Languages of Egypt Languages of Egypt There are a number of languages spoken in Egypt, but Egyptian Arabic or "Masry" which literally means "Egyptian", is by far the most widely spoken in the country. The official language of Egypt is Modern Standard Arabic. Arabic came to Egypt in the 7th century, and Egyptian Arabic has become the modern spoken language of the Egyptians, is understood by almost all Egyptians and is based on Egyptian Coptic grammar. In southern Egypt, Saidi Arabic is the main spoken language for most non-urbanized people. Of the many varieties of Arabic, Egyptian Arabic is the most widely understood
Turks in Egypt Turkish descendants in Egypt. This is because Egypt's official censuses do not allow its citizens to declare their ethnic origin, language, or religion. An estimate from 1971 suggested that the population of Cretan Turks alone numbered 100,000 in Egypt. According to an article by Gamal Nkrumah in the Egyptian Al-Ahram Weekly, estimates regarding the population of the Turkish minority vary considerably, ranging from 100,000 to 1,500,000. In 1993 the Turkish scholar Prof. Dr. Metin Akar claimed that there was 1.5 million Turks living in Egypt. Some Turkish scholars have suggested considerably higher estimates. For example, in 2016, the Turkish journalist