Why Study Arabic? One of the six official languages of the UN. Spoken by some 250 million people. The principal language in 22 countries in Africa and the Middle East... Arabic is... …the Language of the League of Arab States •Chinese Mandarin 885 million •Spanish 332 •English 322 •Arabic 235 Arabic is ranked #4 among the most widely spoken languages in the world. By 2050, Arabic speakers could outnumber those in English worldwide!