Question

I've been reading a book about tajweed, the book describes the soft and hard palate of the mouth.  Does that mean soft Arabic letters are read using the soft palate and hard letters with the hard palate?

Answer

The soft palate and hard palate are two anatomical positions in the roof of the mouth.  The hard palate is the area closest to the teeth.  If you run your tongue along the roof of your mouth you will feel an area hard like a bone, that is the hard palate.  If you let your tongue run further back, you will find the area in the roof of the mouth is no longer hard, but soft, this is the soft palate.  The letters pronounced from these areas can be both “hard” and “soft” as far as their characteristics, and there is no correlation between letters that have “softness” or “hardness” in characteristics and the hard and soft palate as far as articulation.