Arabic Language Programs

Arabic, the official language of 23 countries, specifically those of North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, and various parts of the Middle East, is spoken by at least 280,000,000 people. Earliest inscription findings date back to around the early 4th century AD. Islam, a major world religion, played a key role in Arabic's position as a major world language as Islam's sacred book The Koran was written in Arabic. Within a hundred years after Islam's "messenger of god" Muhammad's death (in 632 C.E. 1), the language spread from Central Asia to the northern portion of Europe.

Arabic is a member of the Semitic languages, whose relatives include Hebrew, Aramaic, Maltese, and Amharic. Arabic utilizes the basic Semitic word structure, and like the other Semitic languages is written from right to left. The alphabet contains twenty-eight letters, which basically contains consonants, while the vowel signs are written with marks above or below the letters.

An Arabic word contains two parts: the root- which contains three consonants and provides the basic meaning of the word; and the pattern-which contains vowels and gives the word its grammatical meaning. Variations of the root and pattern determine the actual meaning of the word. For example: the root ktb with the addition of the pattern -i-a-, gives the word kit ab, which means "book." Whereas the root pattern combination of katib, means "one who writes" or "clerk." The language also contains prefixes and suffixes which determine whether a word is a subject marker, pronoun, preposition, or a definite article.

The Arabic language consists of three cases: the nominative-which indicates that the noun is the subject of the sentence. One can usually spot the nominative in a sentence because it is usually contains a final short vowel "u"; the accusative-assigns the object of the verb in a verbal sentence and is used for creating adverbs from nouns and adjectives. One can recognize an accusative case by the short vowel "a" at the end of the word; and the genitive-indicates the objects of all prepositions, and also specifies the noun as a possessor. For example: "the man's cane." The genitive case is recognized by the short vowel "i" at the end of the word. The Arabic language can become tricky though as Arabic script primarily shows only the consonants and long vowels. The straight and curved lines that would indicate short vowel sounds are not always used. One must rely on their syntactical knowledge of the language.

Enjoy incredible exotic Arabic Language program in Rabat, Morocco!

Languages Abroad
Learn Arabic in one of Morocco's most attractive, accessible cities. Our school in Rabat boasts a clean, comfortable and extremely safe learning environment with a gorgeous private garden within a residential neighbourhood. Students of all ages can enjoy flexible dates year round and biweekly social activities. Our convenient, on-campus accommodation and our professional and friendly staff will make your Arabic program an experience of a lifetime! Students can also get academic credit through our partner College. For more info email info@languagesabroad.com or call 1-800-219-9924.