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ABU DHABI, 27th September, 2022 (WAM) — The Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre (ALC), part of the Abu Dhabi Department of Culture and Tourism (DCT Abu Dhabi), has announced the results of a study assessing awareness of the Arabic language Language in the fields of knowledge, culture and creativity, and the level of language use by native and non-native speakers in traditional and digital media, as part of the Centre’s comprehensive research programme aimed at assessing and tracking the state of Arabic across the Emirate of Abu Dhabi .
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 general population of Abu Dhabi aged 18 years and older. The initiative supports the ALC’s vision to ensure Arabic leadership in knowledge, culture and creativity, as well as its mission to advance and modernize the language, and supports authors, translations and publications.
The findings were 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 learning the language and its use in research and science; the Creativity Pillar The links between language and cultural heritage are described; the creative 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. The collected data was analyzed to determine the correlation of each attribute with its respective pillar; the scores were aggregated to arrive at an index value for each pillar and the population level. Correspondingly, the index results show that Arabic has an advantage over English in cultural and creative fields, while English is relatively ahead in terms of knowledge.
Commenting on the results, Dr Ali bin Tamim, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Arabic Centre, said: “When comparing the general proficiency of Abu Dhabi’s population towards Arabic and English, it is clear that the two languages are almost identical, due to the inclusiveness of Abu Dhabi. Demographic composition, and the frequent use of both languages within the emirate’s community.
Therefore, he points out that it is natural for the two languages to have similar general perceptions, adding that the differences lie in the composition of the index, but in culture, creativity, and knowledge. In this regard, Arabic ranks high in the Culture and Creativity Index, while English has a comparative advantage in the Knowledge Index. ”
The center’s research also measured the understanding and use of simple Arabic among non-Arabic speakers in Abu Dhabi, which was 26.7% during the survey period.
In this regard, he commented: “These results represent an important foundation that will allow us to launch our strategic plan for non-Arabic speakers, the ‘We Speak Arabic’ plan, which was launched earlier this year , which aims to promote easy-to-learn Arabic vocabulary to non-Arabic speakers of all ages through digital content. Since the program was launched at the beginning of the year, the program’s index score has increased by 3.4 decimal points, with 64% of non-Arabic speakers living in Arabic speakers in Abu Dhabi expressed a desire to learn Arabic.”
In this context, the Abu Dhabi Arabic Centre supports the creation of Arabic content, spearheads the adoption of digital technologies and encourages scientific research on ways to further develop the language. To this end, the Center has launched a series of strategic initiatives, including the “Kalima” translation project, which aims to revive the translation movement, provide Arab readers with the treasures of world literature and enrich the content of Arab libraries in all areas of knowledge.
The center 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, the Center launched an Arab peer-reviewed journal called “Al Markaz: Journal of Arab Studies” in partnership with Brill Press.
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