Thursday, March 28, 2024 | Ramadan 17, 1445 H
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EDITOR IN CHIEF- ABDULLAH BIN SALIM AL SHUEILI

With languages, you’re home anywhere

Abdulaziz-Al-Jahdhami
Abdulaziz-Al-Jahdhami
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Today, globalisation and communication have brought the world closer. Smarter and faster communication links have made the world a virtual global village. Accordingly, there is an urgent need for global citizens to be competent in other languages that help them easily communicate with people from other nations. Just remember that knowledge of languages is the doorway to wisdom.


Learning a foreign language involves several difficulties, of course. The journey to multilingualism feels like a never-ending road trip with countless dead ends.


Learners should master sounds or phonemes that make the language and understand how to arrange words (syntax) to make meaningful utterances. They also must acquire new vocabularies from the new language as well as practise them.


However, this would not be possible without learners communicating with people from the culture itself and understand the culture.


With these difficulties and more, why is learning another language significant? The world now demands nations and people to be more dependent on one another in various spheres of life.


Besides, most of us agree it pays to be bilingual. Each language marks the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going. Learning a language gives the learner the ability to approach the mind and context of other cultures.


People need each other for our day-to-day life necessities, including exchange of ideas and services, ensuring international security and understanding other cultures, besides many other areas of mutual interest.


Therefore, lack of intercultural relations can lead to mistrust and misunderstanding, which could obstruct common co-operation between nations and individuals.


Intercultural understanding begins with individuals who have language abilities and who can reflect one’s own nation, culture or traditions to other cultures. Every nation needs such individuals to preserve the global community.


A competent person in other languages can bridge the gap between cultures, promote national security and world peace, and successfully connect the world.


As Nelson Mandela had stated, “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.”


A case in point is Arabic, which with its different dialects, is one of the most popular languages across the world. It is a language with a rich history and is spoken by almost 1.5 billion people worldwide and in UNESCO’s 22 member states, Arabic is the official language.


In addition to its native speakers, millions of other people know Arabic as a foreign language since it is the language of the Holy Quran. Among those enthusiasts in learning Arabic are expatriates from different countries who live in the Sultanate.


Being a historical language, Arabic has had an enormous influence on people all over the world as a majority of countries officially use the Arabic numerical system.


Furthermore, Arabic language is a key source of vocabulary for many other languages such as Portuguese, Spanish, English, French, Swahili and Uzbek.


It’s becoming the widely spoken language across the globe.


In honour of the language, December 18 is being celebrated every year as the World Arabic Language Day, which was designated by the UNESCO in 2010. The date signifies the day in 1973 when Arabic became the sixth official language of the United Nations.


The day recognises and acknowledges the contribution of the language in cementing ties between different cultures and developing science, medicine, mathematics and literature through the ages.


Learn a different language to have a different vision of life. Every new word is a milestone in your journey to mastering another language.


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