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Contacts between speakers of different languages are a common occurrence, although depending on the efficiency of means of transport and communication they have been of varying intensity throughout history. The nature of the consequences of such contacts can be positive and negative for the languages, while the superior or inferior status of languages in contact determines which of them will suffer one or the other type of consequences. Only the languages of strong communities can overcome the negative aspects of interlanguage contacts. In different historical periods, the Arabic language has been in contact with other languages, has influenced but has also been influenced by some of them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]