What Languages are Spoken in Qatar?

The State of Qatar is a West Asian country with a populace gauge of 2,672,522. The populace varies broadly in culture and origin, with different groups speaking different dialects. Apart from the ethnic dialects of the local occupants, there are several foreign languages, and ethnic languages from other non-native communities, spoken by the expatriate community.

Qatar has a wide range of population in terms of culture and origin, and with different groups using different languages. Being a West-Asian country, it has its own ethnic languages of its native inhabitants but apart from these, there are so many foreign languages. These foreign languages are spoken by emigrant community. These communities use their native languages too within the Qatar.

However, Arabic is the official language of Qatar. English is the second language that remains to be the language of businesses. Apart from that, there are numerous other languages spoken. These languages are Urdu, Hindi, Balochi, and Pashto to name a few. Let’s discuss these languages in brief

Is it compulsory to speak Arabic language in Qatar?

This is Qatar’s official dialect which is categorized into two – Gulf and Standard. The standard Arabic is referred to as AI Fus-Ha and AI Arabia.

On the other side, The Gulf Arabic is referred to as Khaliji and Qatari which is further divided into two forms i.e., North and South Qatari. Both these categories are used and understood by other nations such as Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Yemen, Dubai, Iran, UAE, and nations close to the Qatar border.

Being an official language of Qatar, Arabic is the local dialect of country. It is the mother tongue of majority of the population in Qatar. There are two distinct and mutually intelligible dialects of Arabic spoken in Qatar – which are standard Arabic and native Gulf Arabic. Due to the migration and interaction of people with foreigners, these dialects happened. In order to preserve the Arabic language in Qatar, several actions have been taken by the government. The language of the Qatar University has been changed from English to Arabic. All government offices, business purposes, learning institutes and even daily communication has started to use Arabic for official purposes and method of instruction.

Do people speak English in Qatar?

Due to its roots in colonial era, English has been the second most used language in Qatar. During the British rule, English was widely used for all official purposes. Though English is not an official language in present times but it is spoken widely in Qatar and termed as the second language. English has been widely used among the business community and accepted as second language in schools. The presence of immigrants from other English speaking countries has also strengthened the role of English in Qatar. People from India and Filipinos, who are from majority of expats, use English in Qatar and it contributed to growth of this language in Qatar.

English is utilized broadly in Qatar and this can be credited to the way that Qatar was once a British protectorate. The government has even supported it as the second tongue after Arabic. English allows both locals and immigrants to communicate, as a result, it is widely spoken.

Malayalam in Qatar

The Malayalam language has reached Qatar because of guest employees working from India, and as a result, they have popularized their language with Qatari. The language is different from Malay which is pronounced in Malaysia. The Malayalam language is also pronounced in countries including the United Kingdom, Fiji, Bahrain, United Arab Emirates, Singapore, and of course Qatar.

Urdu language in Qatar

This language is a type of Hindustani language and it started from the eighth to the thirteenth hundred years affected by Arabic and Persian dialects. Both of these dialects have contributed a ton to the Urdu language concerning formal discourse and vocabulary.

Most of the Urdu-speaking people are based out in Pakistan. Many of them migrated to the Persian Gulf including Qatar for employment opportunities. These people not only have brought the Urdu language to Qatar but also their culture.

Sign Language of Qatar

The deaf community of Qatar use the Qatar Unified Sign Language. This sign language is also use in the natives to Qatar, which are part of the Arabic sign language family. The government recognised this sign language in 2001. The initiative was taken to create a common language that can unite the deaf community of Qatar with the other Middle Eastern countries. But it is not successful yet as a standard sign language is not established even yet.

Balochi Spoken in Qatar

People who have originated in Qatar from Southern Pakistan use to speak speak Balochi language. Most of the population from Pakistan have outspread Balochi language to Qatar other nearby areas such as Kuwait, Iran, Somalia, United Arab Emirates, and Saudi Arabia thus bringing the Balochi language to these nearby countries.

The Balochi language is categorized as – Southern Western, and Eastern Balochi. All of these groups have different dialects with distinguishing characteristics as well. The Balochi language people are having a population of about 37,000 in Qatar.

Pashto Language in Qatar

This language originates from the Iranian community and is also referred to as Afghani because it is the official language of Afghanistan. Pashto-speaking people also comes as guest worker in Qatar thus making the dialect popular here. You can easily find Pashto-speaking people in Qatar and other nearby countries such as the United States, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, Germany, Netherlands, Australia, Canada, Japan, and Russia.

Tagalog Spoken in Qatar

This language is spoken by the Filipino people group in Qatar. The vast majority of these individuals are either migrants or progenitors of the Philippines residing in Qatar. The population of Filipinos in Qatar is around 200,000 and they generally work as a domestic helper, in construction, or in travel industry. Moreover, the Filipinos here are believed to be the second-biggest community of guest workers in Qatar.

What other non-Arabic languages are spoken in Qatar?

Apart from Arabic and English, South Asian and Southeast Asian languages such as Bahasa, Baluchi, Indonesia, Hindi, Farsi, Malayalam, Sinhalese, Tagalog, Urdu, Nepali and more spoken in Qatar. These languages are used due to the majority of the immigrants from these regions.