Every language is unique in its own way

According to Ethnologue that catalogues world’s living languages, there are more than 7000 languages spoken across the globe. There may be similarities in terms of writing system, grammar, sentence structure etc. among many languages. However, you can always find something unique and interesting about a language. It could be the way it is written, pronunciation, vocabulary, how it reflects the culture etc. Here we bring you some interesting features of the Arabic language.

Arabic is the fifth most spoken language across the globe with approximately 270 million speakers. Classical Arabic and modern standard Arabic are the two versions of Arabic language. The former is the liturgical language of Islam and is used in Quran. The latter is the language used by politicians and media and is taught in schools where Arabic is taught as a foreign

Arabic script

A very prominent and unique feature of the Arabic language is its script. Unlike English and many other languages which are written from left to right, Arabic is written from right to left. However, the numbers in Arabic are written from left to right.

Arabic alphabet

The Arabic alphabet is known as abjad and it is unique because each letter in this represents a consonant. To represent vowels, vowel marks are used. It is written in a cursive style and the shape of the letters depends on its position in the word – initial, medial or final. Another form is used when it is written alone.

Rich vocabulary

The Arabic language has a rich vocabulary. It is said that there are hundreds of words for camel and more than ten for love. Arabic words are created based on three, four or five letter roots. Also, if we look at the example of camel, each word has a slightly different meaning like ‘a baggage camel’, or ‘a camel that is frightened by anything’.

Many words in English have Arabic origin

It might be interesting to know that many English words have Arabic origin. Words like algebra, algorithm, alkaline, coffee, cotton, lemon, loofah etc. and many other words that are commonly used in English have Arabic origin.

The Arab traders also introduced the number system that is widely used today.

There are many Arabic dialects

Many foreign language students learn Modern Standard Arabic which is also the language of politicians and media. However, it is interesting to know that the Arabic language is spoken in 22 countries and there are many dialects to this language; some of them may be completely incomprehensible to others.

Inverted punctuation marks

As the script in Arabic language is written and read from right to left, the punctuation marks are also inverted.

With all these interesting features, are you excited to learn this beautiful language or do you feel overwhelmed? You may have different reasons to learn Arabic which include travel, your stay in any of the Arab countries for business or job or even to learn and understand the Quran. You can find an online Arabic course that helps you move one step closer to learning Arabic from the comfort of your own space at your own pace.

You can book a free demo session with Multibhashi to start learning Arabic today.