AMMAN — On December 18, 1973, the
UN General Assembly resolution 3190 decided to include Arabic as an official and working language of the General Assembly, and its main committees approved of this decision. In 2010, the same calendar day was selected as the “The World Arabic Language Day”, fully
approved by
UNESCO, this year marked under the theme “Arabic Language and
Civilized Communication”.
اضافة اعلان
Arabic is spoken in the Middle East, Africa, Europe,
as well as in both North and South America. It is one of the most spoken
languages in the world, and is considered as one of the oldest languages known
to mankind. Today, it has a strong presence on social media platforms, and it
is still ubiquitously taught and learned in schools globally, including in
Western universities; many of which offer Arabic as an accredited course.
On this day, as the world celebrates Arabic, member
of Jordan Academy of Arabic, and professor of Theoretical Physics at the
University of Jordan Humam Ghassib told
Jordan News that
as long as Islam prevails in the world, the Arabic language will always be
alive. “I estimate that there are more than 400 million people in the world
speaking Arabic today, because, apart from the Arab world; the cradle of Arabic,
wherever nations follow Islam, the Arabic language is generally spoken.”
Ghassib said that most official statistics
available show that Arabic is, at best, the fourth fastest growing language in
the world, and at worst, the fifth fastest growing language. “I haven’t seen
any source of data placing the Arabic language outside the top five of the most
spoken languages in the world.”
According to Ghassib, the Arabic language was for
many centuries the ‘the lingua franca’ of science and knowledge. Any
intellectual renaissance is usually built on an emphasis on language, which
signifies the importance of language as a civilizational tool. “Arabic is the main unifier that binds the
Arab nation. I am not worried at all that the Arabic language would decline in
the way that some say the Latin language has declined.”
Arabic calligraphy has also been officially
recognized by UNESCO as an integral part of the “cultural heritage of
humanity”, Ghassib added, while highlighting that Arabic is still a pivotal
language when it comes to studying the history of science, particularly astronomy
“as we cannot ignore the influence of Arabic astronomers in this field.”
Ghassib also made reference to the International
Year of Light, launched in 2015, which was a celebration of the publication of
Ibn Al-Haitham’s ‘magnum opus’ (Kitabul Manathir).
Social media and globalization is a
“blessing,” in Ghassib’s view, because it can be a stupendously a beneficial
tool in spreading the Arabic language to all parts of the world. While acknowledging
the pervasiveness of colloquial or informal Arabic on social media websites, Ghassib
said these platforms still present an undisputable opportunity for formal
Arabic to digitally thrive, “not just through commercial means, but also
through intellectual means.”
Jordanian author Ramzi Ghazwi recommends that
parents celebrate World Arabic Language day by “encouraging their children to
read Arabic books, as well as speak Arabic in the household and in school
during this day.”
Ghazwi also noted that in the future, Arabs
need to distance themselves from the false assumption, common among many in the
Middle East, “that those who speak English fluently are by definition more cultured
and educated than others who only speak fluent Arabic.”
“Of course I am not discouraging people to
learn other languages besides Arabic. But, I also encourage Arabic speakers to
change their names on their social media profiles to Arabic, rather than
English,” Ghazwi said.
Based on his experience with teaching Arabic
to non-native speakers, Ghazwi noticed that many learners are very enthusiastic
about Arabic. However, in regards to the youth of the Arab World, he prefers to
remain optimistic, despite the challenges of globalization, adding that youth
must be proud of their native tongue, just like other nations are proud of
their heritage and language.
Ghazwi quoted the UN Secretary General
Antònio Guterres during his speech in celebration of the Arabic language Day, saying that
“Arabic was once the language that connected the entire world, the way English
does today. This was especially true during the Islamic Golden Age.”
The majority of
Arabic speaking countries are located in the Arabian peninsula, the Middle
East, and North Africa, but there are around 25 countries where Arabic is the
official language.
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