Arabic (لعربية) is a Semitic language, like Aramaic, Hebrew, Akkadian, Maltese, and other similar languages. It is the only official language in twenty countries, and co-official in at least another six, as well as one of the 6 official languages of the United Nations. Both the standard variety and the numerous local varieties, usually called dialects, are called "Arabic language", although they are sometimes so different as to be mutually incomprehensible. The name of this language in the Arabic language itself is al-`arabiyya (the Arabic [language]), although in most dialects it is called `arabī (in the masculine gender). Arabic uses its own writing system that is written from right to left, joining the letters together, so that each letter can have up to four forms, depending on whether it is written alone, at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of the word.