Arabic ranks fourth in the world's league table of languages, with an estimated 230 million native speakers. As the language of the Qur'an, the holy book of Islam, it is also widely used throughout the Muslim world. It belongs to the Semitic group of languages which also includes Hebrew and Amharic, the main language of Ethiopia. There are many Arabic dialects. Classical Arabic was originally the dialect of Mecca in what is now Saudi Arabia. An adapted form of this, known as Modern Standard Arabic is used in books, newspapers, on television and radio, in the mosques, and in conversation between educated Arabs from different countries.

Each Arabic speaking country or region also has its own variety of colloquial spoken Arabic These colloquial varieties of Arabic appear in written form in some poetry, cartoons and comics, plays and personal letters. There are also translations of the bible into most varieties of colloquial Arabic. Arabic is spoken in many countries in the Middle East including Algeria, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Syria, Tunisia, UAE, Yemen.

The Middle East is an area of major economic expansion, so there is a high demand for translation to and from Arabic.