Yemen - Languages

Languages

The official language is Modern Standard Arabic. Yemeni Arabic is spoken in several regional dialects.

Yemen is one of the main homelands of the South Semitic family of languages, which includes the non-Arabic language of the ancient Hemiari. Its modern Yemeni descendants speak modern standard Arabic like many other Arab countries.

Foreign language in public schools is taught from grade seven onwards, though the quality of public school instruction is low. Private schools using a British or American system teach English and produce proficient speakers, but Arabic is the dominant language of communication. The number of English speakers in Yemen is small compared to other Arab countries such as Egypt, Lebanon, the UAE, and Saudi Arabia.

There is a significant number of Russian speakers, originating from Yemeni-Russian cross-marriages occurring mainly in the 1970s and 1980s. A small Vietnamese-speaking community is found in the capital city of Sana'a, originating from Yemeni immigrants expatriated from Vietnam after the Vietnam War in the 1970s.

A small yet rising number of ethnic Chinese in Sana'a brought the Chinese language to the country, a byproduct of historic Chinese immigration. Also there are South Asian Languages spoken by the small but present South Asian community, most notably Hindi, Urdu, Malayalam and Marathi languages.