Of the many varieties of Arabic, Egyptian Arabic is the most widely understood first dialect in the Middle East-North Africa, probably due to the influence of Egyptian cinema and music industry throughout the Arabic-speaking world.

In southern Egypt, Saidi Arabic is the main spoken language for most people.

In the far-Southern Upper Nile Valley, around Kom Ombo and Aswan, there are about 300,000 speakers of Nubian languages, mainly Nobiin, but also Kenuzi.

[16] Beja is spoken in the Eastern desert and along the southern Red Sea coast, including the disputed Halaib Triangle.

[21] French became the primary foreign language in media during the rule of Ibrahim Pasha.

[25] Due to social and political reasons, the role of French in Egypt began to decline in the 1920s.

[21] Two French-language newspapers are still published in Egypt: Al-Ahram Hebdo and Le Progrès Egyptien.

The "Koiné" dialect of the Greek language was important in Hellenistic Alexandria, and was used in the philosophy and science of that culture, and was also studied by later Arabic scholars.