This paper approaches the language practices of Area Studies from a postcolonial perspective. Taking the example of Arabic Studies at German and European universities, it critically discusses structures, economies and practices marginalizing academic knowledge in Arabic and presents a theoretical framework and practical interventions in order to decolonize academic Arabic abroad in teaching and research. More than forty years ago, Edward Said published his influential critique of Orientalism (1978) that fundamentally changed the field of Arabic Studies. One of his major concerns was the European Orient discourse that silenced the Arab ‘other’. This silencing has been – and still is – widely criticized as a Eurocentric way of provincializing ‘other’ traditions of knowledge production and marginalizing epistemic entanglements and thereby performing an act of academic imperialism. While many scholars of Arab Studies in German and European universities are in theory very aware of this set of problems, their academic practices often lack to incorporate such an awareness in regard to teaching and doing research. Likewise, students are learning to read and listen to Arabic, but only few efforts are made to foster speaking and writing Arabic for academic purposes. In addition, many academic studies show little interest to discuss Arabic studies seriously and at length. By marginalizing Arabic as modern academic language, European academia produces, as this paper argues, still its own ‘Orient’. Against this background, the paper outlines academic structures, economies and practices that marginalize Arabic knowledge production. Based on critical reflections by Abdelfattah Kilito, Walter Mignolo, Ngugi wa’Thiongo, Dipesh Chakrabarty, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak and Wolf Lepenies, the paper develops a postcolonial framework that takes into account the practices of regional epistemic languages in Area Studies abroad. In a second step, the paper presents some practical interventions from Arabic Studies in Germany and Europe to decolonize academic Arabic abroad and thereby invites also to reconsider the role of practices - and particular linguistic ‘practices’ - in postcolonial theory formation itself.