Take the Modern Standard Arabic Quiz

Study Notes

Modern Standard Arabic: The Literary Standard of the Arab World

Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) is a standardized, literary variety of Arabic that developed in the Arab world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
MSA is used in literature, academia, print and mass media, law and legislation, but is generally not spoken as a first language.
It is taught throughout the Arab world in formal education and differs significantly from many vernacular varieties of Arabic.
Native speakers of Arabic generally do not distinguish between "Modern Standard Arabic" and "Classical Arabic" as separate languages.
Classical Arabic is the language used in the Quran and many literary texts from Umayyad and Abbasid times.
Napoleon's campaign in Egypt and Syria (1798–1801) is generally considered to be the starting point of the modern period of the Arabic language.
Modern Standard Arabic is the literary standard across the Middle East, North Africa, and Horn of Africa.
Colloquial Arabic refers to the many regional dialects derived from Classical Arabic spoken daily across the region and learned as a first language.
Literary Arabic (MSA) is the official language of all Arab League countries and is the only form of Arabic taught in schools at all stages.
Modern Standard Arabic is not homogeneous; there are authors who write in a style very close to the classical models and others who try to create new stylistic patterns.
MSA includes two sounds not present in Classical Arabic: /p/ and /v/, which occur in loanwords.
According to Ethnologue, there are no native speakers of Modern Standard Arabic, but a total of 273,989,700 second language speakers in the world.The decline of Modern Standard Arabic in the Arab world
STEM is the language of the future in the Arab world, while English is the lingua franca of commerce, media, and education in Gulf countries such as the UAE.
Modern Standard Arabic is on the decline in the Arab world, and its content is under-represented online and in literature.
According to the 2017 Arab Youth Survey, 54% of young urban Arabs aged 18 to 24 use English more than Arabic on a daily basis, rising to 68% in GCC countries.
Most Arab students of Northwestern University in Qatar and Georgetown University in Qatar do not have professional proficiency in Modern Standard Arabic.

Description

Test your knowledge of Modern Standard Arabic with this quiz! Discover the history and development of this standardized, literary variety of Arabic, and learn about its uses in literature, academia, and media. Challenge yourself to differentiate between Modern Standard Arabic and Classical Arabic and explore the differences between the two. Also, find out about the decline of Modern Standard Arabic and its implications for the Arab world. With this quiz, you can improve your understanding of this important language and its role in modern society.