Did you know that:

- Arabic is the official language in 25 countries. Only English and French are the official languages in more countries.

- Most of the world’s Muslims do not speak Arabic as their native language but many can read the script and recite the words of religious texts.

- There are over 250,000,000 people who speak Arabic in today’s world

The world is getting smaller. More and more businesses are operating internationally. Travel is getting cheaper, easier and more frequent. Worldwide more people than ever speak English – the undisputed international language – and everywhere you go at least some people seem to understand it. So why take difficult language courses and learn a foreign language? Why learn Arabic? What makes the Arabic language special?

Arabic is the 5th most common spoken native language in the world, is the official language in over 20 countries and has over 300 million native speakers. Many more speak Arabic as a second language and Arabic is an official language of the United Nations, the African Union, the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Conference. Read more »

The Gulf Times recently reported that the partnership between the US and Qatar has included the sister school network, which includes two US schools – in Boston and Washington, joining up with two schools in Qatar, the Doha Independent Secondary School and the Yarmook Preparatory School for Boys

Although these schools are already working closely together, 14 students from the US will be visiting Qatar in a further development of the relationship. They already communicate by video conferencing – but this step further cements the relationship.

Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs, Tamara Wittes explained that a group of some 15 students from the US will be visiting Qatar later this month to continue the development of the relationship between the schools, which have already been conducting video conference and partaking in other forms of communication.

She also said that the US students have been learning Arabic as part of the programme, and this news is welcomed by everyone at Arabicollege.

Wittes went on to mention that this was a priority for her administration in its efforts to build mutual understanding between the US and Muslim World.

These kind of statements from the Deputy Assistant Secretary are invaluable in promoting the learning of Arabic – and will help enormously in making learning Arabic more mainstream, and a popular decision amongst both Americans and all other nations.