Do you know how interesting our Arabic language is?
Arabic is a Semitic language and therefore shares similarities with other Semitic languages, such as Aramaic and Hebrew.
In terms of writing, several languages use the Arabic alphabet, such as Persian/Farsi, Urdu, Pashto and Kurdish. Arabic learners would be able to read words or sentences written in any of those languages.
What you might not know is that our language contributed to form numerous Spanish and even English words!
Here are some Arabic words that are similar in the English language:
قطن [koton]cotton, سكر [succar]sugar, غزال [ghazal]gazelle, قيثارة [qithara]guitar, الكحول [alcoo’hool]alcohol,
صحراء [sahra’a]sahara, قيراط [qeerat]carat, ليمون [laymoon]lemon.
Other than having word derived from Arabic in Spanish, the Spaniards also share the pronunciation of the letter "J" or "خ" with the Arabs. Some of the Spanish words that came from Arabic are:
azúcar(sugar): السكر, algodón(cotton): القطن, aceituna(olive): الزيتون, almohada(pillow): المخدة, aceite(oil): الزيت, ojalá(hopefully): انشالله, Portugal: برتقال, berenjena(eggplant): بتنجان...
In fact, there are a lot of place names in Spain that are composed of Arabic words like: Alhambra(the red palace): الحمراء.
Also, when the Spaniards shout olé at the bullfighter or the flamenco dancer, they echo the Arabic invocation of God, Allah!
We are native speakers of Arabic, we rarely pay attention on how important it is that we know such an impressive alphabet! Arabic is the official language of the 22 countries which form the Arab League: It’s the native language of over 200m people residing in this geographical region, which stretches from Southwest Asia to Northwest Africa (The Arab World).
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