Learn where is Arabic spoken
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Intro |
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| Michael: Where is Arabic spoken? |
| Atra: And how many varieties of Arabic are there? |
| Michael: At ArabicPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Here’s a typical scenario: Emma, an exchange student, is meeting another college student, Mina, for the first time. On hearing Emma speak Arabic, Mina asks, |
| "Where did you learn Arabic?" |
| أين تعلمت العربية؟ (ʾayna taʿallamti al-ʿarabiyyah?) |
| Dialogue |
| Mina Malaak:أين تعلمت العربية؟ (ʾayna taʿallamti al-ʿarabiyyah?) |
| Emma Emam: .في مِصر (fī miṣr.) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Mina Malaak:أين تعلمت العربية؟ (ʾayna taʿallamti al-ʿarabiyyah?) |
| Michael: "Where did you learn Arabic?" |
| Emma Emam: .في مِصر (fī miṣr.) |
| Michael: "In Egypt." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: Arabic, or |
| Atra: العَرَبِيَّة (al-ʿarabiyyah) |
| Michael: is one of the top five most spoken languages on earth. It’s spoken by 422 million people, both native and non-native, and is either the official or co-official language of 25 countries. The country with the most Arabic speakers in the world today is Egypt, or |
| Atra: مِصر (miṣr) |
| Michael: It is followed by Algeria, or |
| Atra:الجَزائِر (aǧ-ǧazāʾir) |
| Michael: and Sudan, or |
| Atra: السودان (as-sūdān) |
| Michael: These countries are followed by Iraq, |
| Atra: العِراق (al-ʿirāq) |
| Michael: Morocco, |
| Atra: المَغرِب (al-maġrib) |
| Michael: and Saudi Arabia, |
| Atra: المَملَكَة العَرَبِيَّة السُعودِيَّة (al-mamlakah al-ʿarabiyyah as-suʿūdiyyah) |
| Michael: Arabic is also the lingua franca of Arabs who live in diaspora in Latin American countries and Western Europe. |
| Expansion |
| Michael: When you hear the word ‘Arabic’, the first thing that probably comes to mind is that it’s a language mainly spoken in the Middle East. And, even if the language is spoken in other countries, as you have learned, you probably think that all those countries speak the same version of Arabic. But, just like any other language, Arabic has different dialects too, or |
| Atra: لَهجَة (lahǧah) |
| Michael: In Northwest Africa, for instance, there’s what is called Maghrebi Arabic, the version of Arabic spoken in Maghreb, or |
| Atra: المَغرِب (al-maġrib) |
| Michael: which literally means, “The West.” Maghrebi Arabic is spoken by more than 70 million speakers across several countries, and has many differences from MSA or Modern Standard Arabic. Maghrebi Arabic speakers refer to their language as Derija, or |
| Atra: الدارِجَة (al-dāriǧah) |
| Michael: Derija is very difficult for non-Moroccan Arabs to understand because of the strong Tamazight and French influence on it. |
| Egypt holds the record for the most number of Arabic speakers, and they use a specific dialect: Egyptian Arabic, or |
| Atra: العامِّيَّة المِصرِيَّة (al-ʿāmmiyyah al-miṣriyyah) |
| Michael: With around 68 million speakers, Egyptian Arabic is very popular in the Arab world and is what’s mainly used in the Arabic movie and music industries. Just like Maghrebi Arabic, it also has English and French influences, as well as influences from Ancient Egyptian, Latin, and Turkish. |
| Perhaps what’s most interesting about the Arab world is the reality of diglossia, a term in linguistics that refers to situations where people in the same community would use two different languages or dialects depending on the circumstances. For instance, in the Arab world, Modern Standard Arabic is what’s used in formal situations, such as journalism, broadcasting, and speechmaking. In normal daily conversations, however, no one really uses Modern Standard Arabic. Instead, the people use their dialect to communicate with one another. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We’re here to answer them! |
| Atra: !سلام (Salam!) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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