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According to Encarta Encyclopedia, Arabic is the second most spoken language.
The Top 5 most spoken languages are ranked as follows:
1. Chinese (1,212,560,000):
China, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam, Philippines, Macao, Cambodia
2. Arabic (422,039,637):
Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Iraq, Sudan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Libya, Jordan, Lebanon, Mauritania, Palestine, Israel, Iran, France, Oman, Turkey, Argentina, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Chad, Bahrain, Niger, Tanzania, United States, The Netherlands, Belgium, Eritrea, Mali, Qatar, Nigeria
3. Hindi (366,000,000):
India, South Africa, Bangladesh, Yemen, Uganda
4. English (341,000,000):
United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, South Africa, New Zealand, Ireland, Zimbabwe, Mexico, Barbados, Singapore, Namibia, Israel, Sri Lanka, Germany, Puerto Rico, Japan, Liberia, Ecuador, Bermuda, Papua New Guinea, Zambia, Philippines, Italy, Guam, Venezuela, Honduras, Malawi, Denmark
5. Spanish (322,200,000):
Mexico, Colombia, Argentina, Spain, United States, Venezuela, Peru, Chile, Cuba, Ecuador, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Puerto Rico, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Panama
Now, what is the meaning of 'language':
Main Entry: lan·guage
Pronunciation: \'la?-gwij, -wij\
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French langage, from lange, langue tongue, language, from Latin lingua – more at tongue
Date: 14th century1a: the words, their pronunciation, and the methods of combining them used and understood by a community b (1): audible, articulate, meaningful sound as produced by the action of the vocal organs (2): a systematic means of communicating ideas or feelings by the use of conventionalized signs, sounds, gestures, or marks having understood meanings (3): the suggestion by objects, actions, or conditions of associated ideas or feelings
(4): the means by which animals communicate (5): a formal system of signs and symbols (as FORTRAN or a calculus in logic) including rules for the formation and transformation of admissible expressions (6): machine language 2 a: form or manner of verbal expression; specifically : style b: the vocabulary and phraseology belonging to an art or a department of knowledge c: profanity
3: the study of language especially as a school subject
4: specific words especially in a law or regulation
[Source]
The question is: how effective is Arabic language according to the above definition (communicating ideas, suggesting by objects, actions, or conditions of associated ideas or feelings)?
Between Arabic speaking tongues, I can claim that it is very effective. Period. Full Stop! Nothing more… it does not cross the boundaries of those who speak it, so what is the use of it? Maybe the only positive thing about learning Arabic is to keep it among top ranked!!!
Anyone?
{ 26 } Comments
I guess that I am in the minority.
Sorry but your scribbles as a written language will be too hard for me to learn. I am 58 years old.
Still I love to hear a conversation in Arabic.
It is like music.
Gobbleygook to me is a language to you.
I enjoy listening to it.
بالطبع لست ضد التدوين بالانكليزية، لكن بعض المواضيع خصوصاً التقنية منها، ضروري جداً تØويلها للعربية، لأن الÙائدة ستكون كبيرة جداً على أبناء أمتنا الواØدة…
شكراً جزيلاً لك.
If you add the numbers for Hindi and Urdu (which are basically the same language in different scripts and with different orientations in their vocabulary) and call them "Hindustani". it would come in second, before Arabic.
HOWEVER, I can't disagree in the conclusion – Arabic is definitely "sikhne-layaq" (worth learning) too, if only I had the time … for me the main obstacle would be the script, but I suppose one could learn it in a week or two of hard work.
The figure for English cannot be right. The U.S. and Britain already make 360 million. Then add another 30+ million for the Canada and 20 million for Australia. South Africa is another 50 million. Nigeria 132 million. Other former colonies like Kenya, etc.
@bernarda: I know that English is the official language of Nigeria, but most of the population of said country are definitely not native speakers of English.
Also, many citizens of the US don't have English as their first language. Wikipedia lists a range of 309 million – 380 million native speakers, one number from 1984, the other from 2001.
In both cases, the number is less than that of people with Arabic as first language. However, of course, if you add the number of people speaking *at all*, you arrive at a somewhat different figure.
Thank you for this interesting topic, I think Arabic language is the most important Language because it’s the language of Quran the Muslims holly book.
Some of the comments I got was asking me to write in Arab or to translate to English what I wrote in my blog, but I will not do that as I convinced that its very important to write in English, so that means I am not writing to who knows Arabic only, but for wider range of readers.
This is the way to tell others about Arabs, talk in their language.
What good is a language if its speakers are abandoning it? I hold the Arabic language in dear regards. It is the most expressive language that i can think of. Its eloquence and colorful techniques are just amazing (I am writing this comment in English to keep with the general theme of this blog).
However, what saddens me is that many of the Arab youth (specially in the levantine area) use English to distinguish themselves from others. Go to modern coffee shops in Amman and try to pick up a single word of Arabic if you can :-(.
I guess to fix this issue new attractive media should be issued/published in Arabic, as well as urging the media to portray "cool kids" speaking Arabic for a change :-(.
Oh well … this issue just hits a nerve in me.
This is the way to tell others about Arabs, talk in their language.
ضرورة الكتابة ÙÙŠ الانكليزية عن العرب هي أمر هام لكنها ليست أهم من الكتابة بالاسبانية والصينية عن العرب أيضاً، ÙÙ†ØÙ† ÙÙŠ زمن الانÙØªØ§Ø ÙˆØ²ÙŠØ§Ø¯Ø© الخير خير، لكن Øال اللغة العربية هي بسبب أبناءها الذين هجروها وعابوها وما العيب إلا Ùينا، ننتقد لغتنا ونكسر من أدائها وهي التي خدمتنا آلا٠السنين، واليوم Ùقط لأننا مهزومين، نكتب بلغة المنتصر.
دعنا نجعل العرب يكتبون بالعربية، ثم ننتقل إلى غيرهم…
أعتقد أن دخولك عالم التدوين بالعربية سيكون مكسب Øقيقي لك ولأهلك…دعنا (Ù†ØÙ† الشعب العربي) نتواصل ونÙهم بعضنا أكثر…سيكون نتيجة ذلك أكثر Ùائدة من التواصل مع من زرع ودعم الصهيوينة ÙÙŠ أرضنا الØبيبة.
تØية عطرة…
أخوك علوش من سوريا.
Carsten, no matter how you parse them, the figure given is just plain wrong.
I think that learning arab is a good idea, but it has nothing to do with reading the koran. Some posters here should become acquainted with atheism.
مقال جيد
علوش،
الترجمة العربية هنا:
http://tinyurl.com/2wpkhp
Well, I'm from Brazil and I am studying Arabic for more than a year now.
My great grandparents, from my mother's family, were Lebanese. But, along the time, they lost their Arabic culture. Today, the Lebanese/Arabic culture in my house is basically limited to some traditional recipes, like mijadra and taboule.
Then I have two reason to learn Arabic, a personal and an intellectual reason: I want to bring back some arabic culture to my family and I want to learn a new language to read books and magazines unavailable in Portuguese or English.
I think this problem is related to economic power. For example, some decades ago, French was the most used language in international affairs, because France was a powerful and influent nation. Today, English is the most used language in this case, because USA is the "major player" now.
Did they just add up the populations of any country where it's spoken at all? There's a bunch of these rankings; Arabic usually ranks 4th or 5th:
http://www2.ignatius.edu/faculty/turner/languages.htm
"Arabic leads shift in college language studies" (US)
The study of Arabic, in particular, has skyrocketed by more than 300 percent in the past decade – more than four times the pace of its closest competitor, Chinese. more: http://www.mercurynews.com/education/ci_7457626?nclick_check=1
Immerse yourself in the Arabic language in an Arab country and you will find something beautiful, not only a language, but a way of thinking which is the key to understanding a culture. Stay long enough, and it will become a part of you——-for no matter what "language" we speak, we are all one on this planet, and by learning Arabic, living in an Arab country, you WILL come to know this.
Your claim of those who speak english, or all of the languages you listed for that matter, are wrong and do not reflect the substantial number of people who speak English, Arabic, Chinese, etc… as a first, second, or third language. Actually, according to Encarta "English is spoken in more parts of the world than any other language and by more people than any other language except Chinese."
http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761564210/English_Language.html
Of course, this is notwithstanding the reasons why English is such a commonly spoken language: U.S. imperialism, global trade and commerce, which has led to the sharp rise of an increasingly global capitalist system, in which America is a major participant… just to name a few. Anyway, as I normally find your blog to be quite accurate and very informative, I felt it necessary to correct this error.
-Thanks
Nicholas,
Sabbah didn't claim, but Encarta Encyclopedia!
http://encarta.msn.com/media_701500404/Languages_Spoken_by_More_Than_10_Million_People.html
Kimmy
I agree with you , I love Arabic too , in fact when i hear it (especially the accent Of the shaam , i go very weak) i never cared about arabic before when i was young, i used to find French cool but now that i got older (late 40s ) Arabic oomes first .
I speak French better than i speak Arabic(unfortunately) but i do love Arabic even it is stagnating among other languages .
i have interested to colloquial arabic
I don't understand one word in Arabic.
I enjoy in the sound of the spoken language.
I enjoy in listening of all languishes.
My home languish is weird an guttural.
This is why I love listening to all languishes.
My gibberish means something to my people. Your gibberish means something to your people.
I love the fact that sounds that some people can't make is part of a conversation.
Their are all music to my ears.
Salaam!
Including Iran on the list of "arab speaking countries" is inaccurate. The official language of Iran is Farsi (persian). Though Iran has an arab population, it's a minority and most of these arabs speak Farsi.
Hi all,
This post caught my attention because of my interest in Arabic language tools. I would like to tell you about a project that I have been recently involved with. It is a new way to write Arabic without having access to an Arabic keyboard. I find Arabic to be a beautiful language and I love Arabic poetry. But I find typing Arabic or searching for Arabic resources on the Internet very frustrating since I am not proficient with the Arabic keyboard. I know many friends who share my same experiences and frustrations.
The software eiktub replaces Latin script by its Arabic phonetic equivalent in a smart manner such that the Arabic script is deducible from the English transliteration unambiguously and without necessarily understanding the meaning of the Arabic text. The software is free and can be downloaded from http://www.eiktub.com
This software is so simple to use yet has enough sophistication such that you can write Qureaanic verses using the Othmanic script as shown in the example here http://www.eiktub.com/screen_shot.html
For example, thus is how you write the following verse of Al-mutannabbi:
ما كل ما يتمنى المرء يدركه تجري Ø§Ù„Ø±ÙŠØ§Ø Ø¨Ù…Ø§ لا تشتهي السÙÙ†
maa kullu maa yatamannaaa Al-mareu yudrikuhu
tajrii Al-riyaaH bimaa laa taxtahii Al-sufunu
There is also a Lite version of the software (does not support vowelization i.e. Tashkeel) that can be tested at http://www.eiktub.com/online.html with no need for any download or installation.
In addition the same concept can be used to search the Arabic web using the Google search engine as demonstrated at search.eiktub.com
I hope you find these three tools useful.
Thank you المهاجر for yor comment, I find it very usefull for those who dont have Arbaic keyboard.
i dont know where you found me !!!
but im learning arabic no intermediate.
im speaking and i i learnt it from my friends and a book from syria,
(www.syrian-colloquial.com) i want to have aarab friends for improving.
im iranian, (i dont know what do you think about iran)and i can help you for learning farsi or persian. bye bye
I can exchange arabic & english
if you would , add me in your messenger (Bagheri10@hotmail.com) or
Skype (Teacher106) or (Teacher).
good bye
Hello I am Sha!
Assalam-o-Alaikum!
I really like & love the arabic as a "Language".
The impression I got immediately after I
completed MA English was that I should have
studied "Arabic".
I have grown a strong passion and attachment
for Arabic and the Arabs. How much it can last?
This is what i don't know nor am much sure about
but if your gals and guys out there help me, my
love might become fruitful for me.
Why do i like and love arabic and the Arabs?
This is sort of expansive questions.
I only know that Arabic is soft, smooth
and melodius.
The Arabs are loving, sincere and sobre.
Well, what I don't know is if they are
lovers of their language too or not.
I aspire to someday talk fluently in arabic.
Talk to my friends. But can i attract Arabic
-speakers to my self by speaking their lang-
uage is yet another thing to be experienced
still.
Arabic is the language of the Muslims but i do
believe ALLAH will hear and help me even when
i speak my mother tongue to ask him. I am
sensitive to the degree that if i like something
just for the sake of some good and great point
in it and I am not answered positively…. I
really begin to hate that thing. Well i don't
know why should i do it but still here i am to
do it. I like to chat, sing, speak, think, write
and argue in Arabic. I have no intention to
visit an Arabic speaking country as yet but
can it be helpful enough in learning a language to
personally visit the country where it is spoken?
Because we have been in this country of ours for
since our birth but still we haven't got command
and control over the national language spoken
here. Does it go to say that it doesn't matter
a lot to visit a country for the solitary purpose
of learning a language spoken there? I like the
h sound of Arabic and also I like it for not
having the clattering sounds of t,d etc. I
want to have good really good arabic language
friends. I can teach you English "only and only
if you think you need it". I should thank you
in advance if you think my love for Arabic and
the Arab is something valuable.
With best regards it is farhad (underscore)
alishah (at) yahoo (dot) com
my cell number is zerozeroninetwothreeonetwo
fivezerotwozeroeighteighteight
Wassalam-o-Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah!
( I shall be really anxiously waiting for
the language friend of my dreams.
How can i say in Arabic
"The lover and Admirer of Arabic as a Language"
Bubye thanks
thank you this is very nice site
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