How did Daniel learn to write in Aramaic?
Daniel learned Aramaic after being taken captive to Babylon as a young Hebrew teenager. King Nebuchadnezzar had him and other sharp young Jewish men instructed to prepare for government service, and during that training in Babylon he acquired the Aramaic language, just as a youth immersed in Russia would learn Russian.
Les explains that scoffers use Daniel’s Aramaic as an argument that an imposter wrote the book later, but he treats it instead as a point of inspirational truth. Daniel was a young Hebrew lad brought captive to Babylon, probably an early teenager. Under the king’s instruction, Daniel and other sharp young Jewish men were prepared for service in his government, and in that setting Daniel learned the Aramaic language. Les compares this to taking a teenager today and sending him to Russia; after five or ten years living among Russian teenagers, he would certainly learn Russian. Daniel already knew Hebrew, but in Babylon it was natural for him to write in Aramaic. This also fits the prophecy’s focus on Gentile empires in their contact with Israel.