will anyone translate a little arabic?

[ThunderIdeal]

i found a bizarre, kinda mystical looking note hidden at an auspicious bush location.

which happens to be exactly where i last saw my phone, but as i said it's an auspicious location. the kind of place you would stuff a secret note, although maybe it is a ransom note for my phone.

i am not posting the scan publicly because i have no idea what it says.

[qualia]

i work with an iranian. if you don't mind a stranger seeing it then i could ask her.

[ThunderIdeal]

sure mate, i just didn't want to plaster it over the net just yet.

i will evict the little spider that lived in the folds and scan it. could you pm an email address for me to send the files to please?

[qualia]

[bogfrog]

some hard out secret agent business going on here. cool!

[Foo]

Dont iranian's speak (and write) persian?

Im no scholar but that was my understanding.

Ive heard about an Iphone app or sim that translates pictures taken by the phone. You might be able to find a simular service on the net for free.

Edited October 20, 2011 by eatfoo

[qualia]

i wouldn't know.

edit: wikipedia says it's true, so it must be.

Edited October 20, 2011 by qualia

[ThunderIdeal]

hahahaha, it has some burn marks so i applied a lighter to the underside and more characters are appearing. kids these days eh? i think secret text revealed by heat from a flame is done with lemon juice??

[random]

Is there an online dictionary with Arabic characters that you could possibly use to decipher it?

Might just be someone's discarded shopping list though

Not quite as scary as a certain gentleman I saw once in the carpark of Woolies sitting in a car wearing latex gloves and sticking stamps onto envelopes.. weird.

Hopefully its nothing sinister!!

[TheExplorer]

This is exciting. :popcorn:

[ThunderIdeal]

probably paranoid about mailing some drugs and getting busted with his fingerprints all through the envelope.

i'm not going to attempt to translate it. it's arabic! if the characters were familiar i'd give it a go and settle for whatever engrish the translator app would give me.

"we phone you phone got, staircase, gentlemen. make currency fast. phone you die, otherwise."

or maybe "we wants the money lebowski we fucking takes the money, yah lebowski we cut off your johnson"

[Quill]

I bet it's a love note

[Max Cady]

a prayer to allah?

[ThunderIdeal]

yes that is a possibility, although i have no idea if muslims do that kind of thing.

if it helps: page one, there is text arranged like a kite with cross beams, so four outer lines (each divided in half by a hash with a five pointed star at start and finish), a row of short lines making a vertical beam for the kite(three horizontal lines, the main horizontal beam, then three more short horizontal lines), and three lines making the horizontal beam. at each corner is a large five sided star, with a small associated text. note that i just set this page on fire inside my house and burnt the middle out, probably invoking the fury of allah, but i have already scanned it. on the back i know of two more star hash star lines, and between them what almost looks like a doodle of a doodle.

page two, a small triangle points to a gride. if i take the triangle as bottom, then the gride has two (tall) rows and four collumns, the rightmost collumn is undivided. each box has three or four large characters and one or two small beneath the large.

edit: even if the language of iran is persian, persian uses the arabic alphabet and many persian words, for all i know the note is persian. maybe qualia will have this sorted out tomorrow afternoon

Edited October 20, 2011 by ThunderIdeal

[qualia]

this is fun! very mysterious

[Foo]

i wouldn't know.

edit: wikipedia says it's true, so it must be.

 

all hail the great wikipedia

[Quixote]

Try sending it to me, I'm not arabic but I know a bit of the language, incl. the alphabet and can probably put it through google translate..

[qualia]

i didn't go in today. i don't think you'll find theres to much to it, the numbers must mean something, can you imagine someone writing down numbers at random into a table and shoving it in a tree in the middle of nowhere for no good reason? no. heres something i picked up:

according to wikipedia it means "arabic" (although the dots are missing in wiki)

i don't think my colleague will be able to translate it as her writing is specifically different to this, i'm almost a little embarrassed to ask,

fearing the "you all think we're the same to you" type reaction,

[ThunderIdeal]

quixote has already begun to nut it out and it is likely some kind of, ummm, incantation, mostly numbers, so little to be gained from translating it anyway.

doesn't say anything about my phone.

[El Presidente Hillbillios]

co-ordinates to secret pirate treasure?

Or maybe co-ordinates to the next clue about your phone?

[Foo]

Thats why he isnt sharing! Damn treasure horder

[Psylo]

Cmon, you have to post a scanned copy on this thread. !! Im fascinated, intrigued and, well, nosy.

I'll bet its a birthday party invitation to a BBQ in the park.

[Psylo]

Or a geocaching log sheet, in which case you should return it.

[ThunderIdeal]

i also have a shitty scan i took before i set it on fire

[Psylo]

Wow, i get it.

I believe Page one is Hebrew BTW, not Arabic.

edit, actually, arabic where you burned it out.

There are I believe two languages

Fucn weird, so interesting though.

Edited October 22, 2011 by Psylo Dread