What is the official language in the UAE

Arabic is spoken in the United Arab Emirates. All official papers are written in the generally accepted modern version of the Arabic language, office work is conducted in it, and the media broadcast. The locals speak various dialects of Arabic.

Classical or literary Arabic is the official language of the emirates. It is spoken by heads of state during negotiations, protocols are drawn up in police stations. If a foreigner comes to the police to write a complaint, he must do it in Arabic.

English is also very common. It is studied by children in local schools along with Arabic. This is the language of communication between all the inhabitants of the emirates, who belong to different nations. Indigenous Emiratis in the country are about 12% of the total population, they live in closed communities that are difficult for a foreigner to get into.

Common dialects

Modern residents of the UAE since childhood do not speak literary Arabic. Dialects and dialects are common in the UAE. The dialect a person speaks depends on where they live in the country – in the north, south or center. For foreigners who come to the Emirates and want to learn the language, it is better to choose classical Arabic.

This is the language of literature, television, journalism of the Emirates. Children at school study classical Arabic, learn to write in it. Dialects are used only in colloquial speech. Spoken Arabic in the emirates belongs to the dialect of the Persian Gulf. Its main difference lies in the pronunciation of letters. In Arabic there is a letter “Jim”, in the Emirates it is pronounced as “I”. For example, the word “Rajul”, which means a man in literary Arabic, sounds like “Rayal” in the Emirates. There are different Arabic words that are pronounced differently, have different origins.

Other common languages

In Dubai, 30% of the population are Indians. It is the largest foreign community in the emirates. There are more than 1 million Indians in the UAE. They come from all parts of India and bring their customs and dialects. The most common Indian dialects in the UAE are Hindi, Punjabi, Malayalam, Canada, Telugu, Urdu, Tamil and Bengali.

Each community in the UAE communicates in its own language. But everyone speaks English among themselves, so to come to the UAE to work, it is enough to know English. Knowledge of several languages ​​is welcome among workers in the tourism and trade sectors.

Dubai has a large community from the UK, Russian immigrants are about four times less. There are many Chinese in the United Arab Emirates.

What language is needed to communicate in the emirates

To live and work in Dubai, it is important to have a high level of English. Knowledge of Arabic will be an added bonus when looking for a job. Without speaking English, you can only find a low-paid job where you don’t need to talk – washing dishes, cleaning, digging, building.

Knowledge of English will provide an opportunity to get a well-paid job. For those who know only Russian, there is a chance to find a job in the tourism industry or in the service sector. But in order to live comfortably in the Emirates, you need to know English and some other language – Arabic, German French or Russian.

About 9 million people live in the UAE, while about 88% of the population are visitors. First of all, these are Indians and Pakistanis, followed by citizens of other states. You can distinguish the indigenous inhabitants of the emirates by their clothes. Men wear white long clothes and a headband, while women wear a black abaya. Knowledge of Arabic is useful in communicating with the indigenous population.