World Arabic Language Day (and a new project!)

Today is World Arabic Language Day! Initiated in 2012 and held every year on the 18th of December, World Arabic Language Day celebrates a beautiful and diverse language spoken by over 400 million people worldwide.

But this post isn’t just about World Arabic Language Day. 

I’ve been thinking about adding a new string to my linguistic bow for a while - my French is at an intermediate level and I’d like a new challenge. For 2026, that challenge is to learn Arabic!

I’m no stranger to learning languages very different to English (four years of Mandarin Chinese in university will attest to that) so I’m aware that my progress with Arabic is going to be at a snail’s pace compared to French. With that in mind, I’m not setting any crazy goals like I have in the past - I just want to have a solid foundation in the basics by this time next year. That sounds doable right now - we’ll have to see!

I’m starting off with a short introductory course with the Open University to familiarise myself with the writing system and some short phrases, and I’ve also bought a beginners book that I’ll be working through.

Open University Arabic free short course

I’ll be doing posts throughout the year with updates on my Arabic learning journey so stay tuned!