A Brief Introduction To Arabic - What Is Arabic?

Section I: A Brief Introduction to Arabic What is Arabic? Arabic belongs to the Semitic family of languages. Besides Arabic, spoken languages in this family include Modern Hebrew, Amharic, Tigre, Tigrinya, Syriac, a few Aramaic dialects, and Maltese. 250 million people in the Arab world speak Arabic as their native language. Furthermore, 1.2 billion Muslims all over the world use Arabic in their prayers and religious recitations. Arabic is also the liturgical language of many Eastern Christian churches. For practical purposes, we might divide Arabic into three varieties: Classical Arabic is the oldest type of Arabic that is studied widely. It is the language of the Qur`an and texts from the classical age of the Islamic empire (including texts dealing with Qur`anic subjects), the Hadith (the record of the Prophet Muhammad`s words and actions), Islamic law and theology, history, biography, geography, poetry, grammar, medicine, astronomy, and other sciences. Until a few decades ago, this was the type of Arabic most commonly taught in American universities. Classical Arabic is still used today, but is restricted to religious and highly formal contexts. Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) or al-fuSHaa is a direct descendant of Classical Arabic and is now the language of elevated discourse or correspondence, contemporary literature, and the mass media (whether newspaper, radio, television, or the internet). MSA is a formal, mainly written language that is not used for daily-life communications. There are no native speakers of Modern Standard Arabic, but the vast majority of the educated in the Arab world learn MSA through formal schooling. Although Arabs not educated formally cannot produce MSA, many can comprehend it because of the considerable overlap between the different varieties of Arabic. Modern Standard Arabic remains largely uniform throughout the Arab world.

Colloquial Arabic, or aammiyya, refers to the regional dialects used in everyday discourse and popular culture media (music, movies, etc.). There are numerous dialects in the Arab world that vary along geographical, socio-economic, and religious lines. Arabs from one region can generally understand dialects from other regions, depending on proximity, exposure to other Arab dialects, education and command of MSA. In general, there are four major dialect groups in the Arab world today: (1) The Maghrib (Morocco, Mauritania, Algeria, and Tunisia); (2) Libya and Egypt (3) The Levant (Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Palestine, and parts of Iraq) (4) The Gulf Area (Saudi Arabia, Yemen, UAE, Kuwait, Oman, Bahrain, Qatar).

To become fluent in Arabic, you need to develop proficiency in MSA and one of the dialects. Your choice of which dialect to study depends on your academic and career goals.

Why study Arabic? Students choose to study Arabic for a variety of reasons. Some study it as part of their academic work, and to satisfy general interest in the people and cultures of the Arabicspeaking world. Arabic can be useful to students with a background in political science or international studies who see the urgent demand for Arabic speaking Students of Arab descent often take Arabic to better understand this heritage and gain familiarity with the language of a parent or grandparent. Muslim students usually take Arabic in order to read the Qur`an and other religious texts. Learning Arabic will open to you avast body of literature and art, as well as offer opportunities for interaction with other Arabic speakers. Interest in the Arabic language and Arab studies has risen dramatically in Europe,US...

study abroad programs has also increased. A deep and abiding interest in the Arabic language and Arab culture will be the single most useful tool in overcoming the inevitable challenges of learning a language such as Arabic. Not everyone who studies Arabic will make a career out of it. Whether you see Arabic as an intellectual challenge, a means to connect with your heritage, a door to a new and unknown world, or a key to a career path, we hope you will also see it as an invaluable tool for intercultural communication and understanding.

FAQ for Arabic students This section includes responses to typical questions about Arabic and language learning.

1. Getting started with Arabic 1.1 How and where should I begin to study Arabic? 1.2 What books will I need? 1.3 Should I get a native speaker as a tutor? 1.4 I want to learn some Arabic, but I do not plan to reach an advanced

level. Is it worth my time just to take a course or two? 2. Arabic in the language classroom 2.1 Is language learning like other classroom learning? 2.2 What strategies do good language learners employ? 2.3 My teacher`s style does not match mine. What should I do? 2.4 Why are other students progressing more quickly than I am? 2.5 What are reasonable expectations for proficiency and progress?

3. About Arabic 3.1 Is Arabic harder than other languages?