Egypt has 11 listed languages but only two are really unique:
Arabic:
Arabic is a Semitic language of the Arabo-Cananite group. Arabic is
the official language in Egypt. All official and legal documents must (and
are) written in modern standard Arabic. By law also all banners and signs
must (but not always are) be written primarily in Arabic. Arabic is also
the only language of instruction in schools and in art majors in universities.
Arabic is the language of day to day communication and mass media. The
prominence of Arabic in Egypt puts a major strain on all other languages
in Egypt pushing some into extinction. For more on Arabic and the dialects
spoken in Egypt check my Arabic language page.
Coptic:
Coptic is an Afro-Asiatic language but it's not Semitic. That means
it's close to Arabic but not very close. Coptic is a descendent of the
ancient Egyptian language but it has mixed with Greek so much that it resembles
ancient Egyptian very little. Coptic is not a living language, in common
use it is extince. It is, however, the language of liturgy in the Coptic
church and although much of the normal service is now in Arabic large portions
are still in Coptic. The mass on Easter and the service on Coptic Christmans
are mostly held in Coptic language, with Arabic interpreters breaking in
(since no one speaks Coptic outside the clergy), yet the sermon by the
pope of Alexandria is in Arabic. Coptic is preserved both in universities
where it is studied with zeal as a component of Egypt's character and by
the church which considers it a holy scripture. In it's modern form Coptic
has dropped almost all the guttural voices of ancient Egyptian and adopted
a Hellenic voice system and a Greek-based writing system.