Stupid question about Arabic

[Hassled]

Something that I'm sure I really should know but has been bothering me recently:
Would an Egyptian, say, speaking Arabic understand a Jordanian speaking Arabic, and a Palestinian understand a Saudi etc. - or would it be like different dialects of the same written language? If I'm betraying a staggering amount of ignorance here then apologies.

It would be same language, different dialects. Just like we have Liverpool accent, London accent, Newcastle accent etc.

Although there can be varying difference in words used, for example, there are about 5 different words for house, and people usually figure out where your from by the word you use! Although most of it would be understood as 99% of it derives from Classical Arabic IMO.

HTH

Thank you! In which case it must be one of the most commonly used languages in the world - would it be more useful to teach Arabic at schools than say French?

It is very widely used, but harder for us to learn than French - a different alphabet, and quite different sounds, makes things much more difficult.

Spanish is much more widely spoken than French, has (afaik) phoenetic spelling, and would be just as easy to learn as French. But it doesn't have the same historical 'snob' value as French.

wiki here

It is an extremely hard language, I have picked bits up (dp arabic) but still get confused relatives when i attempt words.. Like cockney said, it has different alphabet, and also different accents (not sure if that is the right word) that you have to learn as well..

In terms of writting it, and to read it, one letter can be written three different ways, depending on wether it is the first letter of a word, occurs in the middle or at the end!! Tiz very confusing

Of course thing about Arabic, is quite a lot of Muslims understand it as it is the language of the Quran, maybe the reason why it is one of the languages most used??? Not sure!

The Quran is a big part of why Arabic is so widely-spoken - since the Quran (unlike the bible) is still read in the language it was originally written in, the language is vital.

I hadn't known that about the writing, sounds hairy!

There are phonemes in Arabic that are far from ones in English. It's like how English people struggle with the rolled r in French, or how we struggle with the more finely differentiated vowels ... but more so ...

We've learned the arabic alaphabet (dc and I) but not yet the middle and ending versions, it's so confusing. In Septemebr we'll be having lessons once a week - ds loves the caligraphy side of it, it's very beuatiful when written properly.
I used to have Eygyptian, Jordanian and Algerian neighbours and really envied the fact that they could all sit down at the play ground and talk to each other in arabic.

Trouble is, alot of people read the arabic but don't understand it. Dh was brought up in Pakistan where they use a form of arabic alphabet to write (urdu) and he had to read the quran right through with a teacher who came daily to the house but he said he read it but didn't understand it. Infact you need to study arabic for quite a long time to really understand what the meaning is.

A friend who learnt basic Arabic as an 'extra' for work (he mainly uses Hindi, Urdu and Nepali) compared his experience to learning to read and write 'Bible English' or 'Dickens English' - great in a classroom or for spending a long time constructing and expressing quite complex ideas, and adequate for meeting people and getting things done, but very hard to sit down in a bus/pub/teashop and have conversations of the 'Alright mate? Shocking weather we've been having' variety.

Yes, Arabic uses the back of the mouth and the throat to make really breathy sounds.. Something I don't think is used quite so much in English.

I have read parts of the Quran, in English, and from what I have heard from Arabic speakers, it doesn't do it justice. I remember a family member crying to a recitation of the Quran because she was so moved by the words, when I read it in English, didn't quite have the same affect on me

How come you asked anyway Hassled, if you don't mind me asking??

Sorry for not replying - I'd felt obliged to do some actual RL work .
As to why I'm asking - I don't know really. I've got quite friendly with an Egyptian woman at the school gates and I didn't want to betray my cluelessness by asking her. It's just one of the many many things I should know about the Middle East if I have any chance of understanding all the issues. And I always forget about Wikepedia . Thank you everyone for your responses.