UAE | Heritage and Culture

Arabic key to national identity

According to official statistics about 1.8 million of the population are Indians, and about one million are Pakistanis. "Both nationalities use Urdu to connect, while English is the connection between them and Arabic speakers.

  • By Eman Mohammed, Abu Dhabi Deputy Editor
  • Published: 00:15 April 17, 2008
  • Gulf News

Abu Dhabi: The Arabic language is the third language in the UAE, said an official.

Bilal Al Bodour, Assistant Undersecretary at the Ministry of Culture, said, "Because a large number of expatriates do not speak Arabic our national language is under threat."

According to official statistics about 1.8 million of the population are Indians, and about one million are Pakistanis. "Both nationalities use Urdu to connect, while English is the connection between them and Arabic speakers." He said the use of English in daily life has weakened Arabic.

Media

Meanwhile, the Director General of the National Media Council said the level of freedom of the press is high in the UAE, but if there is a self-censorship by newspapers, "we can't change that unless journalists have the courage to cross what they think is banned."

Ebrahim Al Abed, who spoke to Gulf News on the sidelines of the National Identity Conference, stressed there is no official ban on writing on issues such as labour protests, citizenship, people without papers to prove their identity and rights of Emirati women married to non-Emiratis. "The level of freedom of the press is high but if there is self-censorship among newspapers, we can't change that unless journalists have the courage to cross what they think is banned. We are working on training media to be more dairing," he said.

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