238 CultureShock! Egypt
ARABIC, THE OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF EGYPT, sounds strange to the
native English speaker. At once it rings with a lilting melodic
intonation accompanied by an alien series of guttural sounds
diffi cult for the English-speaking palate to form.
Eleven distinct languages or dialects ring out in the
cacophony of sounds throughout Egypt. Cairene Arabic
is the most widely understood dialect used for non-print
media, both in Egypt and throughout the Arab world. It is
an amalgam of Delta Arabic and Middle Egypt Arabic with
borrowings from literary Arabic. Saidi or Upper Egyptian
Arabic follows as the second most common dialect in
Egypt. Egyptian Spoken Arabic distinguishes itself from
Arabic spoken in other parts of the Arab world principally
through a few consonant sounds and local colloquial
phrases. Most highly educated Egyptians speak English
and/or French.
Classical or Modern Standard Arabic (MSA), which is not
a mother tongue, is the language of the Qur’an, the Islamic
holy book. It is also used in most textbooks for learning
written Arabic. This form of Arabic fi nds its greatest utility
in written materials and formal speeches. Learning Classical
Arabic provides an excellent basis from which to read Arabic
newspapers or documents. It also forms a good platform
to develop spoken Arabic, though words in spoken dialects
differ as much as 50 per cent from MSA, according to
some sources.