"I have been teaching Arabic since 2002. I studied Arabic at the University of Damascus and have worked in Syria, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the Netherlands.
Arabic is a language with a lot of diversity. In addition to classical Arabic, there is modern standard Arabic, which children learn at school and which is used in the media. And then there are many local dialects such as Levantine, Egyptian and Moroccan.
Arabic has a logical system. Almost all Arabic words have a three-letter root, such as the word for writing: k-t-b كَتَب. And there are many similar patterns. Words that begin with the letter m in combination with a vowel refer to a place, such as maktab, مَكتَب, the place where you write.
What makes the Arabic language special is that it is not only about letters and meanings, but also about imagination and imagery. An example is the word marhaba مَرحَبا , which means hello in English.
It comes from the root r-ḥ-b, which means “spaciousness”. Marhaba literally means “a spacious place”. When you use it as a greeting, it is as if you are saying to the other person: “You have come to visit me, and you have come to a spacious place”. And that means you will be welcomed here hospitably."