Arabic

Native Speakers: 315 Million

Arabic ranks fifth in the world, which comprises 4 main dialects. Generally, it is widespread in the Western, Central Egypt, Southern parts of the Gulf, Yemen, and Northern parts of Iraq and Lebanon. Also, Arabic is the official language of about 26 countries and translation services from Arabic to English and English to Arabic are definitely a major service.

Recent numbers put Arabic at around 315 million native speakers. But this is another instance of numbers not telling the full tale: Arabic, like Chinese, is so vastly different in its respective dialects as to be effectively a number of languages, grouped as one for the sake of convenience. Modern Standard Arabic is a primarily written form, closely related to the Classical Arabic of the Quran. However, the spoken forms of Arabic in, say, Oman and Morocco are so different that a couple of philosophy professors from these countries might be able to discuss the finer points of the ancient texts while still struggling to order lunch.

A few facts about the Arabic language:

• It is also one of the six official languages of the United Nations (UN)
• Arabic constructs words from basic roots