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I don't like Arabic!

2022-12-19T22:06:54.141Z


While I was attending the Beirut International Women’s Film Festival a few months ago in Lebanon, one day I needed technical help with my computer, so I sent a text message to a young specialist explaining my problem, and he answered me in writing: “Don't worry ma7loule ce soir b5alesa.”


"We meet"

I don't like Arabic!

Dr..

Parvin Habib

December 20, 2022

While attending the Beirut International Women's Film Festival a few months ago in Lebanon, one day I needed technical assistance with my computer, so I sent a text message to a young specialist explaining my problem, and he answered me in writing: “Don't worry ma7loule ce soir b5alesa.”

And I sought the help of a friend who decompiled this Da Vinci code for me and translated it into: “Don't worry, the matter is solved this evening. I will finish it.”

I wandered in my mind how a country that produced for us Arabic dictionaries such as “Al-Munajjid” by Louis Maalouf and “Moheet Al-Moheet” by Boutros Al-Bustani, and stars of literature such as Gibran, Michael Naima and Al-Akhtal Al-Saghir, knew that a young man would answer me with this sentence - The Metamorphosis: a mixture of pronunciation between English, French and slang, and a mixture of pronunciation In writing between Latin letters and numbers.

I remembered this incident, and a stream of publications reached me about the International Day of the Arabic Language, glorifying and singing the exploits of this poetic language, as Akkad once called it.

I wondered if we were making enough effort to bridge the gap between our language and the likes of that Lebanese youth.

I have no problem writing in a foreign language if a person is fluent in it, and if I am better, I am keen to write in Arabic, even if it is colloquial, if I am addressing someone who speaks it.

But what is the justification for using these hieroglyphs and numbers substituted for letters in our correspondence as long as mobile phones, computers and the Internet support Arabic writing?!

At a time when the Arabic language is gaining more global recognition of its status, not least of which is the adoption of the International Federation of Football Associations (FIFA) for it as an official language at the beginning of this year, we find that it is losing a lot and witnessing a frightening decline among our youth. shovels undermining the throne of Arabia.

I understand the desire of young people to know English, as it is now the language of technology and modern civilization, and those who are ignorant of it are almost considered illiterate in our time. I do not say that it will die out as long as the call to prayer is raised and prayers are performed in it, but I am afraid that it will turn into a language of religious rituals only, such as Aramaic and Latin, and it will die clinically in the tongues of its speakers.

so, what is the solution?

There is no magical solution to a phenomenon that has exacerbated since the mid-nineties with the spread of the Internet and the language of conversation “chat”, but we can build on some successful experiences and circulate them, such as the “Arab Reading Challenge” initiative launched by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, to encourage reading among students in the world Al-Arabi, with its amazing numbers this year, in which more than 22 million contestants participated, is a model that those in charge of the Arabic language should reproduce in other formats, so that a generation will grow up with more than Sham Al-Bakour and Muhammad Farah Jalloud.

Getting close to the youth, understanding them, and planting the seed of pride in his language while moving away from outdated indoctrination methods, and bringing the Arabic language into the heart of his interests in non-traditional ways is the only way to restore his interest and pride in this basic pillar of his identity and belonging, so that we do not find another young man who says:

«ma a7ib al 3arabiya».

There is no magic solution to a phenomenon that has worsened since the mid-nineties with the spread of the Internet and the language of "chat", but we can build on some successful experiences and generalize them, such as the "Arab Reading Challenge" initiative.

@DrParweenHabib1

To read the previous articles of the writer please click on its name.  

Source: emara

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