Template talk:Arabic language

From MedBib.com - Medicine & Nature

I suggest changing Gim To Jim, since "J" is pronounced in one way as Jack while G could pronounced in two different ways as Google and Garbage radiant guy (talk) 07:48, 26 June 2008 (UTC)

I recognize the concern. However, this template (and Wikipedia in general) uses the DIN 31635 transliteration system, and "Ǧ/ǧ" (note the caron) is standard there. Though this is justification enough, I suppose I owe you an explanation for why DIN 31365 is the way it is, so here goes:

As you doubtless know, Ǧīm has multiple pronunciations acceptable for Modern Standard Arabic: though the standard is in fact the voiced postalveolar affricate /d͡ʒ/ (the "J" in "Jack"), the voiced postalveolar fricative /ʒ/ (the "s" in "pleasure") and the voiced velar plosive /g/ (the "g" in "google") are regional variants and acceptable for use in official speech (watch an Egyptian news show, and they use "/g/" every time even though everything else is otherwise MSA). Beyond that, in the reconstruction of Classical Arabic phonology, the original sound was the palatalized voiced velar plosive /gʲ/; see Proto-Semitic. Lockesdonkey (talk) 17:43, 28 June 2008 (UTC)