Arabic is one of the six official languages of the United Nations and is normally written from right to left.
The United Nations adopted Arabic as an official language in 1973, joining English, French, Chinese, Russian, and Spanish. Arabic is also one of the major languages of the Middle East and North Africa, where it has official status in more than 20 countries.
Arabic is written with the Arabic script, which developed from earlier Aramaic writing. Its letters generally join within words, and short vowels are often left unwritten in ordinary text. This differs from Persian and Urdu, which also use adapted forms of the Arabic script but are separate languages.
Modern Standard Arabic is used in formal writing, news, and official communication. Spoken Arabic varies considerably by region, so everyday dialects in Morocco, Egypt, the Gulf, and the Levant may sound quite different while sharing a common literary standard.