![]() ![]() There is so much that we don't know about Arabic, and no one quite knows for sure why Arabic words, phrases, texts and literature are written from right to left, but we're going to explore the possible answers to one of the most frequently asked questions about the Arabic language. ![]() On the other hand, in English we write from the left to the right, which is said to be dextroverse. Semitic languages, such as Arabic and Hebrew are read from right to left and are referred to as sinistroverse. Unfortunately, differing writing directions and languages tend to divide cultures, be it right to left, left to right, or in boustrophedon fashion (alternating lines of left to right, and then right to left). Getting to even a basic Arabic level therefore takes times, with more time being needed if you want a higher proficiency. This poses a significant problem for people visiting the Arabian peninsula on holiday, those who want to learn more about Arabic and the Islamic world and the Quran, or those who want to do business in the Arab world, or with Arabs or Arabic speaker in their own country. Of course, without instruction, we are unable to read the Arabic language, its 28-letter alphabet, the hamza, and the structure of Arabic grammar. #IS HEBREW READ RIGHT TO LEFT OR LEFT TO RIGHT HOW TO#However, people who don't speak the same language have no way to communicate unless they learn how to read and speak a foreign tongue.Ī native English speaker who knows a Latin-based alphabet will only see abstract drawings in Arabic script unless he or she takes a course to learn Arabic. The transcription of the voice onto stone, wood, paper, or, nowadays, digital media, since prehistoric times is proof of the primary human necessity to communicate.Įvery society on the planet has developed some system of writing. In this metaphor, Voltaire (1694-1778), a French writer and philosopher, expresses well the need humans have to express their thoughts by translating them into words. More on how to do that in a later blog."Writing is painting through speech." (translation by Mel Belin) Whatever the reason, it is important to acclimate your child to reading from left to right. Perhaps the reason we write-and read-from left to right is as simple as to reduce smudging. Smudging was common in the past, but has become a problem we rarely have any more. Until ball point pens came along, our ancestors wrote with fountain pens and before that with quill pens, both of which required blotting to absorb the excess ink and to prevent smudging. We inherited that tradition in the English language. With most people being right-handed, a Greek writer could see what he had written without his hand smudging it or covering it if he wrote from left to right. ![]() That explains the top to bottom format, but not the right to left format.Īs for the Greeks, they wrote on papyrus, a precursor to paper. The painter/scribe held his brush differently from the way we hold a pen, but to avoid smudges, he went down the page, giving the writing at the top time to dry before a second column was started. For the same reason, languages that were written with brushes (Chinese and Japanese) might have been written from top to bottom. ![]() It was used in the oldest Egyptian, Etruscan, Greek and Latin writings.Ĭuneiform writing went from left to right, perhaps so right-handed scribes would not smudge their work in clay with the heel of their hands. This kind of writing can be found in some ancient religious texts. One line would go from left to right but the next would go from right to left. Another way of writing, called boustrophedon, meaning “as the bull walks,” alternated the direction of the writing. ![]()
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