Kuwait Languages

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Description[edit | edit source]

Kuwait's official language is Modern Standard Arabic, but its everyday usage is limited to journalism and education.
Kuwaiti Arabic is the variant of Arabic used in everyday life.
- Kuwaiti Arabic is a variant of Gulf Arabic, sharing similarities with the dialects of neighboring coastal areas in Eastern Arabia.
- Due to immigration during its pre-oil history as well as trade, Kuwaiti Arabic borrowed a lot of words from Persian, Indian languages, Balochi language, Turkish, English and Italian.
English is widely understood and often used as a business language.
Besides English, French is taught as a third language for the students of the humanities at schools, but for two years only.
Kuwaiti Persian is used among Ajam Kuwaitis. It is a combination of different varieties of the Persian language and Achomi language that has been spoken in Kuwait for more than 300 years. Expansion depth limit exceeded

Word List(s)[edit | edit source]

Modern Standard Arabic

Kuwaiti Arabic

French

Kuwaiti Persian

Comparison of Standard Persian and Kuwaiti Persian (Wikipedia)

Alphabet and Pronunciation[edit | edit source]

Modern Standard Arabic

Kuwaiti Arabic

Kuwaiti Arabic phonology (Wikipedia)

French

Kuwaiti Persian

Language Aids and Dictionaries[edit | edit source]

Modern Standard Arabic

Kuwaiti Arabic

A handbook of Kuwaiti Arabic. London: Kuwait Oil Co., 1951. Available at: WorldCat.

French

Kuwaiti Persian

Additional Resources[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]