Arabic is the fifth most spoken language in the world, with over 200 million native speakers and 20 million second language speakers. It has many dialects, but Classical Arabic is the official language of Arab nations. Islam and the Quran are closely related to Arabic, but most Muslims do not speak it fluently. Arabic is spoken throughout the Middle East and North Africa, with seven main groups of Arabic, including Maltese. The sounds of Arabic are difficult for speakers of Romance and Germanic languages to learn.
Arabic is the fifth most spoken language in the world, with over 200 million people speaking it as a first language and more than 20 million people speaking it as a second language. It is related to both Aramaic and Hebrew and is the largest member of the Semitic language branch. This language is made up of many different dialects, some of which are mutually unintelligible. While everyone knows their own regional dialect, each Arab nation has as its official language a form known as Classical or Literary Arabic. This is the language of the Quran and is considered by most Arabs to be true Arabic, while local variations are seen as mere regional dialects.
The existence of a standardized form allows speakers from drastically different regions to communicate intelligibly, even when their local dialects may not be understood by the other. Most speakers are able to switch seamlessly from their regional dialect to the Classical Arabic of the educated classes. It is difficult to separate language from Islam’s sacred text, the Koran, and it is even more difficult to separate the Koran from language. Not long ago, many Muslims considered even the idea of translating the Quran into another language absurd if not blasphemous, while many modern Muslims believe that while a translation can be attempted, no language other than Arabic can accurately convey many give the thoughts of the text.
While language plays a huge role in Islam, most Muslims around the world have nothing approaching the fluency of Arabic. Instead, the majority have perhaps a better understanding than an historical Catholic’s understanding of Latin. Some key phrases are memorized, with the meaning learned rather than translated, and some small degree of generalization to other phrases may occur.
Arabic is spoken primarily throughout the Middle East and North Africa, closely correlating with the spread of Islam in these regions. More than 25 nations have it as one of their national languages, including Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Israel, Egypt and Algeria. There are seven main groups of Arabic. Two of these, Classical Arabic discussed above, and a standardized form known as Modern Standard, are in widespread use. The other five are spoken in various regions of the world.
Egyptian Arabic is mainly spoken in Egypt. Iraqi Arabic is mainly spoken in Iraq. Gulf Arabic is spoken in parts of Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, parts of Syria, and throughout the Persian Gulf. Levantine Arabic is spoken in Lebanon, Palestine, parts of Syria and parts of Jordan. Maghreb Arabic is spoken throughout North Africa.
A distinct language, Maltese, is also an Arabic dialect. An official language of the Mediterranean nation of Malta, Maltese is technically a part of the Maghrebi Arabic dialect group. Maltese is the only European dialect and is heavily influenced by the Romance languages of Europe.
The sounds of Arabic are often very difficult for speakers of Romance and Germanic languages to learn, due to their relatively heavy use of glottal and pharyngeal sounds. Pharyngeal noises, produced deep in the throat, give many Westerners a lot of trouble learning the language and are one of the most difficult hurdles to overcome in learning to speak with any level of native aptitude. It is considered by most to be one of the most difficult languages for a speaker of a Romance or Germanic language to learn to speak.
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