Google Launches Ejabat: Arabic Question and Answer product to Help Users Share Information

How do you cure a stomach ache? What is the best way to make macaroni? What is the best hotel for beach access in Dubai? What airline should I fly to go from Riyadh to Beirut? - Questions such as these are ones that users have on a daily basis and the place they turn to is the internet. Today with the launch of Google Ejabat or إجابات (‘answers’ in Arabic) users can start answering these questions for each other.

Google Ejabat or إجابات, is a tool which allows users to post and answer each other’s questions in Arabic. This tool is purely based on user generated content. Given that less than 1% of content online is in Arabic users often are unable to find the same information that they would if they were searching in other languages such as English. However as more users in MENA are turning to the internet to find information, the Google Arabia team focused on launching products that empower Arabic speaking users to create more online content in their language. Google Ejabat is the latest effort to enrich the Arabic web.

"In our effort to understand the needs of the market we found out that Arabic users ask Google a tremendous number of questions every day however a lot of these remain unanswered due to the lack of Arabic content online. We recognize that users are the best at answering each other's questions within a community and this product is the perfect way to be able to share and contribute information" said Wael Ghonim, Regional Product & Marketing Manager MENA.

Recognizing the online content issue in Arabic, Google launched Ejabat in Arabic before English in order to address the needs of the market specifically. Ahmad Hamzawi, Head of Engineering MENA, further commented "The Google Arabia team is committed to enhancing the user experience for Arab speakers. We work on developing and launching products that will continue to enrich Arabic content online with Ejabat as the latest step in our ambitious plans."

Over the last two years Google has been busy launching other tools such as Ejabat that are useful for the Arabic market such as Google Translation Toolkit and Blogger.

To start contributing questions and answering questions go to ejabat.google.com

Visit the Ejabat video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocaxW0DCEV0

Learn & Enjoy Arabic With ArabicPod

Do you speak English and you want to learn Arabic the fun way? Then I would recommend to you ArabicPod. With ArabicPod, you can learn basic things like greetings, weather, and ordering food. ArabicPod is creative and attractive way to learn basic Arabic language by listening to conversations between Ehab Saleh (25 from Jordan) & Mohammed Moshaya (26 from Saudi Arabia). Ehab & Mohammed are also the creators and maintainers of ArabicPod. They are currently students at Brighton University (80 miles south London).

Early of 2007 Mohammad has started learning Chinese via podcast & found out that podcasting is a great method to learn languages. Mohammed & Ehab recorded their first podcast lesson in March 2007. You can watch their first lesson below ...



"Everyone who is interested in learning Arabic is our target, we found that people learn Arabic due to heritage where learners wants to learn their fathers language, others learn Arabic for business and work purposes, also people learn Arabic for religious reasons and some people say that they love the sound of the language and that’s why they want to learn it. We have learners from all over the word", said Ehab Saleh, co-creator of ArabicPod.

"We are looking forwards to seeing ArabicPod as a big company teaches Arabic for the entire word, the internet has no borders and we are hoping that this effort that is made totally by two Arabs in their 20s would reach high level and be a source for everyone wants to learn Arabic."

Read Also:
ArabicPod (Official Site)
How it all began (ArabicPod Blog)
ArabicPod Channel (YouTube)
ArabicPod - Learn Arabic Podcasts (Podcast Directory)
Arabic for Anyone (Arab News)