View source for Languages of Egypt

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{{Languages of
| country    = Egypt
| official   = [[Modern Standard Arabic|Standard Arabic]] |image= Triomphe Hotel 02.jpg|caption=Multilingual sign at an Egyptian hotel; [[Tourism in Egypt|Egypt attracts tourists]] from all over the world.
| vernacular = [[Egyptian Arabic]] (66.7%)<br /><small>(de facto lingua franca)</small>
| minority   = [[Sa'idi Arabic]] (24.0%)<br />[[Sudanese Arabic]] (3.5%)<br/>[[Levantine Arabic]] (1.8%)<br />[[Eastern Egyptian Bedawi|Eastern Egyptian Bedawi Arabic]] (1.1%)<br />[[Western Egyptian Bedawi Arabic|Western Egyptian Bedawi]] (0.8%)<br />[[Nobiin language|Nobiin]] (0.4%)<br />[[Domari language|Domari]] (0.3%)<br />[[Beja language|Beja]] (0.07%)<br />[[Kenzi language|Kenzi]] (0.03%)<br />[[Siwi language|Siwi]] (0.02%)<br />[[Coptic language|Coptic]]<ref name="EG">{{Cite web|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/country/EG/| title=Egypt| publisher=Ethnologue| access-date=6 April 2025}}</ref><ref name="dailynews">{{Cite web|url=https://dailynewsegypt.com/2005/12/10/coptic-languages-last-survivors/|title = StackPath| date=10 December 2005 }}</ref> (mostly liturgical)
| immigrant  = [[Greek language|Greek]]<br />[[Armenian language|Armenian]]<br />[[Italian language|Italian]]<ref>{{Cite web |last=Perugi |first=Rossella |date=2023-06-30 |title=Italiano in Egitto. Fra storia e attualità |url=https://vitaminevaganti.com/2023/07/01/italiano-in-egitto-fra-storia-e-attualita/ |access-date=2024-10-14 |language=it-IT}}</ref><br />[[Russian language|Russian]]
| foreign    = [[English language|English]] (39.98%)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britishcouncil.org/new/Documents/full_mena_english_report.pdf |title=The Benefits of the English Language for Individuals and Societies: Quantitative Indicators from Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, Tunisia and Yemen |website=Britishcouncil.org |access-date=8 April 2016 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140513152359/http://www.britishcouncil.org/new/documents/full_mena_english_report.pdf |archive-date=13 May 2014 }}</ref><br />[[French language|French]]<ref name="cia">{{Citation |title=Egypt |date=2023-01-11 |url=https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/countries/egypt/ |work=The World Factbook |publisher=Central Intelligence Agency |language=en |access-date=2023-01-25}}</ref> (3.02%)<ref name=odsefnrlfdm2022>{{cite book |title = Estimation des populations francophones dans le monde en 2022 |language = fr |year = 2022 |publisher = Observatoire démographique et statistique de l’espace francophone |url = https://observatoire.francophonie.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/odsef-lfdm-2022.pdf|access-date = 3 Dec 2023 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220523052229/https://observatoire.francophonie.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/odsef-lfdm-2022.pdf |archive-date = 23 May 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=https://www.francophonie.org/egypte-954 | title=Portail de l'Organisation internationale de la Francophonie (OIF) }}</ref>
 |keyboard       = bilingual [[QWERTY#United States|US QWERTY]]<ref>{{Cite web |title=A List of Local Keyboard Layout in 24 Countries/Regions. (updated in September 2013) - brightmeasurement |url=https://sites.google.com/site/brightmeasurement/Home/keyboard-for-english-around-the-word |access-date=2023-01-25 |website=sites.google.com}}</ref> with [[Arabic keyboard]]
 |keyboard image = [[File:KB United States-NoAltGr.svg|200px]]<br />[[File:KB Arabic.svg|200px]]
| extralabel = [[Historical language]](s)
| extra      = [[Ancient Egyptian language|Ancient Egyptian]]<br />
[[Meroitic language|Meroitic]]<ref>Claude Rilly (2011). Recent Research on Meroitic, the Ancient Language of Sudan. http://www.ityopis.org/Issues-1_files/ITYOPIS-I-Rilly.pdf. Under the sub-heading - The original cradle of Proto-NES: chronological and palaeoclimatic issues. p. 18</ref><ref>Claude Rilly (2007). La langue du royaume de Méroé, Un panorama de la plus ancienne culture écrite d’Afrique subsaharienne, Paris: Champion (Bibliothèque de l’École pratique des hautes études, Sciences historiques et philologiques, t. 344)</ref><ref>Claude Rilly (2004). THE LINGUISTIC POSITION OF MEROITIC. http://www.ddl.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/projets/clhass/PageWeb/ressources/Isolats/Meroitic%20Rilly%202004.pdf {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150923213222/http://www.ddl.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/projets/clhass/PageWeb/ressources/Isolats/Meroitic%20Rilly%202004.pdf |date=2015-09-23 }}. p. 1</ref><ref>Ahmed Abuelgasim Elhassan. ''Religious Motifs in Meroitic Painted and Stamped Pottery''. Oxford, England: John and Erica Hedges Ltd., 2004. xii, 176 p. BAR international series. p.1.</ref>
| sign      = [[Egyptian Sign Language]]
|indigenous=[[Egyptian language|Egyptian]] (Coptic)}}
{{Life in Egypt}}

Egyptians speak a continuum of dialects. The predominant dialect in [[Egypt]] is [[Egyptian Arabic|Egyptian Colloquial Arabic]] or ''Masri''/''Masry'' ({{Lang|ar|مصرى}} ''Egyptian''), which is the [[vernacular]] language.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.economist.com/prospero/2018/01/31/the-rise-and-fall-of-egyptian-arabic|title=The rise and fall of Egyptian Arabic|date=2018-01-31|newspaper=The Economist|access-date=2019-10-09|issn=0013-0613}}</ref> [[Modern Standard Arabic|Literary Arabic]] is the [[official language]]<ref name="Provisional" /> and the most widely [[Literary language|written]]. The [[Coptic language]] is used primarily by Egyptian [[Copts]] and it is the liturgical language of [[Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria|Coptic Christianity]].

==Official language==
[[Modern Standard Arabic|Literary Arabic]] is the official language of Egypt.<ref name="Provisional">{{cite web |url=http://www.sis.gov.eg/En/LastPage.aspx?Category_ID=1155 |title=Constitutional Declaration: A New Stage in the History of the Great Egyptian People |date=30 March 2011 |publisher=Egypt State Information Service |access-date=15 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110427083143/http://www.sis.gov.eg/En/LastPage.aspx?Category_ID=1155 |archive-date=27 April 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref>

==Main spoken language==
[[Egyptian Arabic]] is the commonly spoken language, based on the dialect of [[Cairo]], and is occasionally written in [[Arabic script]], or in [[Arabic chat alphabet]] mostly on new communication services.

Of the many [[varieties of Arabic]], Egyptian Arabic is the most widely understood first dialect in the Middle East–North Africa, probably due to the influence of [[Egyptian cinema]] and music industry throughout the Arabic-speaking world.

==Minority languages==
In southern Egypt, [[Saidi Arabic]] is the main spoken language for most people.

In the far-Southern Upper Nile Valley, around [[Kom Ombo]] and [[Aswan]], there are about 300,000 speakers of [[Nubian languages]], mainly [[Nobiin language|Nobiin]], but also [[Kenzi language|Kenuzi]].

About 30,000 Egyptian Berbers living in the [[Siwa Oasis|Siwa]] oasis and its surroundings speak [[Siwi language]],<ref>Siwi (siwi or žlan n isiwan) is a Berber language spoken at the oasis of Siwa in western Egypt (Matrūħ Province), about 500 km west of the Nile and 250&nbsp;km south of the Mediterranean coast, by a little less than 15,000 people, forming a majority of the oasis' population. The nearest Egyptian oasis, Bahariyya, is some 350&nbsp;km east of Siwa. Siwi is also spoken at the tiny oasis of Gāra near Siwa, and I was told of a multigenerational Siwi community at nearby Jaghbūb in Libya. page 16 of the book GRAMMATICAL CONTACT IN THE SAHARA: Arabic, Berber, and Songhay in Tabelbala and Siwa, August 2010, by: Lameen Souag. [http://eprints.soas.ac.uk/13430/1/souag-thesis-final.pdf]</ref> which is a variety of the [[Berber language]] of [[North Africa]]. Siwi Berber is well mutually intelligible with neighbouring Libyan Berber dialects.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Eastern|url=https://www.ethnologue.com/subgroups/eastern-3|access-date=2021-06-02|website=Ethnologue|language=en}}</ref> [[Beja language|Beja]] is spoken in the Eastern desert and along the southern Red Sea coast, including the disputed [[Halaib Triangle]].

==Sign languages==
The only sign language known to be used in Egypt is [[Egyptian Sign Language]].<ref>{{citation|url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316036629|title=Exploring Egyptian and American sign languages}}</ref> It is known to be used in Alexandria and Cairo, and possibly other regions. Regional variation is reported anecdotally but not documented.

==Foreign languages==
===English===
[[File:Flickr - Bakar 88 - Choose ur way by 2 ways.jpg|thumb|[[Bilingual]] Arabic–English sign in [[Cairo]].]]

Most educated people in Egypt study [[Standard English|English]] at school. There are also many English language universities in Egypt including the BUE ([[British University in Egypt]]), the FUE ([[Future University in Egypt]]), [[Nile University]] and the AUC ([[American University in Cairo]]).  English is the most widely used language in tourism.  The majority of the road signs in Egypt are written both in Arabic and English.  In addition, many English words have started being used by Egyptians in their daily life.  English has a crucial position in Egypt: banknotes and coins, as well as stamps, are bilingual in English and Arabic.  There is also an important press in the English language in the country, comprising several weeklies and a daily newspaper, the ''[[Daily News Egypt]]''.<ref>[https://www.dailynewsegypt.com/ Daily News Egypt Official Website]</ref>

There is generally no preference towards British or American English; however, the younger generations increasingly prefer the American variant, mostly because of their exposure to American media.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Schaub |first=Mark |title=English in the Arab Republic of Egypt|url= |journal=World Englishes |volume=19 |issue=2 |pages=235 |year= 2000 | language=en |doi=10.1111/1467-971X.00171}}</ref>

===French===
{{main|French language education in Egypt}}
[[File:Rue Champollion in Alexandria.JPG|thumb|Bilingual Arabic–French street sign in [[Alexandria]].]]

In 2009–2010, about six&nbsp;million people studied [[Standard French|French]] in Egypt, and this number increased to eight&nbsp;million in 2013. As of 2014, most people in Egypt using French have studied it as a foreign language in school.<ref name=OIFp216217>{{cite book|title=La langue française dans le monde 2014|date=2014|publisher=Nathan|isbn=978-2-09-882654-0|url=http://www.francophonie.org/Langue-Francaise-2014/projet/Rapport-OIF-2014.pdf|access-date=5 April 2015|ref={{harvid|OIF|2014}}|pages=216–217|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150412002239/http://www.francophonie.org/Langue-Francaise-2014/projet/Rapport-OIF-2014.pdf|archive-date=12 April 2015|url-status=dead}} "Pour la majorité des locuteurs actuels, le français n’est plus une langue maternelle ou une langue seconde ; il est devenu une langue étrangère qui s’apprend à l’école ou dans les centres culturels. Aujourd’hui, précédant l’allemand et suivant l’anglais (répandu à partir des années 1930), le français est la deuxième langue étrangère en Égypte et compte 8 millions d’apprenants en 2013, soit 2 millions de plus qu’en 2009-2010."</ref>

The first French-medium schools in Egypt were established in 1836. By the end of the nineteenth century, it had become the dominant foreign language in Egypt and the [[lingua franca]] of foreigners; this was especially the case in Cairo.<ref name=OIFp216>{{cite book|title=La langue française dans le monde 2014|date=2014|publisher=Nathan|isbn=978-2-09-882654-0|url=http://www.francophonie.org/Langue-Francaise-2014/projet/Rapport-OIF-2014.pdf|access-date=5 April 2015|ref={{harvid|OIF|2014}}|page=216|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150412002239/http://www.francophonie.org/Langue-Francaise-2014/projet/Rapport-OIF-2014.pdf|archive-date=12 April 2015|url-status=dead}} "À partir de 1836 sont fondés des établissements employant le français comme langue d’enseignement. [...] C’est à partir des années 1920 que le français commence à perdre du terrain pour des raisons politiques et sociales."</ref>

French became the primary foreign language in media during the rule of [[Ibrahim Pasha of Egypt|Ibrahim Pasha]].<!--"Ibrahim Pasha's name is not stated in the source text, but the source text implied to be *after* the rule of Muhammad Ali, so it would be the guy after him:Ibrahim Pasha--><ref name=Kendalp331>Kendall, Elisabeth. "Between Politics and Literature: Journals in Alexandria and Istanbul at the End of the Nineteenth Century" (Chapter 15). In: Fawaz, Leila Tarazi and C. A. Bayly (editors) and Robert Ilbert (collaboration). ''Modernity and Culture: From the Mediterranean to the Indian Ocean''. [[Columbia University Press]], 2002. {{ISBN|0231114273}}, 9780231114271. Start: p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=TOp7a8GtqQoC&pg=PA330 330]. CITED: p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=TOp7a8GtqQoC&pg=PA331 331].</ref> During the period of [[History of Egypt under the British|the British influence]], French was actually the medium of communication among foreigners and between foreigners and Egyptians;<ref name=Makp87>Mak, Lanver. ''The British in Egypt: Community, Crime and Crises 1882-1922'' (Volume 74 of International Library of Historical Studies). I.B.Tauris, 15 March 2012. {{ISBN|1848857098}}, 9781848857094. p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=cfJC1zLvBhQC&pg=PA87 87].</ref> the mixed French-Egyptian civil courts operated in French, and government notices from the [[Egyptian sultan]], taxi stand information, timetables of trains, and other legal documents were issued in French.<ref>Mak, Lanver. ''The British in Egypt: Community, Crime and Crises 1882-1922'' (Volume 74 of International Library of Historical Studies). I.B.Tauris, 15 March 2012. {{ISBN|1848857098}}, 9781848857094. p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=cfJC1zLvBhQC&pg=PA87 87]-[https://books.google.com/books?id=cfJC1zLvBhQC&pg=PA88 88].</ref> In addition, the usage of French in the media was at the greatest extent in this period.<ref name=Kendalp331/> This was partly because some Egyptians had French education and partly because of cultural influence from France.<ref name=Makp87/> Despite efforts from British legal personnel, English was never adopted as a language of the Egyptian civil courts during the period of British influence.<ref>Mak, Lanver. ''The British in Egypt: Community, Crime and Crises 1882-1922'' (Volume 74 of International Library of Historical Studies). I.B.Tauris, 15 March 2012. {{ISBN|1848857098}}, 9781848857094. p. [https://books.google.com/books?id=cfJC1zLvBhQC&pg=PA89 89].</ref>

Owing to social and political reasons, the role of French in Egypt began to decline in the 1920s.<ref name=OIFp216/> Two French-language newspapers are still published in Egypt: ''[[Al-Ahram Hebdo]]'' and ''[[Le Progrès Egyptien]]''.

===Italian===
The primary foreign language during the reign of [[Muhammad Ali of Egypt|Muhammad Ali]] (reigned 1805-1848) was [[Standard Italian|Italian]]. There was an Italian newspaper established in the city of Alexandria in 1858 and 1859, known as ''[[Il progresso]]''.<ref name=Kendalp331/>

===Other foreign languages===
[[File:Hurgada russian pelmeni.jpg|thumb|A market in [[Hurghada]] with a Russian language banner (on the right).]]

[[Standard German|German]] and [[Standard Russian|Russian]] are also used in tourism.

==Historical languages==
{{main|Egyptian language|Coptic language}}

Other [[Egyptian languages]] (also known as Copto-Egyptian) consist of ancient [[Egyptian language|Egyptian]] and [[Coptic language|Coptic]], and form a separate branch among the family of [[Afro-Asiatic languages]]. The Egyptian language is among the first written languages, and is known from [[Egyptian hieroglyphs|hieroglyphic]] inscriptions preserved on monuments and sheets of [[papyrus]]. The [[Coptic language]], the only extant descendant of Egyptian, is today the liturgical language of the [[Coptic Orthodox Church]].

The "[[Koine Greek|Koiné]]" dialect of the [[Greek language]] was important in Hellenistic Alexandria, and was used in the [[philosophy]] and [[science]] of that culture, and was also studied by later Arabic scholars.

==Notes==
{{reflist}}

==References==
{{Refbegin|colwidth=30em}}
* {{Citation|first1=Mohamed|last1=Badawi|first2=Christian A.|last2=Caroli|title=As-Sabil: Grundlagen der arabischen Grammatik|language=de|location=Konstanz|year=2011}}
* {{Citation|first1=Mary Catherine|last1=Bateson|title=Arabic Language Handbook|publisher=Georgetown University Press|year=2003|isbn=0-87840-386-8}}
* {{Citation|last1=Durand|first1=Olivier|last2=Langone|first2=Angela D.|last3=Mion|first3=Giuliano|title=Corso di Arabo Contemporaneo. Lingua Standard|language=it|location=Milan|publisher=Hoepli|year=2010|isbn=978-88-203-4552-5}}
* {{Citation |title= Language in Africa |last= Gregersen |first= Edgar A. |year= 1977 |publisher= CRC Press |isbn= 0-677-04380-5 |url-access= registration |url= https://archive.org/details/languageinafrica0000greg }}
* {{Citation|author-link1=George Grigore |first1=George |last1=Grigore |year=2007 |title=L'arabe parlé à Mardin. Monographie d'un parler arabe périphérique |location=Bucharest |publisher=Editura Universitatii din Bucuresti |isbn=978-973-737-249-9 |url=http://www.arc-news.com/read.php?lang=en&id_articol=1059 |url-status=usurped |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927072656/http://www.arc-news.com/read.php?lang=en&id_articol=1059 |archive-date=2007-09-27 }}
{{refend}}

==External links==
*[http://www.ethnologue.com/show_country.asp?name=EG ''Ethnologue'' page on "Languages of Egypt"]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070927184643/http://www.panafril10n.org/wikidoc/pmwiki.php/PanAfrLoc/Egypt PanAfriL10n page on Egypt]
*[http://www.tlfq.ulaval.ca/axl/afrique/egypte.htm Linguistic situation in Egypt] {{in lang|fr}}
*[https://egypttours36.com/2020/07/21/ancient-egyptian-language-egyptian-language-history/ Egyptian Language History]

{{Languages of Egypt}}
{{Egypt topics}}
{{Africa in topic|Languages of}}
{{Asia in topic|Languages of}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2020}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Languages Of Egypt}}
[[Category:Languages of Egypt| ]]
[[Category:Culture of Egypt]]
[[Category:Culture of North Africa]]