Arabic is a Semitic language of the Arabo-Canaanite subgroup (Ruhlen 1987). With approximately 186 million speakers, it ranks in sixth place among the world’s major languages, behind Mandarin Chinese, Hindi, Spanish, English and Bengali. In general, Arabic it may be sub-classified as follows:


Classical Arabic (CA) – the language of poetry, literature and the Qur’an (Koran). As the language of the Qur'an, Muslims believe that it is the word or God and, thus it began with the creation of the world (Gerguson 1959:330). Described and standardized by Arab linguists in the 8th and 9th centuries, the language has survived to this day. Modern Standard Arabic, a streamlined and modernized version of Classical Arabic, was developed during the 19th and 20th centuries.


Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) – The official language of the Arab world, differs from CA in vocabulary and style, but has remained unchanged in terms syntax and structure. MSA is the language of Islamic worship, contemporary literature, journalism, television and scientific writing. It is acquired through formal education, as a second language. Educated Arabs throughout the Arab world can read and understand the same newspaper printed in MSA.


Colloquial Arabic – The Arab world is very large (Refer to Figure 1 for map of the Arab World), therefore, it is not surprising that a number of Arabic dialects have developed. These dialects, with their own pronunciation, rules of grammar and vocabularies, could be considered languages They share some of the features of Classical Arabic, or MSA. Colloquial Arabic includes the Eastern and Western Colloquial Arabic groups of dialects or languages.


Eastern Colloquial Arabic (also known as Northwest Arabian, Colloquial Arabic) – Includes Levantine (Syrian, Palestinian, Jordanian, and Lebanese) and Egyptian. The latter is very prominent throughout the Arab world thanks to the popularity of Egyptian films, TV shows and music that are widely exported to other Arab countries. Najdi, a dialect of Syrian Arabic, is spoken in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan.


Western Colloquial Arabic – Includes the dialects of western Libya to Morocco and adjacent African countries of northern Africa (Bateson 1967). They have been influenced by French and by the local languages of North Africa.

The top Arabic dialects or languages, in terms of number of speakers are:
1. Egyptian – spoken in Egypt – approx. 46 million speakers
2. Algerian – spoken in Algeria – approx. 24 million speakers
3. Moroccan/Maghrebi – spoken in Morocco – approx. 20 million speakers
4. Sudanese – spoken in the Sudan – approx. 19 million speakers
5. Saidi – spoken in Egypt – approx 19 million speakers
6. North Levantine – spoken in Lebanon and Syria – approx. 15 million speakers
7. Mesopotamian – spoken in Iraq, Iran and Syria – approx. 14 million speakers
8. Najdi – spoken in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, Jordan and Syria– 14 million speakers
(Refer to the table below for a list of Arabic languages or dialects and the country or region where they are spoken.)