Arabic for Dummies
Chapter One
You Already Know a Little Arabic
In This Chapter
* Discovering English words that come from Arabic
* Figuring out the Arabic alphabet
* Sounding like a native speaker
MarHaba (mahr-hah-bah; welcome) to the wonderful world of Arabic!
Arabic is the official language of over 20 countries and is spoken by
more than 300 million people across the globe! It's the language in which the
Koran, the Holy Book in Islam, was revealed and written, and a large majority
of the over 1.3 billion Muslims across the world study Arabic in order to read
the Koran and to fulfill their religious duties. By speaking Arabic, you get
access to people and places from Morocco to Indonesia. (For more on
Arabic's role in history, see the sidebar "Arabic's historical importance.")
In this chapter, I ease you into Arabic by showing you some familiar English
words that trace their roots to Arabic. You discover the Arabic alphabet and
its beautiful letters, and I give you tips on how to pronounce those letters so
that you can sound ... read full excerpt from Arabic For Dummies ebook
