About 447 million people worldwide speak Arabic. This makes it the fifth most widely spoken language in the world. That’s not the only reason why it’s worth learning Arabic. If you’re traveling to Dubai, knowing some Arabic will give you an edge and help you strike up conversations with locals. English is widely used as the working language, but in some industries, knowledge of Arabic is also required. We’d now like to give you an insight into the Arabic script and introduce its unique features.
The History of the Arabic Script
The Arabic script evolved from the Aramaic script. The Aramaic script, in turn, originated around 900 B.C. from the Phoenician script. The Kufic script can be considered the precursor to the script in use today. The Arabic script developed gradually. The original 18 letters evolved into the 28 characters used today.
The order of the Arabic alphabet was altered, and dots were introduced to help distinguish between consonants with the same spelling. Modern Arabic bears a strong resemblance to the Maghrebi script, which is predominant in the western part of the Middle East and was developed by a scholar around 800 B.C.
The shape of some letters had to be changed with the introduction of printing and the typewriter in the 19th century. Otherwise, the typeface would not have been feasible from a printing perspective.
Learning Arabic – Some Basic Rules
At first glance, Arabic characters may seem confusing to German speakers. Understanding the Arabic script requires some basic knowledge.
Reading Arabic—Made Easy
The Latin alphabet is written and read from left to right. In Arabic, on the other hand, it is written and read from right to left. This takes some getting used to at first, but with a little practice, it’s relatively easy to master.
Arabic numerals are an exception to this rule. As is customary in German, they are written from left to right. This applies to both Arabic numerals (١, ٢, ٣, etc.) and the Roman numerals used in German-speaking countries.
The alphabet has 28 letters
The Arabic alphabet consists of 28 full-fledged letters. In addition, some derivatives, such as the glottal stop hamza, are commonly used. Anyone who wants to learn Arabic can breathe a sigh of relief, because there is no distinction between uppercase and lowercase letters.
Letters in Transition
Most letters of the Arabic alphabet vary in appearance depending on their position in a word.
In this context, the following context-dependent forms should be distinguished:
- Isolated form: The letter stands alone (form used in the Arabic alphabet)
- Initial form: The letter appears at the beginning of the word or follows a letter in the middle of the word that is not connected to the letter that comes after it.
- Middle position: The letter is in the middle of the word, between two letters that are connected to the letter before and after it.
- Final form: The letter appears at the end of the word and follows a letter that must be connected to the next letter.
To learn the Arabic script, you also need to pay attention to the context-dependent forms. At first, this sounds more complicated than it actually is. The forms are very similar to one another. You can think of it, for example, as the difference between cursive and printed handwriting in German.
Example: Let’s take the Arabic letter A. In its isolated form and at the beginning of a word, it looks like this: ا. When it appears in the middle or at the end of a word, it is written as follows: ـا.
An Overview of the Characteristics of the Arabic Script
In summary, we would like to highlight a few characteristics of the Arabic script.
- Capitalization: You do not need to use uppercase or lowercase letters.
- Writing Direction: In Arabic, text is always written and read from right to left.
- Letter Forms: For most letters, there are four distinct forms. These depend on whether the letter appears at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a word.
- Writing Style: Most letters in Arabic are connected to one another. They are written without lifting the pen, resulting in a continuous cursive script.
- Character set: The Arabic script consists of consonants. The only vowels recognizable in the writing system are the three long vowels a, i, and u.
- Vowel Marking: In Arabic textbooks or in the Quran, it is common to indicate short vowels using small symbols placed above or below the consonants.
- Word connections: Certain conjunctions, articles, and prepositions are written as a single word with the following word. This can often make it difficult to separate the words.
Arabic Alphabet vs. Arabic Script
There is a difference between the Arabic script and the Arabic alphabet. The Arabic alphabet is used to write Arabic. The Arabic script, on the other hand, is also used in other languages. There are some differences in the pronunciation of the letters.
Arabic script is also commonly used in Persian. The letter P does not appear in Arabic. In Persian, however, it does. Similar differences exist in the Latin alphabet, which not only serves as the basis for the German language but is also used in English and French. Only German has the letters ä, ö, and ü. The letter ç , which is common in French, is not used in German.
Learning the Arabic script—it all starts with the alphabet
Anyone who wants to learn Arabic must first know the alphabet:
| Arabic letter | Name of the letter |
| ا | Alif |
| ب | Ba |
| ت | Ta |
| ث | Tha |
| ج | Jim |
| ح | Ha |
| خ | Kha |
| د | Dal |
| ذ | Dhal |
| ر | Ra |
| ز | Zay |
| س | Sin |
| ش | Shin |
| ص | Sad |
| ض | Dad |
| ط | Ta |
| ظ | Za |
| ع | Ayn |
| غ | Ghayn |
| ف | Fa |
| ق | Qaf |
| ك | Kaf |
| ل | Lam |
| م | Mim |
| ن | Well |
| ه | Ha |
| و | Waw |
| ي | Ya |
The alphabet consists of 28 letters, not including the hamza. As an ancient, archaic writing system, it consists solely of consonantal word roots. Therefore, there are no vowels in this alphabet.
In Arabic, the term “hamza” refers to specific symbols. They are not letters in their own right. Hamzas are always used in combination with other letters. To help you visualize this: Hamzas are glottal stops, roughly comparable to the brief pause in the German word “beachte.”
Some examples of hamzas in Arabic:
- ب (Ba)
- ت (Ta)
- ث (Tha)
- ج (Jim)
- ح (Ha)
- خ (Kha
The Peculiarities of Spelling
As mentioned earlier, there is no distinction between uppercase and lowercase letters in Arabic. Those who are just getting started with Arabic will initially have some trouble identifying the beginning and end of an Arabic sentence.
As a reminder: Each letter has four forms in Arabic. Which form is used depends on the word’s position in the sentence.
Anyone who wants to learn the Arabic script and become proficient at reading Arabic must know and distinguish between the various forms. Otherwise, it is not possible to read Arabic fluently and without errors.
The following forms should be distinguished:
- isolated form
- initial form (beginning of a sentence)
- medial form (middle of the word)
- final form (end of a word)
In their isolated form, only 18 letters are commonly used. These are very similar to one another.
Here are a few examples:
- ع and غ
- د and ذ
- ر and ز
- ب, ت, and ث
- ج, ح, and خ
As you can see, the difference lies solely in the addition of one or more dots. What makes the Arabic script complicated, then, is not the individual letters—which remain relatively simple—but the numerous variations that exist.
Learning the Arabic alphabet
A first exercise along these lines could be learning to write your name in Arabic script. To learn to read Arabic, phonetic transcription can be used as a starting point. However, you shouldn’t get into the habit of relying on Latin letters as a permanent memory aid. The two languages are simply too different for that.
The most effective way to learn a language is to review what you’ve learned as often as possible. Think back to your school days. Back then, learning the alphabet was a big challenge. You were able to achieve that major goal quickly by breaking down the material and memorizing individual letters one at a time.
In Arabic, too, it’s not a good idea to try to memorize all 112 characters at once. It’s much less stressful to learn Arabic script if the letters are divided into different sections and learned step by step.
A good rule of thumb is to learn no more than five letters a day. You can review what you’ve learned several times throughout the day. It will take about a week to work your way through the entire alphabet. Weekly review helps reinforce what you’ve learned. Once you can name all the characters without any trouble, you can stop following this learning schedule.
People learn in different ways. Not every technique works equally well for everyone. Some people are much better at remembering things when they’re written down. So why not? Write out the Arabic alphabet on small pieces of paper. Pin these “cheat sheets” to a bulletin board or the refrigerator.
Sort the jumbled letters
Before you start practicing the alphabet and begin translating Arabic text, it can be helpful to organize your learning process and group the letters into different categories.
The following categories are helpful:
- Letters change or remain the same: Letters can be classified based on whether or not they change within a word. We have already discussed that there are letters whose spelling changes depending on their position in a word.
- Some letters are harder to pronounce than others: There are letters that are relatively easy to pronounce. These include ت [ta], س [si], and ك [ka]. The group of letters that are harder to pronounce includes ح [Ha] and ق [Qaf].
- Letters have various connections: They can also be classified based on how they connect to one another. Some letters are connected on both sides. Other letters in the Arabic script are connected on the right but not on the left.
Learning to Understand the Arabic Script
Anyone who has mastered the basics mentioned above is already a big step ahead and can now begin to develop further language skills.
Train Your Ear
To understand how the Arabic language is pronounced and how to ultimately read the script correctly, it is important to develop a feel for it. The simplest method is to listen to a native speaker. To truly understand the Arabic script, this practical aspect of learning is essential. Language courses taught by native Arabic speakers are helpful for this. You can also find resources online, listen to audio recordings of individual letters, and use various educational programs to develop the necessary feel for the language.
Learning to Understand Accents
To speak Arabic, it is not enough to correctly identify the characters and be able to read Arabic script. In order to pronounce the words correctly, language learners must memorize the sound of each individual letter. Language exercises are essential. No one will be able to speak a language well and without an accent if they only learn it theoretically and don’t actually speak it themselves.
Practice Writing Arabic
Spelling letters is a theoretical learning exercise. Follow the spelling guidelines provided by language experts. This will reduce the risk of confusing individual letters and mistranslating words.
If you want to know how well you’re pronouncing the words, you can use speech recognition apps to find out. These apps can be downloaded for free onto your smartphone and help you track your progress in self-study and correct any mistakes.
Additional Study Techniques
When learning a foreign language, there is one important basic rule: consistency. It makes little sense to choose a learning program and rush through it as quickly as possible. If you don’t review and reinforce what you’ve learned, you’ll quickly forget what you’ve actually learned.
To help you keep your Arabic skills sharp and see the Arabic script as often as possible, there are a few tried-and-true techniques:
- Reading newspapers and magazines in Arabic.
- Listening to news in Arabic.
- Repeating dialogues from Arabic movies.
- Watch movies with Arabic subtitles.
- Participation in a language exchange.
A particularly effective learning method involves combining visual and auditory learning strategies. This allows you to quickly master the alphabet and unlock the secrets of the Arabic script.
Reading short texts helps develop a good understanding of the language, even if you may not yet be able to automatically associate every word with the foreign language. Once you’ve developed a feel for the language and a grasp of Arabic vocabulary, you’ll be able to easily bridge small gaps in your knowledge when reading continuous text and still convey the meaning.
Photo credit: Depositphotos.com – pedro2009 (Pedro Antonio Salaverría Calahorra)
