Arabic Alphabet
(All Arabic alphabet facts you need to know before learning Arabic language)
Before you start to learn any language in the world, you need to know its alphabet system first and Arabic language is no exception of this rule. So, you need to know all the facts about the Arabic alphabet system first because without it learning Arabic language will be a nightmare especially for non- native Arabic speakers and learners.
Here are some basic facts about the Arabic alphabet to help you in your Arabic language learning quest.
- 1- Arabic alphabet consists of 28 different letters, while an English alphabet consisted of 26 letters.
- 2- In contrary of the English language, there are no capital letters in the Arabic language.
- 3- Arabic language is a script language not a print, which means that the letters written with a cursive style and connected with each other not like in the English language where each letter is stand alone and that’s why it’s hard for non-Arabic speakers to distinguish between written Arabic letters and words.
- 4- Arabic words and letters are written from right to left.
- 5- In Arabic alphabet system, some of the punctuation is written in backwards like the question mark (؟) and comma (،) and that is the inverse of the English language punctuation.
- 6- Arabic language and Hebrew language share the same Aramaic roots, but Arabic alphabet has a unique addition which is the dots above and under the Arabic letters which gives the Arabic writing its unique appealing.
- 7- Arabic has more words than most Latin languages which mean that you can find many Synonyms for the same words and that make the Arabic language a very rich language in vocabulary.
- 8- There are many types of font styles which you can write the Arabic alphabet with. Two of these beautifully written styles are “Katt Al-Ruqqa” and “ Katt Al-Diwanny”.
- 9- The Arabic Alphabet has two main types:
- Classical Arabic, which is used in Quran writing and not all Arab people can understand it because of difficulty and it considered as written only language nowadays in the Middle East.
- Modern Arabic, which is both written and spoken in the Middle East nowadays and can be understood between the Arab countries.
- 10- Thanks to more than 220 million people who speak and write in Arabic language, you can find more than 30 different colloquial modern variations of the Arabic language in the Middle East alone.
Now, after you know all these facts and differences in the Arabic alphabet and language, you can start to learn them with a great confidence.
Hossam Mohaseb
January 13, 2017
