Introduction

English is a West Germanic language that emerged as the Lingua Franca of the twenty-first century after being initially spoken in medieval England. It is named after the Angles, an ancient Germanic people that came to a territory of Great Britain that was eventually named after them, England. Anglia, a peninsula in the Baltic Sea, is the source of both names. While English is most closely linked to Frisian and Low Saxon (thanks to Anglo-Saxon invaders in the 5th and 7th centuries), its vocabulary has been impacted by other Germanic languages, particularly Old Norse (a North Germanic language used mostly by Vikings), Latin, and French.

Arabic, on the other hand, comes from a family of languages known as Semitic languages. It was created sometime between the first and fourth century. Old Arabic likely developed in what is today known as Saudi Arabia. With time, Arabic began to evolve. The Quran is written in classical Arabic. Modern Standard Arabic emerged as a result.

When it comes to comparing and contrasting English and Arabic, the differences greatly exceed the similarities.

The Forms

Arabic is a level V language, according to the Foreign Service Institute. Level V languages are the most challenging for any speaker to learn out of all the language difficulty groups. Classical Arabic is no longer spoken, which is a silver lining. It is mostly used for religious purposes because it is the Quran’s language. Dialectal Arabic is derived from Modern Standard Arabic.

When compared to Arabic, English is easier to learn in terms of forms. Every English-speaking region, like the rest of the globe, has its unique jargon or dialect. The dialects are based on the standard version of English, known as King’s English. The structure of the sentences is almost always the same. Reading, writing, and speaking are all performed in the same manner. Modern English, on the other hand, is the most widely spoken version of the English language, spoken by millions of people throughout the world.

The Alphabet

There are 28 letters in Arabic. The script is written in a right-to-left direction. Short vowels are rare in Arabic; there are just three. The Arabic alphabet’s sensitivity to change is probably the most challenging component. In Arabic, letters change their appearance based on where they are in a word. Some of the changes are significant, which is why practice is so important in learning the language.

There are 26 letters in the English alphabet. Six of the letters are vowels, with the letter “Y” being the least frequently used. Left to right is how English is written. In terms of pronunciation, the English alphabet is quite dynamic. For example, the words “through” or “though,” have identical ends but are pronounced differently. Memorization is the only key to deal with the English alphabet.

Grammar

In that it assigns gender to words, Arabic is similar to many other languages. Arabic verbs always start with an infinitive and then vary depending on the circumstances. In comparison to English, there are many more personal pronouns that change the infinitive. The first crucial thing to remember is that Arabic does not utilise the verb “to be” in the present tense. In writing and speaking, the verb is simply left out.

The gender of words in English is not assigned. You can put the term male or female before the word friend, but the word friend remains the same. Although English nouns contain infinitives, the verb remains unchanged except in the singular third-person case. In that situation, you add a “s” to the end of the verb. These are only elementary grammatical rules, as articulated in Arabic. There is a myriad of others in English as well.

Borrowed words from each language.

Many words in Arabic have been borrowed from English and other languages, and other languages have done the same.

English words borrowed by Arabic

Electronic إلكتروني iiliktrunii

Telephone تلفن tilfun

Cinema سينما sinama

Caviar كافيار kafyar

Computer كمبيوتر kamibyutir

Arabic words borrowed by English

Algebra “al jebr” – “reunion of broken parts”

Alcohol “al kohl” – “powder, or fine particles, that was added for the makeup of eyes”

Coffee “qahwah” – “wine”

Camphor “kāfūr” – “a white volatile crystalline substance”

Lemon “laimun” – “Fruit”

Caravan “qaīrawān” – “a group of people travelling together”