A country of two continents, the Arab Republic of Egypt is inhabited by over 85 million people. The state language of Egypt, despite dozens of others represented here, is the only one - Arabic literary language.
Some statistics and facts
- Literary Arabic in Egypt is the language of most print media.
- Most of the country's population speaks Egyptian Arabic.
- Among the most popular minority languages is Saidi, which is used in everyday life by almost 30% of the inhabitants of Egypt.
- The Bedouin language is still understood and used by only 1.6% of Egyptians.
- The main languages of immigrants are Armenian, Greek and Italian.
- Egyptians employed in the field of tourism speak English and French sufficiently to communicate with foreigners.
Alexandria is the most "Greek" city in Egypt. It is home to over 40 thousand immigrants who speak the Homeric language. The largest Armenian diaspora is in Cairo, and immigrants from Italy settled in the Nile Delta.
History and modernity
The Egyptian language has been known since ancient times: it is one of the first written languages on the planet. The language of the pharaohs became famous thanks to the preserved hieroglyphic inscriptions on ancient papyri.
A descendant of the ancient Egyptian language was Coptic, which is now liturgical during services in the Coptic Orthodox Church. It is called the last stage in the development of the Egyptian language. Coptic uses its own alphabet based on the Greek writing system, but is not the official language of Egypt.
In the desert and on the coast
The Berbers of Egypt speak the Sivi language, which has the same name as the oasis in which they are settled. The Beja people live on the coast of the Red Sea and 77 thousand of its representatives also have their own dialect.
Tourist notes
Egyptians employed in the tourism sector are fluent in foreign languages and can communicate in English, French and even Russian. Russian-speaking guides work in large hotels, and the menus of most restaurants in tourist areas have been translated not only into English, but also into Russian.
Road signs, street names in tourist resorts and in large cities are usually duplicated in Latin letters, and therefore even independent travelers in rented cars do not risk getting lost in the Arabic script of the Egyptian road infrastructure.
