign language. There is another study
conducted by Neomy Storch and Ali Aldosari (2010) which emphasizes the fact that Arab
students do use Arabic in their English classes to ask each other questions about the meaning
of certain English words, and do certain group tasks such as editing. Another opponent of the
use of Arabic in an English class is Sulaiman Jenkins (2010) who suggests that it is natural
for Arab students and English teachers whose first language is Arabic to use Arabic

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 Journal of Advanced Social Research Vol.2 No.4, June 2012, 191-201

"effectively" in an English class as Arabic " helps to enrich their learning experience and
ultimately make the language learning process less daunting than it already is." He also thinks
that if Arab students, especially Saudi ones, are taught not to use their first language in class
with their classmates or teacher, then they may get the impression that their native language
and culture are less important than the English language and culture. Thus, they may refrain
from learning English as they think that they have to give up their native language and culture
in return for learning English or that the English language and culture are invading them. As
a result, these students might lose interest in English and feel "demotivated". One last Arab
scholar who is in favor of the use of Arabic in an English class is Dr. Suleiman Awad Musa
Al-Abbas (1996) who did his PhD on The Use of Arabic as a Mother Tongue in Teaching
English as a Foreign Language in the Schools of Jordan. He collected the data for his
research from 400 students and 100 teachers. He came up with some realistic results such as:
"most of English teachers use Arabic in their English classroom to explain new and difficult
items, and to lesser degrees for other purposes. First year university students who were taught
English vocabulary and grammatical structures bilingually outperformed their counterparts
who were taught without any use of Arabic." (1996: iv)

3. Discussion and Results

As stated above, if teachers utilize the mother tongue wisely and effectively in their
English language classes, they will hopefully motivate their students to learn English more
enthusiastically and easily as students will be able to compare the linguistic systems of their
first language with English, find equivalents for new difficult words, compare and contrast
culture-bound features common to both languages such as proverbs, idioms, collocations and
fixed expressions. Because Arabic and English belong to two different families, their
linguistic systems seem to differ greatly. The most apparent linguistic difference lies in the
basic word order. The word order of the Arabic sentence is verb + subject + rest of the
sentence, whereas the word order of the English sentence is subject + verb + rest of the
sentence.
Most beginning Arab students learning English will have difficulty writing good English
sentences according to the right word order of the English language because they mistakenly
think that the order is the same as in Arabic. So, when their teachers explain this basic
linguistic difference between English and Arabic, they feel there is a pressing need to use
Arabic to drive this idea home to their students. As a result, they might translate the English
sentences into Arabic or use Arabic sentences to highlight this difference. In this respect,
some Arab students might say:
Go I to school every day. (Instead of " I go to school every day")
Another interesting area of difference is the use of adjectives. In English, adjectives are
used predicatively and attributively, and when they are used attributively they precede the
noun which they qualify. However, in Arabic the adjective follows the noun which it
qualifies. In fact, a big number of Arab learners are under the assumption that adjectives in
English behave in the same way as they do in Arabic. In this particular case, teachers can use
Arabic examples of adjectives with nouns to contrast them with their English counterparts
and help students overcome this difficulty. Accordingly, teachers might see students say:

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 Journal of Advanced Social Research Vol.2 No.4, June 2012, 191-201

I have friends good. (Instead of "I have good friends")

Another linguistic aspect which seems to pose a challenge for Arab students is the use of
the right tense in English. In Arabic there are three tenses or times: past, present and future,
and there are no progressive or perfect tenses as is the case of English. For this reason, a big
number of Arab students learning English as a second language find it difficult to use the
correct tense in their writing assignments or even in their speech. When teachers explain this
discrepancy to students and give them English and Arabic examples about these tenses,
students might both understand tenses better and avoid producing incorrect English
sentences. Some tentative examples of how some Arab students use English tenses wrongly
are as follows:
Did you see him before? (Instead of "Have you seen him before?")
He is working in this factory for twenty years. (Instead of "He has been working in this
factory for twenty years")
They will arrive in Paris by the time we call them. (Instead of "They will have arrived in
Paris by the time we call them")
We felt tired because we were walking for three hours. (Instead of "We felt tired because
we had been walking for three hours")
Despite the fact that the linguistic systems of Arabic and English differ greatly, the
cultural aspects of these languages seem to show some similarities and differences. It is the
task of the English teacher to draw second language learners' attention, including Arab ones,
to the English culture-bound elements and their equivalents or meaning in their native culture
and language. In order for Arab learners to learn English well, they have to develop a cultural
background in the cultural elements of English such as proverbs, idioms, collocations and
fixed expressions. One viable advantage of using students' native language while explaining
these important cultural aspects of English is that teachers highlight the importance of these
indispensable elements to the learning of English and help bridge any cultural gap between
students' first language and English.
To learn a foreign language is to learn both the linguistic elements and cultural elements
of that language. One cultural aspect that seems to be common to all languages is the use of
proverbs. In fact, the study of proverbs in English and the quest for equivalent proverbs in
students' first language is very interesting. When English teachers use Arabic in their English
language classes to give Arabic equivalent proverbs for English proverbs in their course of
the class, they do two things at the same time; they teach students this important cultural
aspect and prove that wisdom, as reflected in the use of proverbs, is a human property which
is common to all people all over the world regardless of their linguistic or cultural
background and that human beings do act and react in almost the same way. As a matter of
fact, some English proverbs have perfect matches in Arabic. The following are some of these
proverbs which Arab students understand and for which provide Arabic equivalents easily as
their literal translation leads to Arabic proverbs as well.
Don't put off till tomorrow what you can do today.
Treat people as you would like them to treat you.
Don't count your chickens till they hatch.
A friend in need is a friend in deed.
Not all that glitters is gold.

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 Journal of Advanced Social Research Vol.2 No.4, June 2012, 191-201

Appearances are deceptive.

There is no smoke without fire.
As you sow so shall you reap.
Sometimes Arab students come across English proverbs which have Arabic equivalents
except for one word. Some of these students may not render these proverbs into Arabic
proverbs because they might translate them literally without paying attention to the
differences between Arabic culture and English culture. In order for teachers to underpin
these differences between Arabic culture and English culture, they can provide Arabic
translations or Arabic equivalent proverbs for such proverbs in English and explain how the
environment affects the use of certain words in proverbs. The following are excellent
examples which clearly illustrate this point.
Cats have nine lives. (In Arabic culture, cats are said to have seven lives!)
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. (In Arabic culture, the word "worth" is replaced
by "better" and the word "two" is replaced by ten.)
He who steals an egg steals an ox. (In Arabic culture, the word "ox" is replaced by
"camel" to suit the environment where early Arabs lived.)
Diamond cut diamond. (In Arabic culture, the word "diamond" is replaced by the word
"iron”.)
Time is money. (In Arabic culture, the word "money" is replaced by the word "gold"
Every dog has its/his price. (In Arabic culture, the word "dog" is replaced by the word
"man".)
Some English proverbs should be explained in simple English and then the teacher work
on finding Arabic proverbs which have the same or similar meaning. So, the use of the
mother tongue here is somehow essential to ensure that students understand the meaning of
such proverbs and the way they are used in English. Some typical examples of this category
of these proverbs are:
A stitch in time saves nine.
Once bitten, twice shy.
There is safety in numbers.
The first language can also be used to give equivalent idioms for the English idioms
encountered in an English class. It goes without saying that English is one of the most highly
idiomatic languages in the world. That is why idioms permeate English texts and textbooks.
Providing equivalent idioms in the students' native language helps students break the
language barrier and feel familiar with the English language as they find similar cultural
aspects in both English and their first language. It is interesting to notice that some English
idioms have perfect matches in Arabic; the thing that accounts for students' motivation to
learn English as a second language. The following idioms in English have Arabic equivalent
idioms:
A golden opportunity
A whirlwind in a tea cup
A slip of the tongue
A wolf in sheep's clothing
Some English learners find it difficult to guess or provide the meaning of some intriguing
idioms because such idioms have a completely different meaning from the meaning of their

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 Journal of Advanced Social Research Vol.2 No.4, June 2012, 191-201

individual words. Arab students learning English face idioms belonging to this category, and
they feel they cannot guess their meaning or they cannot find equivalent idioms for them in
Arabic. Here, the teacher can explain the meaning of such idioms in plain English, and may
give the translation of these idioms in Arabic or provide equivalent idioms in Arabic. The
following tentative examples fit in this category of English idioms:
Money does not grow on trees
Call a spade a spade
Reinvent the wheel
Buy a pig in a poke
A fair-weather friend
Go under the knife
Interestingly enough, there are some idiomatic comparisons in English which have similar
equivalents in Arabic. Therefore, when teachers bring this to the attention of their students,
students will be more interested in learning more of these comparisons in English and try to
find Arabic equivalents for them. The following are some examples that fall into this
category of idioms.
As brave as a lion
As gaudy as a peacock
As cunning as a fox
As magnanimous as Agamemnon
Another important cultural aspect that is common to almost all languages of the world is
collocations. By definition, "collocation is the way words combine in a language to produce
natural-sounding speech and writing." (Oxford Collocations: dictionary for students of
English, 2002, Oxford University Press, Printed in China, p vii.). Teachers of English as a
foreign language, be them native or non-native speakers of English, should always bring the
importance of learning collocations to their students' attention so that students learn how to
speak and write natural English. Arabic also makes good use of collocations. Therefore, when
Arab students learn English, they can be asked by their teachers to find Arabic collocations
for English collocations, or if they cannot find Arabic equivalents for English collocations,
their teachers can help them provide functional translations of the collocations. When
teachers provide Arabic equivalent collocations for English collocations, they make the class
more interesting because they show that English and Arabic both make good use of
collocations and that the quest for equivalent collocations for English collocations in the first
language is an exercise that keeps the heat on in an English language class. The following are
some examples of English collocations which have Arabic equivalent collocations:
Make progress
Achieve goals
Do homework
Strong / weak tea / coffee
Heavy rain
Resounding victory
Cover news
Break a contract

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It is both interesting and important to shed light on these linguistic and cultural aspects of
English that can be regarded as universal features common to all languages, and show that
they also feature very prominently in Arabic by providing students with their Arabic
equivalents. According to the questionnaire, which was given to 100 Arab students majoring
in English, 75% of the sampled students believe that they feel at ease if the teacher uses
Arabic, their mother tongue, to provide them with the meaning of difficult vocabulary. 72%
of the students also agree that teachers can use Arabic to compare or contrast the linguistic
systems of both English and Arabic. 64% agree that teachers can use Arabic to compare
grammatical concepts in both English and Arabic. 75% also believe that teachers can use
Arabic to give Arabic equivalents to some English proverbs. 74% agree that teachers can use
Arabic to give Arabic equivalents to some English idioms. 69% of the students agree that
teachers can use Arabic to give Arabic equivalents to some idiomatic comparisons in English.
66% of the students are of the opinion that teachers can use Arabic only when students don't
understand a term, a word or a concept in English. 69% of the students agree that they feel
more interested in learning English when they know it has some linguistic similarities and
differences with Arabic. 68% of the students also agree that they feel more interested in
learning English when they know it shares some cultural elements with Arabic. 52% of the
students think the use of Arabic in their English classes has a positive effect on learning
English. On average and according to the statements of the questionnaire, 68.4% of the
sampled students express their preference for the use of Arabic in an English class only in the
situations specified in the questionnaire ( please see Appendix i). These statements cover
most of the linguistic and cultural elements that have been highlighted so far. If teachers have
recourse to students' native language to provide equivalents for these universals in their
mother tongue, there is then a strong possibility that students will be more interested in
learning more about the second language. Thus, the use of the mother tongue becomes an
educational tool that fosters learning and motivates students to go on learning more about the
foreign language.

4. Conclusion and Recommendations

Contrary to a common belief that students' first language should be avoided or reduced to
a minimum in an English language class, the use of the native language can be very helpful in
highlighting the differences and similarities between students' mother tongue and English as a
foreign language. When teachers use students' native language to provide equivalents for
linguistic concepts and culture-bound items such as proverbs, idioms, and collocations in
English, students will be more interested in learning English as a foreign language as they
find some linguistic and cultural aspects in common with their mother tongue. This will
definitely lead them to work with pleasure and excitement towards finding proper equivalents
in their native language for the linguistic and cultural elements in the foreign language in the
course of their learning experience.
As the case of any research study and due to some space constraints, the present study has
only touched upon few linguistic and cultural aspects encountered by Arab students of
English as a foreign language and the resort of their teachers to using the students' native
language to provide equivalents for these aspects. In particular terms, the study focused on

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the differences between the linguistic systems of both English and Arabic in terms of the
basic word order, adjectives and tenses. In this respect, teachers can use students' native
language, Arabic, to provide Arabic equivalent examples for these linguistic features, so that
the language barrier is removed. Besides, the present study drew upon some similarities
between Arabic and English in terms of cultural features such as proverbs, idioms and
collocations. More research can be done into the use of the mother tongue in teaching English
as a foreign language to cover other linguistic and cultural aspects of both students' first
language and English as a foreign language. To be more precise, future research can
investigate the effectiveness and usefulness of Arabic in an English language class, and it can
shed more light on other linguistic and cultural elements other than the ones discussed and
elaborated on in this study.

Acknowledgement

The author extends his appreciation to the Deanship of Scientific Research at King Saud
University for funding this work through research project number (288).

References
Al-Abbas, Suleiman Awad Musa. 1996. PhD Thesis: The Use of Arabic as a Mother Tongue
in Teaching English as a Foreign Language in the Schools of Jordan. University of
Wales, Aberystwyth.
Atkinson, D. 1987. The mother tongue in the classroom: A neglected resource? ETL Journal,
41,4, pp. 241–247.
Auerbach, E. R. (1993). Reexamining English only in the ESL classroom. TESOL Quarterly,
27, 9-32.
Butzkamm, Wolfgang. 2003. We only learn language once. The role of the mother tongue in
FL classrooms: death of a dogma. Language Learning Journal, Winter 2003, No 28, 29-
39
Carless, D. 2oo1. Implementing task-based learning with young learners .In ELT Journal 46
(4).
Jenkins. Sulaiman. 2010. Monolingualism: an uncongenial policy for Saudi Arabia's low
level learners. ELT Journal. Oxford University Press. 64/4.
Mouhanna. Mouhamad. 2009. Re-Examining the Role of L1 in the EFL Classroom. UGRU
Journal, 9.
Storch, Neomy. Aldosari, Ali. 2010. Learners' use of first language ( Arabic ) in pair work in
an EFL class, available at: http://ltr.sagepub.com/content/14/4/355. accessed at
19/12/2011.
Swain, M. and S. Lapkin. 2000. Task-based second language learning: the uses of the first
language. Language Teaching Research. 4.
Tamara Lucas and Anne Katz (1994). Reframing the Debate: The Roles of Native Languages
in English-only Programs for Language Minority students. TESOL Quarterly,
Vol.28.No.3, 537-561.

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Appendix i
This appendix shows the number of the students who agreed to the use of their mother tongue in an
English class in the situations mentioned in the statements of the questionnaire as opposed to those
who disagreed with the statements. 100 students responded to the questionnaire.

State whether you agree or disagree with the following statements.

NO Statement Agree Disagree

1 I feel at ease when the teacher uses Arabic to give me the meaning of some 75% 25%
difficult vocabulary in English.
2 The teacher can use Arabic to compare or contrast the linguistic systems of 72% 28%
both English and Arabic.
3 The teacher can use Arabic to compare some grammatical concepts in 64% 36%
English such as tense, word order, and adjectives with their equivalents in
Arabic.
4 The teacher can use Arabic to provide Arabic equivalents to some English 75% 25%
proverbs.
5 The teacher can use Arabic to give Arabic equivalents to some English 74% 26%
idioms.
6 The teacher can use Arabic to give Arabic equivalents to some idiomatic 69% 31%
comparisons in English.
7 The teacher can use Arabic only when students don't understand a term, a 66% 34%
word or a concept in English.
8 I feel more interested in learning English when I know it has some linguistic 69% 31%
similarities and differences with Arabic.
9 I feel more interested in learning English when I know it shares some cultural 68% 32%
elements with Arabic.
10 I think the use of Arabic in my English classes has a positive effect on 52% 48%
learning English.

Mean 68.4% 31.6%

Appendix ii
This part includes the English examples given in this article in the order of their occurrence with their
Arabic equivalents.

English Examples Arabic Equivalents

I go to school every day. .‫أذھﺐ إﻟﻰ اﻟﻤﺪرﺳﺔ ﻛﻞ ﯾﻮم‬

I have good friends.
Have you see him before?
He has been working in this factory for twenty years.
They will have arrived in Paris by the time we call
them.
We felt tired because we had been walking for three
.‫ﻋﻨﺪي أﺻﺪﻗﺎء ﺟﯿﺪون‬
‫ھﻞ رأﯾﺘﮫ ﻣﻦ ﻗﺒﻞ؟‬
ً.‫ﯾﻌﻤ ُﻞ ﻓﻲ ھﺬا اﻟﻤﺼﻨﻊ ﻣﻨﺬ ﻋﺸﺮﯾﻦ ﻋﺎﻣﺎ‬
.‫ﺳﯿﻜﻮﻧﻮن ﻗﺪ وﺻﻠﻮا إﻟﻰ ﺑﺎرﯾﺲ ﻋﻨﺪ اﺗﺼﺎﻟﻨﺎ ﺑﮭﻢ‬
.‫ﺷﻌﺮﻧﺎ ﺑﺎﻟﺘﻌﺐ ﻷﻧﻨﺎ ﻛﻨّﺎ ﻧﻤﺸﻲ ﻣﻨﺬ ﺛﻼث ﺳﺎﻋﺎت‬

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hours.
Don't put off till tomorrow what you can do today. .‫ﻻ ﺗﺆﺟﻞ ﻋﻤﻞ اﻟﯿﻮم إﻟﻰ اﻟﻐﺪ‬
Treat people as you would like them to treat you. .‫ﻋﺎﻣﻞ اﻟﻨﺎس ﻛﻤﺎ ﺗﺤﺐّ أن ﯾﻌﺎﻣﻠﻮك‬
Don't count your chickens till they hatch. .‫ﻻ ﺗﻌ ّﺪ ﺻﯿﺼﺎﻧﻚ ﻗﺒﻞ أن ﺗﻔﻘﺲ‬
A friend in need is a friend in deed. .‫اﻟﺼﺪﯾﻖ وﻗﺖ اﻟﻀﯿﻖ‬
Not all that glitters is gold. .‫ﻣﺎ ﻛ ّﻞ ﻣﺎ ﯾﻠﻤﻊ ذھﺐ‬
Appearances are deceptive. .‫اﻟﻤﻈﺎھﺮ ﺧ ّﺪاﻋﺔ‬
There is no smoke without fire. .‫ﻻ ﯾﻮﺟﺪ دﺧﺎن ﺑﺪون ﻧﺎر‬
As you sow so shall you reap. .‫ﻛﻤﺎ ﺗﺰرع ﺗﺤﺼﺪ‬
Cats have nine lives. .‫اﻟﻘﻂ ﺑﺴﺒﻊ أرواح‬
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush. .‫ﻋﺼﻔﻮر ﻓﻲ اﻟﯿﺪ أﻓﻀﻞ ﻣﻦ ﻋﺸﺮة ﻋﻠﻰ اﻟﺸﺠﺮة‬
He who steals an egg steals an ox. .ً‫ﻣﻦ ﯾﺴﺮق ﺑﯿﻀﺔ ﯾﺴﺮق ﺟﻤﻼ‬
Diamond cut diamond. .‫ﻻﯾﻔ ّﻞ اﻟﺤﺪﯾﺪ إﻻ اﻟﺤﺪﯾﺪ‬
Time is money. .‫اﻟﻮﻗﺖ ﻣﻦ ذھﺐ‬
Every dog has its/his price. .‫ﻛﻞ إﻧﺴﺎن و ﻟﮫ ﺳﻌﺮ‬
A stitch in time saves nine. .‫اﻟﻮﻗﺎﯾﺔ ﺧﯿﺮ ﻣﻦ اﻟﻌﻼج‬
Once bitten, twice shy. .‫ﻻ ﯾﻠﺪغ اﻟﻤﺮء ﻣﻦ ﺟﺤﺮ ﻣﺮﺗﯿﻦ‬
There is safety in numbers. .‫اﻟﻜﺜﺮة ﺗﻐﻠﺐ اﻟﺸﺠﺎﻋﺔ‬
A golden opportunity .‫ﻓﺮﺻﺔ ذھﺒﯿﺔ‬
A whirlwind in a tea cup .‫زوﺑﻌﺔ ﻓﻲ ﻓﻨﺠﺎن‬
A slip of the tongue .‫زﻟّﺔ ﻟﺴﺎن‬
A wolf in sheep's clothing .‫ذﺋﺐ ﻓﻲ ﻟﺒﺎس ﺧﺮوف‬
Money does not grow on trees .‫اﻟﺴﻤﺎء ﻻ ﺗﻤﻄﺮ ذھﺒﺎ‬
Call a spade a spade .‫ﯾﻘﻮل ﻟﻸﻋﻮر أﻋﻮر ﻓﻲ ﻋﯿﻨﮫ‬
Reinvent the wheel .‫ﯾﻔﺴﺮ اﻟﻤﺎء ﺑﻌﺪ اﻟﺠﮭﺪ ﺑﺎﻟﻤﺎء‬
Buy a pig in a poke .‫ﯾﺸﺘﺮي ﺳﻤﻜﺎ ً ﻓﻲ اﻟﺒﺤﺮ‬
A fair-weather friend .‫ﺻﺪﯾﻖ ﻣﺼﻠﺤﺔ‬
Go under the knife .‫ﯾﺨﻀﻊ ﻟﻌﻤﻠﺔ ﺟﺮاﺣﯿﺔ‬
As brave as a lion .‫ﺷﺠﺎع ﻛﺎﻷﺳﺪ‬
As gaudy as a peacock .‫ﻣﻐﺮور ﻛﺎﻟﻄﺎووس‬
As cunning as a fox .‫ﻣﺎﻛﺮ ﻛﺎﻟﺜﻌﻠﺐ‬
As magnanimous as Agamemnon .‫ﻛﺮﯾﻢ ﻛﺤﺎﺗﻢ اﻟﻄﺎﺋﻲ‬
Make progress .ً ‫ﯾﺤﺮز ﺗﻘ ّﺪﻣﺎ‬
Achieve goals .ً ‫ﯾﺤﻘﻖ أھﺪاﻓﺎ‬
Do homework .‫ﯾﻘﻮم ﺑﺎﻟﻔﺮوض اﻟﻤﺪرﺳﯿﺔ‬
Strong / weak tea / coffee .‫ ﺧﻔﯿﻔﺔ‬/ ‫ ﺧﻔﯿﻔﺔ أو ﻗﮭﻮة ﺛﻘﯿﻠﺔ‬/ ‫ﺷﺎي ﺛﻘﯿﻠﺔ‬
Heavy rain .‫ﻣﻄﺮ ﻏﺰﯾﺮ‬
Resounding victory .‫ﻧﺼﺮ ﻣﺪ ّوي‬
Cover news .‫ﯾﻨﻘﻞ اﻷﺧﺒﺎر‬
Break a contract .‫ﯾﺨﻞ ﺑﺎﻟﻌﻘﺪ‬

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