The Language Center

Arabic is the language spoken in the homes and businesses of 22 countries from Morrocco to Iraq, and as far south as Somalia and the Sudan. It is spoken by roughly 208 million people: 110 million in Asia and 98 million in Africa. Arabic is also spoken by about one billion Muslims throughout the world because it is the language of the Quran, the holy book of Islam.

With origins dating back to pre-Islamic Saudi Arabia, Arabic has perhaps the richest and vastest literature and poetry of all the world's classical languages. In fact, the languages of northern India, Turkey, Iran, Portugal, and Spain are full of words of Arabic origin.

Although modern, spoken Arabic can vary greatly from country to country, classical written Arabic has changed little over the centuries. Arabic students at USC write in Arabic beginning their first semester using a standard word processor with Arabic software support installed at the Language Center.

Arabic at USC is offered in three semesters with Arabic I and III taught in the Fall and Arabic II in the Spring. To learn more about Arabic at USC, contact the Linguistics Department at 213-740-2986.