A famous traditional saying
wisdom has alighted in three things :
the brain of the franks,
the hand of the Chinese,
the tongue of the Arabs.
A famous Arabic saying
the beauty of man lies in the eloquence of his tongue.
The importance of Arabic
- Arabic is one of 6 working languages of the united nations
- It’s the mother tongue of some 400 million native speakers
- The languages is sacred to over 1.5 billion Muslims
Arabic and Islam
- Over the 400 Million native speakers of Arabic many millions are Christians
- The great majority of native speakers are Muslims
- Muslims appreciate the fact when you try to talk in their language
Arabic in the modern world
- The Arabic of the Quran is called classical Arabic
- The Arabic in modern books and news papers is called modern standard Arabic (MSA).
MSA is used in all Arabic countries. - It’s a means of communication for Arabs who speak very different dialects of Arabic]
- It is very close to classical Arabic since :
- Its sounds are the same
- The grammar is practically the same.
- Many of the words used are the same.
- The script is the same.
Arabic in the media
MSA of the media is used all over the Arab world for :
- News broadcasts
- Commercial ads
- Speeches
- Lectures in schools and collages
The same language is used for modern communication such as
- Social networking
- Text messages
varieties of Arabic
Do Arabs speak the same language ?
The answer is NO.
- the dialects that Arab learns are their mother tongue.
- naturally it is vary because of the influence of geography.
- the Mediterranean is over two thousand miles east to west.
- the Arabian peninsula is over one thousand miles east to west.
- from southern Turkish port to central Africa it is four thousand miles.
Why do so many people think that Arabic is so difficult ?
- Arabic is entirely surrounded by myths
- You must clear your mind from these before starting
Some myths about Arabic
The script is impossibly difficult, like hieroglyphics.
Not True!!
- Arabic have alphabet of twenty eight letters.
- The letters are joined up and there are actually only five basic shapes.
- Writing goes from right to left.
Arabic has too many exotic sounds, Impossible for foreigners.
Not True !!
- There are only 2 or 3 sounds which are not found in English, like ع
- These sounds can be learned through imitation.
Arabic has a terribly rich vocabulary
400 word for the camel.
1500 word for the lion.
- This is true only of ancient poetry
- You will soon see that English vocabulary is much richer
Arabic grammar is complicated
Not True !!
- The Grammar of Arabic is based on logic, economy and consistency
- Its verb system for example is far easier than English
- There are just two tenses past and non-past
All you need to know about Arabic
- Arabic is a Semitic language, that is, of the family of Hebrew and Aramaic.
- the main feature of Semitic languages it the three-letter root system.
- Arabic’s other main feature is the root and pattern system where a pattern is imposed on the basic root.
for example the root
S – L – M has to do with peace in Arabic salaam
similarly with Hebrew Shalom
So: Sa//ll//ama means to say to someone ‘Peace’ sa//ll/ama comes from the S – L – M root
Islam is the name of the religion
Muslim is a person who accepted Islam
Patterns have a predictable meaning
/aa-/ i the person doing the action
So if K/t/b is wrote
K/aa/tib is writer , author , clerk ans so on
this also shows that Arabic is very economical in its vocabulary compare to English
you will find your Arabic vocabulary will grow very rapidly once you understand the root-and-pattern system.