A couple of weeks ago, I went to visit my grandmother. We became immersed in our conversation, recounting our activities and endeavors in the past few weeks, as we haven’t really had a conversation for a long time.
Midway through our conversation, my Blackberry notified me of a message. My friend had replied to the message that I sent him earlier. I found it so funny and entertaining that I decided to share it with her. It was written in Arabic, but she couldn’t read it.
You might be wondering why she wasn’t able to read it. Oh, I forgot to mention, it was written in 3arabeezy (a new form of speaking which mostly consists of English, with a couple of Arabic words here and there, used in texting language with English alphabets and numbers). She’s fluent in Arabic but she wasn’t taught English.
Sheikh Zayed once said, “Whoever has no past has neither a present nor a future”. Let’s stop and think for a moment. Amidst all this mass development and the sophistication of our lives, our culture and heritage, in a way, has failed to maintain a strong presence. Who is to blame? The British? The Americans? No, us! Nobody but us. Yet, we dare to blame globalization. Countries such as Germany and Japan are far more globalized, but they still converse in their mother tongue.
We thought it was cool and “trendy” to converse amongst ourselves in 3arabeezy. It has resulted in nothing but the loss of language and heritage amongst its native speakers, the Arabs.
I’m not claiming perfection. I’m not claiming that I never converse or text in 3arabeezy, but the state that we are currently in worries me. How many of your younger siblings, nephews or cousins speak fluent Arabic even in the Emirati dialogue, without adding in English words to the sentence?
From travels to Germany and India, I noticed one thing; nearly every single citizen that I passed by and overheard spoke in their mother tongue amongst themselves. A nation’s culture will not be preserved by books and records, but rather by its members making an effort to preserve it. A nation’s culture and heritage will be preserved when its members take pride in it. And what better way to express your pride for your culture than by speaking in its mother tongue?
I know that it’s ironic of me to state this in English, but Arabic truly is a beautiful language. It has an extensive vocabulary; a word for every thing, emotion or category you can think of. Why disregard a language of such eloquence and articulacy?
As we move forward, we must ensure that our foundation is right. As we introduce newer dialects and forms of speaking and writing, we mast ensure that our basic foundations in that language are of an acceptable standard. Just as all fields of life, progress won’t be made, unless the foundations are strong.
In math, you wont be capable of solving simultaneous equations unless you excel in basic numerical problems, and you wont be able to balance chemical equations unless you have a competent understanding of the Periodic table for instance, just like the tall and majestic skyscrapers won’t be as majestic unless their foundations are properly put in place.
Well said!
You're article is spot on. We should worry about the younger generation. I thi k a lot of people are realising it too. Now, even the schools, universities and government entities are focusing on the Arabic language, This is our mother togue. One should not treat it with importance.
yep! one thing im guilty of and try to stop myself from doing. It has become a default habit which i find embarrasing at times. That said, for me, its not a show off thing, as most people think as well. Its just a bad habit that needs to be kicked as it affects the sustainability of your grammer.
I resisted the temptation to respond in "3arabeezy" as you called it.
I like how you associated the use of such form of writing with identity and language.
Some may easily argue that writing in 3arabeezy is still in Arabic, it is just the form of writing Arabic.
However, I personally believe that the reason why mostly write in this way is because it gives a perfect segway to shift to writing in English instead, which reflects the way many of us speak.
I don't believe the Arabic language will be lost, but I agree with the fact that it is part of our identity and it is our resposibility to express in such language -at least in our accent/dialect.
Thankss for the great read
wonderful piece and indeed a phenomenon witnessed by myself as well as all around me .. I agree with you entirely on all accounts especially the part of building a strong foundation. The language of the Quran is one that is indeed powerful and was used historically by other nations as well since it was revered and had value as was portrayed by its speakers.
However, I disagree that the reason we choose to converse in "3arabeezee" is because its "cool and trendy". i believe the reasons we choose to converse that way are multifactorial.
First, its an incentives game. Everything around us including forms of wordly success are very much dependent on the English language. Hence, English is incentivized to be used by all since it yields rewards.
Second, the speakers of the language have not caught up with the rest of the world in creativity as well as ingenuity to make the language stand out and be the language of choice for our youth as well as adults. There is now a lot of progress in the field.
and many many more
thanks for a great read !
“3arabeezy: http://t.co/ymqgBPdmjI by: @OmarBinM7md”. Thoughtful!
Alanoud:Thank you. I agree with you, as to how the way we write is a reflection of how we now speak, but coming from a 15 year old, more and more people from my generation and age group sleep in or skip Arabic class because they deem it unnecessary, and in their opinions, it is boring and uncool.
Mohammed: Thanks a lot. I agree with you as well, this is a very diverse topic. But once again, my statements in my article were based on the people around me, teenagers.
Thank you all for your support!!
Reading your thoughts has reminded me of a couple of recent articles in the newspaper:
http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation…
http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/books/uaes…
The evolution of language is fascinating, and is a phenomena world-wide. Languages become extinct, morph and absorb others all the time. Is this something that should be avoided or accepted? Is it something that CAN be stopped??
I believe language is, as you say, a way to show pride in your culture but I am also mindful of the dynamic nature of language – it is always changing….every language does.