Dubai: Anxiety and panic immediately kick in when her boss asks her to type an email in Arabic.
Ayah Mohammad is not a foreigner working in the UAE. She is one of the many Arabs who feels more comfortable communicating in English rather than in Arabic after graduating from private schools in the country.
According to the Arab Youth Survey 2015 that was released in Dubai recently, 36 per cent of young Arabs use English as a language communication tool instead of Arabic on a daily basis.
The phenomenon is particularly prevalent in the GCC where 56 per cent its youth say they use English more than Arabic, versus 24 per cent in non-GCC countries.
As a result, two in three (63 per cent) are concerned about the declining use of Arabic with a fairly even split between GCC (61 per cent) and non-GCC (65 per cent).
Who or what is responsible for this situation? Fingers are often pointed at private schools and universities for not enabling the dissemination of Arabic with the same fervour as is done for the English language. This is because most private schools, especially those that follow international curricula, teach all the subjects in English while devoting only two classes per week to Arabic.
The Knowledge and Human Development Authority (KHDA) inspections in 2013-2014 found that almost three-quarters of schools had shortcomings in Arabic as a first and additional language due to old teaching methods
The report read: “Approaches to teaching and learning in Arabic were too often repetitive and did not motivate or engage students.”
Arab youth who graduated from private schools and universities shared their concerns on the matter, saying that having poor Arabic communication skills not only affects their identity as Arabs, it also has a negative effect on day to day tasks at work and, in some cases, can determine whether they get hired or not.
However, youth interviewed by Gulf News said knowing Arabic at work is just as important as English.
“I get anxious and even angry when I have to answer an email in Arabic,” said Ayah, a Lebanese who graduated from the International School of Choueifat Sharjah. “It takes me 30 minutes to write two sentences an,d after I write it, I have to get it checked.”
Ayah said she did not get a proper Arabic foundation at her school, which mainly focused on English, and so she is not confident about her Arabic language skills.
She said she found the Arabic language unappealing in school because her Arabic teachers were only concerned about teaching the complicated grammar which she believes would have little use in day-to-day life. By doing so, they had neglected to teach the basic use of Arabic in communication.
Ayah, who now works as the head of HR at her father’s business, said the same was true in university where she only had to take one Arabic course throughout her four-year degree.
Egyptian Mirna Kamel, who works in the marketing industry and graduated from Queen International Private School in Dubai, has a different view. She believes private schools gave her the background in the Arabic language she needed but it was all forgotten due to the lack of practice at university. “I think my school did a good job,” she says. “That is why I have a background in Arabic. I can read and write it but university created a big gap because I only took [Arabic] once throughout the four years and it wasn’t given any importance.”
As a result, Mirna said she is more comfortable speaking in English and she can express herself clearer and better in it.
“When it comes to reading and writing Arabic, it is not easy for me,” she says. “I always have to refer to Google translate and I have to actually look at the keyboard to remind myself where the letters are.”
Mirna said she had a tough time at the beginning of her job but her speed improved in Arabic typing with practice, adding that she believes Arab youth do not practise and nurture their language enough.
“Most jobs require Arabic-speaking skills. I have friends who did not get hired in jobs because they could not communicate in Arabic,”
Emirati Hamda Khalid, who graduated from Shaikha Latifa Private School, also says she is more confident using English over Arabic.
“I can express myself easily in English but when I talk Arabic, I have to really think to make sure that I am pronouncing the words right and using them at the right time.”
Hamda fears that she is losing her identity by “neglecting my own language”.
“I think globalisation also has a role [to play] in this,” said Hamda. “We have to know English to communicate with people from all nationalities and if you go to a public school, you wouldn’t be able to do that. I think you have to choose one language over the other — and this is the problem.”
Hamda is not the only one who fears that her language is losing its significance. As the Arab Youth survey found, youth in the GCC believe the Arabic language is losing its significance — 54 per cent of them believe this, while 43 per cent in non-GCC countries feel the same way about Arabic.
Overall, two in three (63 per cent) youth in the region are concerned about the declining use of Arabic.