The Arabic alphabet derives from the Aramaic script to which it bears a loose resemblance like that of Coptic or Cyrillic script to Greek script. The standard Arabic alphabet has 28 letters and words are written right to left. It is spoken globally by more than 300 million people in several countries, including: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, and United Arab Emirates.

High demand, high level of difficulty
There is a significant demand for Arabic speakers in the United States but, unfortunately, there is a shortage of people with knowledge of Arabic language and culture. The growing population of Arabic speakers globally, counter-terrorism initiatives, and the war in Iraq, continue the demand for Arabic speakers in the United States.

The challenge to meet this demand is daunting because Arabic is so difficult to learn. The Arabic language has numerous dialogues and can differ greatly from country to country. Further, the letters are joined together and can take different shapes depending on where they are in a word. Another challenge is that learning Arabic is actually a process of learning two languages. The written language, which is a simplified version of the classical language based on the Koran, must be mastered along with at least one of the many spoken dialects. Some linguists count as many as 40, but the four broad dialect groups are Levantine, Gulf, Egyptian and North African.

The U.S. State Department rates Arabic, Arabic is a Category IV language, equivalent in difficulty for English-speaking students to learn as Chinese and Japanese. Foreign language experts say it takes twice as long to master Arabic as French or Italian, classified as Category I languages. It means that a student has to spend five to six hours a day of face-to-face instruction for two years to reach level three - a level that allows for basic professional functioning - on the U.S. government's scale of zero to five.

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Sources:
U.S. Census Bureau
U.S. State Department