Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Arabic is...
One of the six official languages of the UN. Spoken by some 250 million people. The principal language in 22 countries in Africa and the Middle East...
Arabic is ranked #4 among the most widely spoken languages in the world.
Chinese Mandarin Spanish English Arabic 885 million 332 322 235
for Arab-Americans
Arabic is the mother tongue of some three million people of Arab origin living in the US.
A survey of the Modern Language Association indicated that the number of students studying Arabic at U.S. colleges climbed 92.3% - to 10,584 between 1998 and 2002. The number of undergraduate campuses teaching Arabic jumped 48%, to 233.
Arabic Literature
There is a vast body of Arabic literature, both secular and sacred.
In 1988, Egypts Naguib Mahfouz became the first Arab-language author to win the Nobel Prize for Literature.
International Affairs
Diplomatic relations with the Arab world are an important aspect of US foreign policy.
Arabic Script
A number of other languages use or have used a version of the Arabic script. These include:
Persian or Farsi (Iran) Pashto (Afghanistan, Iran, India) Urdu (India & Pakistan) Formerly Turkish
Semitic Languages
Evidence for written Arabic before the advent of Islam is quite limited. The first inscription in a language recognized as Arabic dates from 328 CE. Arabic script is probably derived from a cursive form of Nabataean, which is itself derived from Aramaic.
Varieties of Arabic
Classical, Modern Standard & Colloquial
Classical Arabic
The Quran represents the greatest example of Classical Arabic and set the standard for the language for centuries.
Diglossia
Modern Arabic is characterized by what is called diglossia. This means that modern Arabic virtually comprises two languages:
Modern Standard Arabic and Colloquial Arabic.
Colloquial Arabic is the mother tongue of the Arab & remains throughout his life the primary medium of interpersonal relationships.
-Mary Catherine Bateson,
Colloquial Arabic
There are over 30 varieties of CA in 5 groups:
North African Egyptian Levantine Arabian Iraqi (Morocco-Libya) (Egypt & the Sudan) (Palestine, Leb., Syr. & Jordan) (Saudi Arabia & the Gulf States)
They vary tremendously in grammar, vocabulary & pronunciation, even within a single country!
Differences may be so great, speakers from two different Arab countries may have to resort to MSA or another language (usually English or French) in order to communicate.
There can be no doubt that those who want to have a real command of the Arabic language in all situations need to master both varieties.
Woidich, Kulla Tamam! (2004)
Writing
correspondence, completing forms, etc.
Or as we say in Arabic...
Ahlan wa sahlan
WELCOME!