ARABIC 101
Arabic is a Semitic language, stemming from the ancient Aramaic script from the Mesopotamian region. Many global languages (see the Ancestry section below) derive their culture and history from Aramaic. Modern Standard Arabic (MSA or fuSha) is the unifying language spoken in the Middle East and North African region.
On December 18, 1973, Arabic became an official language of the United Nations, a feat only five other languages can claim (English, Russian, French, Spanish, and Chinese). This is a testament to the immense importance of the language’s global presence, as all international speeches and documents are live-interpreted and translated into MSA.
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Alphabet and Written Arabic
The Arabic language uses 28 letters. Of those, in MSA (fuSha), there are no P, V, or Guh sounds as compared to the English language. However, there are many other sounds unique to Arabic. Transliterated for pronunciation they are: a’a, ‘uh DH, S, TH, T, Qawf, kh, hh, ghz. Arabic is also read right to left and the entire script language is cursive so recognizing the many shapes and patterns in Arabic is crucial. It is also a language without many vowels, as there are implied or physical vowel markings to aid and educate the reader on what sound to make.
Types of Arabic
Qur’anic Arabic is a unique form of Arabic and is solely used religiously. MSA (fuSha) is used in official documents, news media, and most written signs, whereas Spoken Arabic (a’amiyya) differs wildly and widely depending on where you are in the region. The most difficult part of Arabic, however, is the wide regional difference of dialects. Pronunciation, grammar, emphasis, and speed are all factors in Spoken Arabic that change greatly, as well as the history of the region itself. Northern Africa (Tunisia, Libya, and Algeria) and Lebanon all have heavy French influences in its Arabic dialects due to colonization, for example.
Ancestry
Arabic is a part of a large linguistic family tree stemming from Aramaic in Ancient Mesopotamia. As the empires in the Modern Middle East and North Africa region expanded, the language systems, grammar rules, and writing styles merged with other local languages giving birth to the majority of the languages in Northern Africa, Western Asia, and Southeastern Europe. Although each language is unique, the commonalities between them have aided continual cross-cultural connections that span centuries.
This list below is a small sampling of all the languages related to Arabic:
Amharic
Egyptian Hieroglyphs
Greek
Hebrew
Kurdish
Persian
Somali
Swahili
Tamazight
Turkish
Urdu
Connection to Modern Languages
Hebrew, Swahili, and Persian are the languages most similar to Arabic. Persian uses a similar script as Arabic (with a few extra letters). Ancient Hebrew helped inform Ancient Arabic and Modern Arabic helped inform Modern Hebrew. Swahili is a merge of African traditional languages alongside Arabic as the Islamic empires expanded.
Turkish is also close to Arabic as it borrows a lot of verbiage and roots, but is written in a Latin-based script. Kurdish is also similar given its location between Syria, Turkey, Iran and Iraq. These linguistic connections are a geographic and cultural representation of the spread of human civilization.
By Benjamin Lutz