Arabic: Which One Should You Learn?
Diglossia is the term used to describe the phenomena of two distinct varieties of a language coexisting within a particular society. Typically, one variety is reserved for formal use and is both written and spoken, while the other is usually a more informal language spoken between family, friends and casual acquaintances. The second variety almost always lacks a writing system.
Anyone who has studied Arabic has already been introduced to diglossia on a grand scale. Several varieties of Arabic exist. Classical Arabic (the language of the Qur'an) has little in common with the many present-day dialects of Arabic which are widely spoken across North Africa and the Middle East. The dialects themselves are so diverse that even native speakers of Arabic may have difficulty understanding Arabs from neighboring countries, or in extreme cases: neighboring villages.
Fortunately, the Arab nations have made conscious efforts to standardize the Arabic language and provide a way for Arabs across the globe to communicate easily and effectively. Their success has been realized in the widespread use of Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), basically a "relaxed" form of Classical Arabic which also makes allowances for modern terms such as "telephone" and "washing machine." Almost without exception, it is MSA which one hears on Arabic news broadcasts and other television programs, in school and in other formal settings. MSA has also become a means by which individual Arabs from different countries can converse with one another. Unlike the colloquial dialects of Arabic, MSA is a written language.
Islam is the catalyst which has made this standardization possible. Muslims live by the word of the Qur'an and therefore have very strong motivation to keep Classical Arabic alive and well. Without this motivation, it is quite likely that Classical Arabic would have disappeared long ago, much like Latin - now a dead language - the traces of which can be found in modern-day Romance languages such as French and Italian.
In spite of its unifying features, MSA is not without its problems as it is an exclusive language mostly used by well-educated individuals. In many Arabic-speaking nations, the literacy rate is under 70%, falling as low as 38% in countries such as Yemen. People who cannot read MSA, perhaps only having access to their local dialects, are often completely excluded from the political process, unable to read voter ballots or even newspaper articles about political candidates. To complicate the matter, MSA is so different from the Arabic dialects that an adult wishing to learn how to read would find himself learning a completely new language on top of the skills it takes to read. Children going to school for the first time also experience this shock and essentially become bilingual by the end of their scholastic careers, while teachers often report spending inordinate amounts of time translating texts written in Classical or Modern Standard Arabic into the local dialect.
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