Today Is December 18

Classical Arabic originated in the sixth century, but earlier versions of the language existed. These include the Safaitic dialect, an old Arabic dialect used by the pre-Islamic nomadic inhabitants of the Syro-Arabian desert, which dates back to the first century.

Al-ʿArabiyyah in written Arabic (Naskh script)

December 18th was designated by the United Nations in 2010 as Arabic Language Day, as that was the day in 1973 when the General Assembly approved Arabic as an official U.N. Language.

Around 250 million people use Arabic for their first language. It is the fifth most spoken language in the world behind Mandarin, Spanish, English and Hindi respectively.

Standard Arabic, the Arabic taught in a majority of schools, is based off the language Prophet Muhammad spoke. It is a language that nobody naturally speaks, and is preserved through formal education and news broadcasts.

Egyptian Arabic is the first language of 92 million Egyptians. It is the most widely-understood dialect and is understood by almost all of the 300 million Arabic speakers in the world, thanks to the Egyptian cinema and media industry.