Tweet me!Arabic (الْعَرَبيّة al-arabiyyah or just عَرَبيْ arabī), is a member of the Semitic language family, which also includes Hebrew and Amharic, the main language of Ethiopia, and is the largest of that family. It ranks sixth in the world's league table of languages, with an estimated 186 million native speakers. It is the official language of 25 countries, the third most after English and French. As the language of the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, Arabic is also widely used throughout the Muslim world. Modern Arabic is classified as a macro language with 27 sub-languages. These varieties are spoken throughout the Arab world.
There are two main types of written Arabic: Classical Arabic – the language of the Qur'an and classical literature – was originally the dialect of Mecca in what is now Saudi Arabia. An adapted form of this, known as Modern Standard Arabic, is used in books, newspapers, on television and radio, in the mosques, and in conversation between educated Arabs from different countries (for example at international conferences). All Muslims are expected to recite the Qur'an in the original language, however many rely on translations in order to understand the text. The influence of Arabic has been most important in Islamic countries. Arabic is a major source of vocabulary for languages such as Berber, Kurdish, Pashto, Persian, Swahili, Urdu, Hindustani (especially the spoken variety), Turkish, Malay and Indonesian, as well as other languages in countries where these languages are spoken. For example, the Arabic word for book (/kitāb/) has been borrowed in all the languages listed. In addition, Spanish and Portuguese both have large numbers of Arabic loan words, and English has quite a few, some directly but most through the medium of other Mediterranean languages.
Notable Features: The Arabic alphabet contains 28 letters. Some additional letters are used in Arabic when writing placenames or foreign words containing sounds which do not occur in Standard Arabic, such as /p/ or /g/. Words are written in horizontal lines from right to left, numerals are written from left to right.
Learning Arabic is easy because... The normal word order of a sentence is verb/subject/object. The function of nouns in a sentence can also be distinguished by case-endings (marks above the last letter of a word) but these are usually found only in the Qur'an or school textbooks. Arabic words are constructed from three-letter "roots" which convey a basic idea. For example, k-t-b conveys the idea of writing. Addition of other letters before, between and after the root letters produces many associated words: not only "write" but also "book", "office", "library", and "author". Arabic has very few irregular verbs and does not use "is" or "are" at all in the present tense: "the king good" means "the king is good". Subtle alterations in the basic meaning of a verb are made by adding to the root. These changes follow regular rules, giving ten possible "verb forms" (though in practice only three or four exist for most verbs. The root k-s-r produces: • form I kasara, "he broke" • form II kassara, "he smashed to bits" • form VII inkasara, "it was broken up"
Learning Arabic is challenging because... Arabic has many regional dialects, and if you want to master one of these the only really effective way is to spend a few years in the place of your choice. Local dialects vary, and a Moroccan might have difficulty understanding an Iraqi, even though they speak the same language. For general purposes – such as reading or listening to radio - it's best to concentrate on Modern Standard Arabic (numerous courses and textbooks are available). This would also be useful if you're interested in Islam, though you would need some additional religious vocabulary. Most letters change form depending on whether they appear at the beginning, middle or end of a word, or on their own. So you don’t only have to learn a new alphabet, you also have to learn its many variations. There are 28 consonants and three vowels – a, i, u – which can be short or long. Some of the sounds are unique to Arabic and difficult for foreigners to pronounce exactly, though you should be able to make yourself understood.
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