How to improve my Arabic as an English native speaker?
Arabic has influenced many other languages around the globe throughout its history. Some of the most influenced languages are Persian, Turkish, Hindustani (Hindi and Urdu), Kashmiri, Kurdish, Bosnian, Kazakh, Bengali, Malay (Indonesian and Malaysian), Maldivian, Pashto, Punjabi, Albanian, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Sicilian, Spanish, Greek, Bulgarian, Tagalog, Sindhi, Odia and Hausa and some languages in parts of Africa. Conversely, Arabic has borrowed words from other languages, including Hebrew, Greek, Aramaic, and Persian in medieval times and languages such as English and French in modern times. It is a Semitic language that first emerged in the 1st to 4th centuries CE. Arabic is a Semitic language, like Hebrew and Aramaic. Around 292 million people speak it as their first language. Many more people can also understand it as a second language. The Arabic language has its own alphabet written from right to left, like Hebrew. Since it is so widely spoken throughout the world, the language is one of the six official languages of the United Nations, the others being English, French, Spanish, Russian and Chinese. Modern Standard Arabic is an official language of 26 states and 1 disputed territory, the third most after English and French. Arabic is widely taught in schools and universities and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government and the media. Arabic, in its standard form, is the official language of 26 states, as well as the liturgical language of the religion of Islam, since the Quran and Hadith were written in Arabic.
Arabic is an extremely beautiful language and opens doors to a new and vibrant culture. At the same time, it’s notorious for being one of the toughest languages to master for non-native speakers. In fact, FSI [Foreign Service Institute of languages], lists Arabic in Category 5, which represents the languages that are by far the toughest for any English native speaker to master.