at the Beverly Hills Lingual Institute
Did you know?
Arabic is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. The UN's Arabic language day is December 18th.
Ahlan wa-sahlan! Originating in Saudi Arabia more than 1,500 years ago, Arabic spread rapidly across the Middle East. The language is today spoken as a mother tongue by between 250 and 400 million people across more than 26 countries worldwide, from Morocco to Iraq and as far south as Somalia and the Sudan. There are many regional dialects, with the Egyptian dialect being the most popular and most widely recognized.
Rewardingly guttural, Arabic has a fearsome reputation for challenging pronunciation. It is worth noting, however, that more than two-thirds of the sounds in Arabic exist in the English language.
![Learn [LANGUAGE] in Los Angeles](images/640x360/languages/arabic/taxi-sign-in-english-and-arabic.jpg "Learn Arabic in Los Angeles")
The Arab region, with its rapidly growing population and GDP of $600 billion annually, provides a huge export market for goods and services. It has much to offer the world market and economy. In order to negotiate and conduct trade effectively, the language and culture of the people must be understood.
Many western nations consider Arabic a language of strategic importance. Yet there is a shortage of employees in the West who are versed in the Arabic language and culture. Those who study Arabic can often find a career in journalism, business and industry, education, finance and banking, and the foreign service and intelligence.
Take the time to learn Arabic and you'll be introduced to fascinating people and cultures the world over. Arab hospitality is truly unique, particularly when you make the effort to speak the language!
Arabic is written right-to-left. There are 29 letters in the Arabic alphabet, with no capital letters. All the letters in the alphabet are consonants, with the possible exception of the first letter. Aleph does not have its own sound, but is used to stretch the short A vowel to form the long AA vowel. The eleven vowels are written as separate marks that go on top or underneath these letters.
Writing in Arabic is cursive, which means that most letters have to be connected together to make words. Some letters do not follow this rule, and prefer to stand on their own.
Each letter has four forms, which look very similar to each other. The first is when the letter is written by itself, while the second, third, and fourth are when the letter is placed at the beginning, middle, and end of a word.