Opportunities and Challenges in Preserving Languages

Preserving a language is more than just protecting it from dying, it’s to protect every cultural aspect this language represents in a way or another.

Artwork by Dana AlAttar (twitter: @DanaAlAttar, Instagram: @madewithlove.dxb)

Each language is an exclusive window in the universe; therefore, if a language becomes extinct or dies, a captivating way of thinking dies with it. Language is the means through which religion and traditions are passed down, thus becoming the essence of culture. That is why it’s crucial to protect and preserve one’s language, especially amidst a rise in the dominance of several global languages.
Reality is sometimes harsh, but the unfortunate truth is that the Arabic language is facing vast confronts today. The English language has become the dominant language, and this affected a lot of Arab speakers. Realizing this threat, the government of the UAE took some careful steps to preserve Arabic, stress on its prominence, and reinstate its position as the official language (Kseroof, 2016). Therefore, the UAE has initiated a number of initiatives to preserve and save the Arabic language. The international Arabic language conference in 2012 aimed to enrich the prominence and position of the Arabic language. The conference is part of the UAE’s 2021 vision, which strives to make the UAE a center of excellence for the Arabic language (Barakat, 2013). Furthermore, to encourage preservation of the Arabic language, Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation and the Ministry of Education launched a competition. The competition, named Qesaty, encouraged secondary and primary school students to write journals and stories in Arabic.
There are plenty of remaining challenges about preserving the Arabic language; therefore, the dominance of the English language has affected our Arabic language in many ways. By way of example, most of the sectors here in the UAE use English as a communication language, not only by speaking to each other but also by presenting their work or even sending an email to their employees. With a large population of multinational employees working here, this has also affected preserving the Arabic language significantly, in my opinion. Besides, with the openness and development of globalization, when people come to hire, the first thing they get asked about is what languages do they speak. In fact, companies nowadays get to employ folks who speak mostly English, as it’s highly shared between people and has the highest priority. Thus, some get forced to learn English rather than Arabic under certain circumstances to cope with the environment of the work. Concerning this, there is adequately creative solutions that can be applied such as, having companies encouraging employees to speak Arabic frequently in the workplace, and use Arabic memos among everyone slightly more than English for the sake of maintaining their language. Additionally, unify all schools, including public schools, and show the decision to make Arabic as the groundwork. Try coaxing people to contribute to awareness campaigns at the state level on the importance of the Arabic language, and how to attract people toward it.
In our point of view, language diversity contributed in developing our mind and way of thinking. It also helped us communicate with people from all over the globe, especially those who are living in the UAE. Moreover, we think that language diversity could somehow have a negative impact on our original language because nowadays most of the people around us use the English language while talking. But thankfully, regardless of the huge effect of foreign languages on the Arabic language, I am sure that it will never get extinct. First, because it is the language of the Holly Islamic book the “Quran” and in one of its verses, God asserted protecting the holy Quran, which assures us of its continuity and perseverance across time. Secondly, we are contributing in preserving the Arabic language since it is the language we use to communicate with our families and friends, and hopefully our future generations. Additionally, we think that most of the Arabs, and especially Emiratis communicate with each other using the Arabic language even if it’s in a different dialect. Our language is a vital part of us; it is a part of our identity, our culture, and our religion. Thus, we care about preserving it as well as developing it.
In conclusion, one’s language is critical and needs care, so we recommend protecting a certain language by continuously raising children to preserve their language and use it. According to Michael Zimmerman (2016), losing a language will make us lose the worldview, culture, and knowledge of those who spoke it, establishing a loss to all humanity. All around the world people live with their natural environment, their habitat, so when the language that they are originally speaking in becomes vanished the rest of humanity loses their acquaintance of that environment.
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This article was written by Zayed University (Abu Dhabi) students, as part of their course: “Global Awareness” with Mr. Nasser Al Falasi. The students who wrote this article are: