Festival Fact Sheet: Number Agreement and Numerals
You are translating a fact sheet for the Arabic cultural festival 'Lingua Franca' in Malta. The English panel reads: 'The festival runs for 3 days and features 12 workshops, 20 volunteers and 1,500 visitors. It began in 2018 and has grown by 40% since 2020. The opening is at 6:30 pm on Friday 2 May.' The designer wants numerals as Western digits (3, 12, 20, 1500) to match the English; the editor wants numbers written out in words. The panel is narrow, so you cannot gloss every number. You also need to decide whether to use 'سنة' before 2018 and 2020, and how to express the percentage. A colleague suggests 'ثلاثة أيام، 12 ورشة، 20 متطوع، 1500 زائر' as a direct calque. You must produce the Arabic sentence and justify the agreement.
1. Write the first sentence with correct number agreement and explain each choice.
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A clear version is: 'يستمر المهرجان ثلاثة أيام، ويضم اثنتي عشرة ورشة، وعشرين متطوعًا، وألفًا وخمسمائة زائر.' Explanation: 'ثلاثة أيام' is a duration in the accusative; 'أيام' is plural because 3-10 takes a plural genitive. 'ورشة' is feminine, so 12 takes the feminine form 'اثنتي عشرة' in the accusative because it is the object of 'يضم'. 'عشرون' becomes 'عشرين' in the accusative because it is also the object; the noun after 20-99 is singular accusative: 'متطوعًا'. 1,500 = 'ألفًا وخمسمائة'; the noun after 500 is singular genitive: 'زائر'. If you prefer 'لمدة ثلاثة أيام', that is also correct and slightly clearer.
2. Decide the numerals style and give the date and time forms.
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Use Western digits for the statistics (12, 20, 1500) because the designer needs them to align with the English and because dense statistics scan better as digits. But spell out 'ثلاثة أيام' because it is short and because the agreement is visible; alternatively '3 أيام' is acceptable in modern media but hides the case. For 1,500, write '1500' without a comma if the panel is narrow; do not mix '١٥٠٠' and '1500'. Date: 'الجمعة 2 مايو' with the day first; avoid '2/5' because it is ambiguous across conventions. Time: '6:30 مساءً' or 'السادسة والنصف مساءً'; choose one and keep it. If you spell out the date, 'الثاني من مايو' is more formal.
3. Translate 'has grown by 40% since 2020' and explain the tense and aspect choice.
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'زاد بنسبة 40% منذ عام 2020' is concise and natural. 'نما بنسبة 40 في المائة منذ عام 2020' is more formal. Arabic does not need a present perfect auxiliary here; the perfect 'زاد' with 'منذ' covers the English present perfect because the growth started in the past and continues to matter. Include 'عام' before 2020: 'منذ عام 2020', not 'منذ 2020' alone, unless space is extremely tight. 'بنسبة' is the standard collocation for percentage change; 'بـ 40%' is understandable but less precise in this frame. Avoid 'ارتفع بـ' if the figure is a rate of growth rather than the total.