The Use of Arabic Language

The Use of Arabic Language

For a map and list of Arab countries, see: http://www.middleeastnews.com/mapofthearabworld.html

For more information about the language, see: http://www.al-bab.com/arab/language/lang.htm

For a list of language by countries, see: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0855611.html

For a list of the ten most widely spoken languages in the world, see: http://www.soyouwanna.com/site/toptens/languages/languages.html

Arabic Language

Arabic is spoken in more than 20 countries, from Morocco to Egypt and throughout the Arabian peninsula. It is the first language of over 186 million people, and at least another 35 million speak Arabic as a second language. As the language of Qur'ān, the holy book of Islam, it is thought as a first language in Muslim states throughout the world.

With origins dating back to pre-Islamic Saudi Arabia, and a rapid spread across the Middle East, Arabic has among the richest and largest bodies of literature and poetry of all the world's classical languages. In fact, the languages of northern India, Turkey, Iran, Portugal and Spain are full of words of Arabic origin. So many people have a working knowledge of Arabic, in fact, that in 1974 it was made the sixth official language of the United Nations.

Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is the official language throughout the Arab world, and in its written form it is relatively consistent across national boundaries. MSA is used in official documents, in educational settings and for communication between Arabs of different nationalities. However, the spoken forms of Arabic vary widely, and each Arab country has its own dialect. Dialects are spoken in most informal settings, such as at home, with friends or while shopping. Of all the spoken dialects, Egyptian Arabic is the most widely understood, due primarily to Egypt's role as the major producer of movies and TV programs in the Arab world.

Arabic belongs to the Semitic family of languages, and, like Hebrew, is written from right to left. It is also the language of Islam, one of the world's major religions, and has a literary tradition that dates back to the days of Mohammed in the 7th century. In fact, the spread of Islam transformed the regions of Northern Africa and the Middle East into Arabic-speaking areas within a century of its founding. In later centuries, Arabic was spoken in parts of Europe and Asia following additional Arab conquests.

Today, words of Arabic origin can be found in some European languages such as Italian and Spanish, due to periods of Arab reign in those countries. English words of Arabic origin include algebra, alcohol, mosque, tariff, alcove, magazine, elixir, sultan and cotton.

ARABIC, STANDARD: a language of Saudi Arabia (source: http://www.ethnologue.com/)

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