It seems iOS9 is more proactive for Arabic speaking people than we thought! We got a nice discovery in iOS9 that has been spotted by @RudyChidiac and @fletchergull: Apple seems to have embraced the informal latinised Arabic writing that many Arabs use when they text in Arabic using the English alphabet.
Bring up iMessage or some texting app, and try out any of these texts below. Once sent, they will be underlined and actionable, translating the dates into Gregorian and allowing you to add an event to the calendar. For the non-Arabic-speaking folk, the below translate to individual days of the week plus a time.
- Tanein 1:30
- Taleta 2:30
- 2orb3a 5:30
- Khamis 6:15
- Jem3a 12:15
- Sabet 3:40
- A7ad 5:25
- 2a7ad 5:15
But it doesn’t stop there! If you type “Tanein men 5:30 la 10:30” (Monday from 5:30 to 10:30), you’re able to add the schedule to the calendar as well. You can get experimental and creative too:
- 27 kanoun el awwal (27 December)
- a7ad 27 kanoun el awwal men 7:30 lal 10:30 (Sunday 27 December from 7:30 to 10:30)
Yep!
For the months of August and September, not all variations of spellings work; it seems to pick up mostly the Levantine dialect. Experiment and let us know what works for you, but here are a few that were successful:
- 16 Kanoun teneh / 16 Kanoun Thani
- 17 shbat
- 18 Adar or 18 Azar
- 19 Nissan or 19 Nissen
- 20 Ayyar
- 21 7zayran
- 22 tammouz
- 25 teshrin awwal
- 26 teshrin teneh / 23 teshrin thani
- 27 kanoun awwal
As a bonus, it’s also picked up by OS X. Quite an amazing Easter egg, eh?
