Dubai: Growing up in an Iraqi-Lebanese household in the UAE, Waleed Ali spoke both Arabic and English, with an emphasis on the latter after he was enrolled at an international school. Now 32, Ali says his background and education led him to become more fluent and confident in the English language, which he refers to as his 'mother tongue'.
Ali's story is not unique. Across the UAE, particularly in more multi-cultural environments such as Dubai, Arabic is taking a backseat to the emerging lingua franca - English.
"Growing up here we had around fifty different nationalities at school, so everyone communicated in English. At home my father mostly spoke in English, as he wasn't brought up in Iraq either," he told Gulf News. While he fully understands when others converse in Arabic, Ali says he is more fluent in English and thinks entirely in the language.
Like Ali, 26-year-old Samar Samir from Lebanon, was brought up in an international setting, which she attributes as the reason for her reliance on English. While Arabic is her mother tongue, Samar communicates almost entirely in English and speaks to her husband, a fellow-Arab, predominantly in English.
However, the question of language in Samar's household is becoming more of an issue with the impending birth of her first child.
"We are having to really think about how we are going to teach her Arabic. Some of our friends who are in the same situation say that they had to really make a conscious effort to try to speak in Arabic at home so that the children would be exposed to their language."
This is a quandary that Ashraf Al Hashimi is already dealing with. The mechanical engineer and father of three from Dubai said: "Our children go to an international school and tend to communicate in English, but Arabic is still their mother tongue and we try to encourage them to speak it.
"I am afraid that slowly they will forget their language because they are exposed much more to English."
The effect of the education system is a recurrent theme amongst those more confident in English, including 24-year-old Emirati Sara Al Mulla, who attended an international school in Dubai. "Ultimately it also depends who you socialise with. I tend to speak Arabic to older people, while I talk to my friends in English," she said.
