Take steps to promote Arabic: Moza

QNA/Doha

Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser expressing her condolences to the families of the Villaggio mall fire victims. “May Allah bless their souls and may they rest in peace,” she said while speaking at the opening of a special forum on the strengthening of the Arabic language. PICTURE: A R Al-Baker / HHOPL

HH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, the Chairperson of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF), yesterday underlined the challenges facing the Arabic language. She was speaking at the inauguration of a forum on the advancement of the Arabic language, held under her patronage at the Qatar National Convention Centre in Doha.  HH Sheikha Moza said efforts should be made to overcome them and advance the language. She said the revival of Arabic language is inseparable from a nation’s revival as it is synonymous with the whole Arab world, which should be free in thought, economically strong, and politically independent. Sheikha Moza referred to the limited budgets to fund scientific research programmes in Arabic which do not reach 0.2%, in comparison with the 2% minimum in developed countries, and said that the expression of political commitment towards supporting the Arab language is insufficient on its own. She called on the researchers and others attending the forum to identify ideas and ways to strengthen Arabic and make it a more lively and relevant language - not just a language of books but also a language of laboratories, plants, science, and research which is capable of keeping abreast of higher education needs in a knowledge-oriented society. She expressed regret for the absence of Arabic language from the field of scientific research in the Arab world, which is witnessing a phase of weakness in writing, publishing and translation. Sheikha Moza said describing Arabic language as old-fashioned is not fair “as if Arabic language functions on its own regardless of our purposes and actions.” She said it is the people don’t keep pace and are old-fashioned. She highlighted the need to work on strengthening the Arabic language and bring it back to what it used to be hundreds of years ago; the language of science, literature and culture. Sheikha Moza stressed the role of educated youth in strengthening the language - they believe in their identity and in improving Arab advancement, which subsequently leads to promoting the language. She pointed to the enthusiasm that everyone shared when young people in capitals around the Arab world used standard Arabic as one of the tools for the Arab Spring. She added that launching the Forum on the Advancement of Arabic Language stemmed from her own passion for the language and hoped participants would use their expertise and knowledge to find approaches to contribute to reviving Arabic language and come up with proposals for strategic projects and long-term plans to achieve this. HH Sheikha Moza stressed her keenness on achieving the goal of advancing the Arabic language, warning that any negligence towards it would mean neglecting the Arab nation.The event was attended by a number sheikhs, ministers, and participants, including heads of Arabic language academies from Arab countries, university professors, in addition to experts in language, media and translation. Referring to the recent decree issued by the Supreme Education Council (SEC) stating that Arabic should be the official teaching language of Qatar University, Sheikha Moza stressed the importance of the Arabic language in reinforcing national identity. She encouraged the university to continue to work on advancing the students’ skills in English by offering various programmes for this purpose, and noted that English proficiency should be mandatory upon graduation rather than upon admission.Later, she inaugurated an Arabic calligraphy exhibition titled “Azf al-Harf” (Tunes by Characters) held on the sidelines of the forum. Sheikha Moza examined works at the exhibition which aims to spread visual culture through calligraphy and its accompanying unique decorations as well as the artistic expressions.  A number of international calligraphers are participating in the exhibition. They include Ahmed Faris (Egypt), Ayten Teryaki and Badi’aa al-Assali (Turkey), Bzar Haj Karim (Germany), Sabah al-Arbeely (UK), Abeeda al-Banki (Syria), Ali al-Bidah (Kuwait) and Ali Hassan (Qatar). The exhibition is an extension of the Arabic calligraphy revival in Qatar, following the “Mus’haf Qatar” contest held under the patronage of HH the Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani, which featured 122 calligraphers. The forum is part of Sheikha Moza’s initiative in recognition of the challenges facing the Arabic language and its future and her keenness to support all that assert Arab identity and affiliation. Furthermore, it aims to identify the current state of linguistic, scientific, Arab, Islamic, and international academies in addition to their achievements, the challenges they face and means to overcome them. In such a way, the forum explores their future, works on the exchange of expertise and experiences between specialists, youth, experts in linguistic technicalities, and those involved in supporting and developing the language while activating their role. It also seeks to study the development of the Arabic language into a language for sciences. Additionally, the forum looks into the investigation and creation of upcoming changes that go hand in hand with the developments, the expansion of the digital representation of the Arabic language, and the activation of information technology mechanisms to enrich scientific research in benefit of Arabic language.Moza expresses condolencesHH Sheikha Moza bint Nasser yesterday expressed her condolences to the families of the victims of a fire at Villaggio mall. She was speaking at the inauguration of a forum on the advancement of the Arabic language, held at the Qatar National Convention Centre in Doha.