Arabic Language

An Arabic proverb says 'A new language is a new women or man' amongst many other things. This means that a non-Arab approaching Arabic has to be ready to understand the different attitudes and perspectives. Westerners are not in everyday speech given as Arabs are to quoting poetry, ancient proverbs and extracts from holy books. This is to say nothing of the different attitudes to physical contact and proximity, as well as to relations between the sexes.

 

Arabic is the language of daily communication for more than 200 million people and the language of worship for many hundreds more millions of Muslims. It is also an official working language in the UN and many international agencies. Its script is used in many other languages, such as Persian, Ottoman, Turkish, and Urdu amongst others.

 

Arabs take pleasure in using language for its own sake. The SAHARA (evening entertainment) could be talk ranging over poetry, story-telling, singing and acting. Arabic has a verb which means 'to chat' to someone in the evening 'SAMIR - SAMIRA'. After all, in Arab beliefs, the day is born from the night, e.g. Birthdays are celebrated on the night before the day. The sun is born from the moon and light is conceived from darkness.

 

Peace be upon you 'SALAMU ALAY KUM'

Sana