Learn Arabic

Learn Arabic, the fourth most widely spoken language in the world with an estimated 225 million speakers worldwide. Though there are many regional dialects of Arabic, a standard global language is maintained due to religious needs and worldwide media/communication.

Arabic Language History

The earliest Proto-Arabic, or Ancient North Arabian, texts are the Hasaean inscriptions of eastern Saudi Arabia, from the 8th century BC. These were written not in the modern Arabic alphabet, nor in its Nabataean ancestor, but in variants of the epigraphic South Arabian musnad. Following these came the 6th-century BC Lihyanite texts from southeastern Saudi Arabia and the Thamudic texts found throughout Arabia and the Sinai. Later, the Safaitic inscriptions came about, beginning in the 1st century BC, as well as many Arabic personal names attested in Nabataean inscriptions. From around the 2nd century BC, a few inscriptions from reveal a dialect which is not considered "Proto-Arabic", but Pre-Classical Arabic.

By the beginning of the fourth century AD, the Arab kingdoms of the Lakhmids in southern Iraq and the Ghassanids in southern Syria emerged in Central Arabia. Their courts became responsible for some noteworthy examples of pre-Islamic Arabic poetry as well as some of the few surviving pre-Islamic Arabic inscriptions in the Arabic alphabet.

Arabic Language Facts

• Spanish and Portuguese both have large numbers of Arabic words.
• The influence of Arabic has been the most profound in the countries dominated by Islam or Islamic power. Arabic is a significant source of vocabulary for many diverse languages.
• Similar to most European languages, many English words are derived from Arabic.
• Arabic is written and read from right to left.
• Differing from the Roman alphabet used for English, Arabic has its own alphabet.

Visit the pages below for information on Arabic Courses in Arabic speaking countries.

The content of this page is original. It has been researched and adapted from several respected sources of Arabic language information such as http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arabic_language.