Arabic Phrases for Travelers and the Languages of the Middle East

Arabic is the official language of most countries on this site, but it comes in many forms. Modern Standard Arabic is used in newspapers, news broadcasts and formal speech across the Arab world, while everyday conversation happens in dialects: Gulf, Egyptian, Levantine and Maghrebi Darija, which can differ as much as English accents and more. Egyptian Arabic, thanks to decades of films and songs, is understood almost everywhere.

Beyond Arabic, Türkiye speaks Turkish, Iran speaks Persian (Farsi), Israel speaks Hebrew and Arabic, Cyprus speaks Greek and Turkish, and Kurdish is widely spoken in Iraq's Kurdistan Region around Erbil. In North Africa, Amazigh (Berber) languages are official in Morocco and Algeria, and French is common in business. In the Gulf, English is the everyday lingua franca for the many nationalities who live there, alongside Hindi, Urdu, Malayalam and Tagalog.

Many cultural centers and language schools in Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Amman and Rabat offer short Arabic courses for visitors and new residents, and some luxury hotels arrange private lessons. If you are planning a move, our international schools page notes which schools teach Arabic, and a few weeks of lessons will make a big difference to life in your new city.