On its International Day: 10 Facts about Arabic Language

For the seventh year, the world is celebrating the International Day of the Arabic Language on the 18th of December, as it was approved for celebration by UNESCO for the first time in 2012. The Arabic language became among the official and working languages of the United Nations, a decision by UN General Assembly No. 3190 in December 1973.

Arabic is one of the most popular languages in the world, with more than 422 million people speaking it around the world, and it is also an official language in at least 26 countries.

It takes about 88 weeks to learn Arabic, although it contains only 28 letters; the language comes within the fifth category of the most difficult languages in the world, along with the Chinese, Japanese and Korean languages, it comes fourth, according to the 2018 US Government's Institute of Foreign Services Institute.

The first World Day was decided in 2012 by UNESCO. It became among the official and working languages of the United Nations, according to UN General Assembly Resolution No. 3190 in the month of December of 1973.

The sixth official language in the United Nations contains about 12.3 million words.

Arabic is written in 9 types of Arabic calligraphy: Kufi, patch or patch, transcription, third, Persian, signature, Diwani, Tughra, Moroccan.