December 18 – Arabic Language Day

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Written Arabic is just lovely!

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nArabicnis one of the most commonly spoken languages in the world. There arenaround 290 million native Arabic speakers, which puts Arabic as #6,nbehind Mandarin, Spanish, English, Hindi, and Bengali. If you includenall the people who speak it as their second language, there are aboutn420 million Arabic speakers. Also, there are more than a billionnMuslims for whom Arabic is the language of their holy book, the Korann(Quran).

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nAnman named Sibawayh is considered one of the builders of the Arabnculture; he wrote a grammar book in which he reported and organizednthe grammatical rules of the language. People celebrating ArabicnLanguage Day could learn more about Sibawayh, or they could study upnon the language he codified.

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nSincenArab scholars were so important to Europeans, back in the 8^thnthrough 13^th Centuries, English has a lot of words thatncome from the Arabic. Also, English often adopts words for clothingnitems, foods, and animals from the languages of the places wherenthose items are used or seen. 

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nSome of the words used in English thatnoriginated in Arabic include:

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• nadmiral

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• nadobe

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  Arabic calligraphy is ESPEICALLY lovely. Check out the picture made from calligraphy:

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  nalgebra

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• nalchemyn and chemistry

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• nalcohol

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• nalfalfa

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• napricot

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• nartichoke

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• ncandy

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• ncheck

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• ndeciphern and cipher

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• nelixir

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• ngauze

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• nghoul

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• ngiraffe

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• nharem

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• nhummus

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• njar

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• njasmine

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• nlacquer

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• nlemon

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• nlime

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• nlute

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• nmacrame

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• nmagazine

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• nmonsoon

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• nmuslin

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• nnadir

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• norange

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• nream

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• nrookn (in chess)

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• nsafflower

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• nsafari

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• nsofa

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• nsugar

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• nsultan

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• nsyrup

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• ntalc

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• ntangerine

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• ntuna

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• ntyphoon

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• nzenith

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• nzero

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nNational Day in Qatar  
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nParticlenParty! 
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nAnniversarynof the first panda in the U.S.
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• nDecembern holidays 

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• nDecembern birthdays

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• Historicaln anniversaries in December
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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• nJanuaryn holidays 

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• nJanuaryn birthdays 

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• nHistoricaln anniversaries in January

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