Reading from right to left... Arabic script does all sorts of things to your brain

In most Western languages, text runs from left to right. Our eyes are completely attuned to this. While reading, they make small, rapid jumps (saccades) from left to right, picking up a piece of information with each jump. Our brains process this information at lightning speed via language areas such as Broca's area (for speech and sentence structure) and Wernicke's area (for understanding meaning). Both are located mainly in the left hemisphere of the brain.

Arabic requires more than language processing

Reading and writing are more than just understanding language. You also have to:

• recognise visual patterns (such as letters, dots and dashes);
• link those patterns to sounds and meanings;
• move your eyes across the text in a focused manner;
• and form letters with precision when you write.

From right to left: a mental switch

The direction of Arabic script reverses your visual attention. Whereas with Latin languages your attention automatically moves from left to right, now you have to do exactly the opposite. This demands more of your right hemisphere. This part of your brain is responsible for visual-spatial attention.

Your language centre does not suddenly move to the right side of your brain, but there is extra activity on that side.

Arabic letters: flexible and context-dependent

Another special aspect of Arabic is that the letters change shape depending on their position in the word (beginning, middle or end). Unlike the Latin script, where the “a” always remains an “a”, in Arabic you have to deal with letter variations that your brain has to analyse especially carefully.

This means that you:

• have to rely more on pattern recognition;
• have to switch more quickly between details (for example, one dot makes a different letter!) and the whole (how the word looks as a flowing pattern).

You need both sides of your brain for this switching: the left for details, the right for the bigger picture.

So... is Arabic harder for your brain?

Not necessarily more difficult, but it activates a broader network in your brain. You still use your language areas, but you involve more visual-spatial systems. This also explains why some people find it more difficult at first. Your brain has to adapt to a different visual system.

And that's also the good news: your brain can do that. You literally build new connections. Many students notice that after a few days of practice, they read more fluently, make connections more quickly and even start thinking in Arabic patterns.