Abu Dhabi residents prefer Arabic to English in creativity and cultural pursuits

The findings are based on overall quarterly results from studies conducted over the past 12 months (from mid-2021 to end-June 2022), with a total of 6,087 participants from the emirate’s population aged 18 and over. The initiative supports the ALC’s vision of ensuring Arabic leadership in knowledge, culture and creativity, and its mission to advance and modernize the language by supporting authors, translation and publishing.

The survey results were then analysed to yield a number of indicators, mainly including the Perception Index of Arabic as a Language of Knowledge, Culture and Creativity, where the Knowledge Pillar includes attributes related to the language of learning and its use in research and science. The Creativity Pillar describes the link between language and cultural heritage; the Creativity Pillar deals with the aesthetic elements of language and the extent to which they are used in creative content.

The index is calculated based on respondents’ ratings of their perceptions of Arabic based on attributes related to the pillars of knowledge, culture and creativity. Therefore, the index results show that Arabic has an advantage over English in the cultural and creative fields, while English is considered to be the leader in terms of knowledge.

“When comparing the general proficiency of the Abu Dhabi population towards Arabic and English, it is clear that the two languages ​​are almost equal due to Abu Dhabi’s inclusive demographic composition and the frequent use of both languages ​​within the Emirati community. Therefore, the two languages It is only natural that the two languages ​​have similar general perceptions,” said Dr Ali bin Tamim, President of the ALC.

“The difference is in the composition of the index, which has a deeper value when looked at at the individual level of culture, creativity and knowledge. In this regard, Arabic ranks high in the culture and creativity index, while English has a relative relative value in the knowledge index. advantage,” he explained.

The ALC study also measured the understanding and use of simple Arabic among non-Arabic speakers in Abu Dhabi, which was 26.7% during the survey period.

“These results represent an important foundation that will allow us to launch our strategic plan for non-Arabic speakers, the ‘We Speak Arabic’ initiative, launched earlier this year to promote easy-to-learn Arabic language provides vocabulary to non-Arabic speakers of all ages through digital content. Since launching the program earlier this year, the index score has increased by 3.4 decimal points, expressed by 64% of non-Arabic speakers living in Abu Dhabi desire to learn Arabic,” said Dr bin Tamim.

As such, the ALC is particularly concerned with promoting Arabic and supporting its use as a language of science, culture and creativity both locally and internationally by promoting Arabic content creation, spearheading the adoption of digital technologies and encouraging scientific research. Further develop the language.

It has launched a series of strategic initiatives, including the Kalima Translation Project, which aims to reinvigorate the translation movement and provide Arab readers with the treasures of the world’s literature.

The ALC has also launched the first-ever grants program for research in the field of Arabic to advance scientific research and support research into Arabic heritage. In addition, it launched an Arab peer-reviewed journal called Al Markaz: The Journal of Arab Studies in partnership with Brill Publishing.