Arabic Languages

[dzinerbear]

Hi all,

I just got a Butch Dixon short e-mail in Arabic. But it got me thinking do all Arabic countries speak Arabic, or are they like Slavic countries where the languages all derive from one language but they've evolved over hundreds of years into distinct languages.

If it's the latter, I wouldn't even know how to ask for help translating this e-mail.

Michael

[gaydemon]

Not 100% on this but from what I remember Arabic is an Alphabet, just like ours is one or Chinese or Greek.

I think most of the Arab countries use Arab symbols but might speak different languages?

[pocoloco]

Nowadays, there is one classic Arabic language, but there are a lot of dialects as well.

For example: in Lebanon, the people speak Lebanese Arabic and in Morocco, the people speak Morocco Arabic. However most people in the Muslim world use their local dialect as well as the classic Arabian language.

In the media it is commom to use the classic Arabian language only.

[gaydemon]

Interesting, so are there variation of the Alphabet as well or always the same?


Nowadays, there is one classic Arabic language, but there are a lot of dialects as well.

For example: in Lebanon, the people speak Lebanese Arabic and in Morocco, the people speak Morocco Arabic. However most people in the Muslim world use their local dialect as well as the classic Arabian language.

In the media it is commom to use the classic Arabian language only.

[dzinerbear]

Ah yes, of course, I should have thought of that, Bjorn.

I took a look and found this on Wiki:

"Arabic (الْعَرَبيّة al-ʿarabiyyah (informally: عَرَبيْ ʿarabī)), in terms of the number of speakers, is the largest living member of the Semitic language family. In ISO 639-3, modern Arabic is classified as a macrolanguage with 27 sub-languages. These varieties are spoken in a large part of the Middle East and in some parts of North Africa. Standard Arabic is widely studied and used in office and in the Arab media, but it is not spoken at home."

[pocoloco]

Interesting, so are there variation of the Alphabet as well or always the same?

I am not sure about that.

I have some moroccan friends and some iraqi friends. They do hardly understand eachothers language, but they use standard Arabic when talking.

[rawTOP]

Interesting, so are there variation of the Alphabet as well or always the same?

Iranians use a variation of the Arabic alphabet that suits their language. They have two characters not used in Arabic and there are two Arabic characters they don't use. [That's about all I remember from my two years studying Persian.]

[gaydemon]

It was at that point I dropped my studies in Divinity at University.. I couldnt face doing either Hebrew or Arabic to continue with my studies lol


Iranians use a variation of the Arabic alphabet that suits their language. They have two characters not used in Arabic and there are two Arabic characters they don't use. [That's about all I remember from my two years studying Persian.]