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Despite differences in spoken or “colloquial” Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic is theĭue to Arabic’s wide use across the Middle East, learning to speak theįor those who work in government, business, or those who want to travel with comfort and confidence. Egyptian, Levantine, Sudanese, Mesopotamian, Peninsular, and Maghrebi are the most widely spoken versions or dialects of Arabic. Arabic is often referred to as a pluricentric language where many different forms of the language exist across the region. That’s why our Arabic program focuses on learning both spoken and written Modern Standard Arabic in context, using audio and visual cues to help build a language learning program that gets you speaking Arabic from the very first lesson.īecause so many different varieties and dialects of Arabic have developed over time, it’s often a hotly debated topic whether Arabic is, in fact, one or many languages. For instance, those who speak Moroccan Arabic may be utterly unintelligible to those who speak Egyptian Arabic.Īt Rosetta Stone, we understand that the goal of learning Arabic is to feel confident enough to speak the language and to understand it in real-world situations. Spoken Arabic, however, is an entirely different face of the language that is sometimes referred to as “colloquial Arabic.” While many native speakers use a version of Modern Standard Arabic, most also speak a regional dialect of Arabic that may differ significantly from the modern standard. It has grammatical differences from Classical Arabic but remains mostly the same in terms of vocabulary. Modern Standard Arabic is the version of the written and spoken language that is taught in schools and used by governments and the media in an official capacity. Classical Arabic is considered the “holy language” of 1.8 billion Muslims and is primarily associated with religious texts like the Qu’ran and Arabic poetry and literature. Generally, Arabic is grouped into three main language categories: Classical Arabic, Modern Standard Arabic, and spoken Arabic. However, when we discuss Arabic, it’s essential to identify which kind of Arabic we are talking about. It is also one of the six official languages of the United Nations. Considered a macrolanguage, Arabic has 30 different varieties and is the official language of 25 countries scattered across the Middle East and Africa. In fact, Arabs are defined as a people made up of many different ethnic groups but united by their native language of Arabic.
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Know for its harmonic cadence, Arabic is considered the lingua franca of the Arab world with over Is a central Semitic language that is the fourth most widely spoken language in the world.
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