World Arabic Language Day - 18 December.

Every year on December 18th, World Arabic Language Day celebrates the Arabic language. The day also promotes multilingualism and cultural diversity.

More than 290 million people speak the Arabic language. This makes Arabic one of the most widely spoken languages around the world. It should come to no surprise that Arabic is one of the most requested languages for translation services. Arabic is also one of the official languages of the United Nations.

Some other interesting facts about the Arabic language include:

• Arabic is the sixth most-spoken language in the world.
• Arabic is the official language for 22 countries in the Middle East, Europe, and Asia
• There are no capital letters in the Arabic language.
• In Arabic, verbs come before the subject.
• Many English words were influenced by the Arabic language.
• There are many different dialects of the Arabic language and some are not understood by other Arabic speakers.
• The Arabic language is written entirely in script or cursive writing where all the letters connect.
• Arabic is derived from the Central Semitic language family, which includes Hebrew, Aramaic, and Phoenician.
• Because of the beautiful way it is written, the Arabic language is often used in poetry, philosophy, and song.

In 2012, the United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) proclaimed December 18th as World Arabic Language Day. The date coincides with the date in 1973 when the UN adopted Arabic as the sixth official language of the organization.

This year’s World Arabic Language Day theme “Arabic Language, a bridge between civilisations” is a call to reaffirm the important role of the Arabic language in connecting people through culture, science, literature and many more domains.

The theme highlights the historic role of Arabic in creating and transmitting knowledge, as well as in enhancing dialogue and building peace. For centuries Arabic was the common ground, the connector, that reflected the richness of human existence and provided access to numerous resources.

In increasingly globalized, digitalized and multilingual societies, the 2021 theme is of urgent relevance. It recognizes the changing world and the imperative to reinforce dialogue between nations and peoples.

Source: https://en.unesco.org.

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