Arabic is a Semitic language within Afro-Asiatic usually associated with the Middle East but also very prominent in Africa. It is found not only in the northern third of Africa, where it is generally the de jure national language, but also throughout the entire continent via its daily use in Islamic life as well as a medium of instruction in Islamic schools.
There are at least 100 million first-language speakers of Arabic. World Almanac (1998) estimates 200 million first language speakers and 235 million total speakers.
There are many varieties of Arabic. Formal, literary (Egyptian) is often considered the standard; so is Modern Standard (based on Cairene Arabic).
Arabic has a standardized orthography.
Although Arabic has a standardized orthography, there is considerable dialect variation, suggesting that several sets of learning materials are required. However, although there are courses based on different dialects of Arabic, the general practice has been to teach the Modern Standard Cairene Arabic. This fact suggests that most effort should be placed on the development of learning materials for this dialect.
Copyright ©2006 African Studies Center. For questions or comments about this site, please contact the Webmaster.