Understanding Arabic

Kalpana Theophilus continues her series to help practitioners cope with language barriers

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Arabic is spoken throughout the Middle East Arab world. Written Arabic has existed for about 12 centuries without any major change. Modern society owes much to Arabic scholars who provided a continuity of learning and knowledge after the fall of the Roman Empire.

Today, Arabic is spoken in three main areas - North Africa (Egypt), The Levant (Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Palestine) and the Gulf (Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Kuwait, Oman, the United Arab Emirates). It is also widely studied and known throughout the Islamic world. There are three main forms - Koranic, local dialects and modern standard Arabic. The following phrases have been based on modern standard Arabic, which should be understood by the majority of Arabic speakers.