Land of Black Gold Trivia

Created by Jesper Jühne. Maintained by Irene Mar. Contributors and sources: Assaf Ben-Ari, Tintin and the world of Hergé by Benoît Peeters. London: Methuen, 1989; Herge - Bogen om Tintin og hans skaber, Carlsen 1983. Original: Le monde d'Hergé. BPH = Herge - Bogen om Tintin og hans skaber, Carlsen 1983.

Extracted from Le Petit Vingtième
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Reference: [BPH] page 133.
Tintin © Hergé/Moulinsart.
From the 1950 original Danish edition
Frame 3: Sign: "... batzri blosom"
Frame 4: Sign: "... cho" Jew: "Boss! He has arrived! I saw him." Boss: "Who? Are you sure...?"
Frame 5: Jew: "Yes, but he has been turned in ... the British has taken him prisoner!" Boss: "We will free him at any cost!"
Frame 6: Next morning. Soldier: "You are to be transferred to the headquarter, follow me!"
Frame 7: Sign: "shlashgant" (possibly Yiddish).
Danish translation by Jesper Jühne. Hebrew translation by Assaf Ben-Ari.
Tintin © Hergé/Moulinsart.
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From the cover of the 1971 edition
Arabic text: "S sh"
Translation by Youssef-Minawi.
Tintin © Hergé/Moulinsart.
From the cover of the 1950 edition
Arabic text: "Black Gold"
Translation by Youssef-Minawi.
Tintin © Hergé/Moulinsart.
From page 16 of the 1950 edition
The text is not Arabic.
Translation by Youssef-Minawi.
Tintin © Hergé/Moulinsart.
From page 19 of the 1950 edition
The text is not Arabic - it is gobbledygook.
Translation by Youssef-Minawi.
Tintin © Hergé/Moulinsart.
From page 17 of the 1971 edition
Arabic text: "Damn you! You son of a dog! Damn your father! You are a beduin!"
In this context, "beduin" is read as a swear word.
Translation by Youssef-Minawi.
Image © Hergé/Moulinsart.
From page 22
Nonsensical text. There is one letter in it that looks Persian.
Translation by Youssef-Minawi.
Image © Hergé/Moulinsart.
From page 22
Arabic text: "Stop! You Coward. Damn you. I want to smash your head in!"
Translation by Youssef-Minawi.
Image © Hergé/Moulinsart.
From page 34
The Arabic text here is pretty much all nonsense: it is in Moroccan and it ends with "Sincerely".
Translation by Youssef-Minawi.
Image © Hergé/Moulinsart.
From page 34
Arabic text: "There is someone here to see you".
Image © Hergé/Moulinsart.
From page 34
The text is nonsensical.
Translation by Youssef-Minawi.
Image © Hergé/Moulinsart.
From page 37
Text is almost entirely in Arabic - however, it is all nonsense. The date at the top reads: "Sunday 10 ??? 19??"
Translation by Youssef-Minawi.
Image © Hergé/Moulinsart.
From page 37

Letter in Arabic reads: "To Mohammad Ibm Khalil. If you want to see your son alive. You should sign the contract with the company Skwil. (Signed) Bab Al Ameer.

The name "Bab Al Ameer" means "The door of the princess".
Translation by Youssef-Minawi.
Image © Hergé/Moulinsart.
From page 40
Nonsensical Arabic text.
Translation by Youssef-Minawi.
Image © Hergé/Moulinsart.
From page 40
Arabic text: "Come on in" and "Good morning".
Translation by Youssef-Minawi.
Image © Hergé/Moulinsart.
From page 41
Nonsensical Arabic text.
Translation by Youssef-Minawi.
Image © Hergé/Moulinsart.
From page 41

Arabic text: "At your service dear sir, I have everything you need at low prices", "At your service anytime" and "Goodbye".

Translation by Youssef-Minawi.
Image © Hergé/Moulinsart.
From page 49
Nonsensical Arabic text. Standard Arabic does not allow exclamation marks be placed at the end of a sentence.
Translation by Youssef-Minawi.
Image © Hergé/Moulinsart.
From page 49

Arabic text: "Drop it".

Translator's note: The text is obviously written by a non-native Arab; the third arc in the word with two dots on top should not be there.

Translations by Youssef-Minawi.
Image © Hergé/Moulinsart.

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