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People often learn dialects to communicate easily and have fluent conversations in government agencies, businesses
As the world commemorates World Arabic Language Day on Sunday, the founder of an institution dedicated to teaching Emirati dialects says learning opens doors to understanding the local culture and learning Arabic.
Speaking at the Sharjah Startup Festival, Abdulla Alkaabi, co-founder of the AlRamsa Institute, which has been teaching Emirati dialects to non-Arabic speakers since 2014, said there are many reasons why people want to learn Emirati dialects. The first is for cultural reasons. “They want to understand the society and the people here,” he said.
He also said that the second motivation was for business, citing an example of an American businessman who wanted to open a beauty salon. Before opening a beauty salon, he sent his sales representative to the institute to learn the dialect for six months. “Why is he doing that? Well, because he’s not just learning the dialect, he’s learning the culture. Because he wants to be successful in the society they’re entering,” he said.
Others learn the Emirati dialect because it gives them a better chance of communicating with government entities. He quotes Nelson Mandela: “If you speak a language someone understands, you can get into his mind, but if you speak his language, you get into his heart”.
Since opening, Abdullah said they have noticed an increase in demand for learning Emirati dialects – especially during Expo 2020 Dubai. “That’s something we’ve noticed on our social media accounts. We’ve had over 8 million views on social media. On Tiktok, we’ve had over 3 million. We try to be there all the time,” he said.
According to Abdullah, the institute supports Arabic in general, not just dialects. “Even though we teach Emirati dialects, we support Arabic. We met people who said they enjoyed our videos and learned a lot from us. Our presence supports Arabic,” he said.
The academy’s approach, he said, is to focus on teaching conversational Arabic. “When children learn Arabic, they learn the dialect first. That’s how we teach dialects to foreigners,” he said, adding that this is a problem for many Arabic schools that focus on reading and writing Arabic. challenge.
After learning enough Arabic to carry on a conversation, one becomes confident to go deeper into the language and start learning the alphabet. “Many, however, do not want to go beyond conversational Arabic and are not interested in reading or writing,” he said.
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Abdullah said many of the people who brought their children to the institute were people with communication difficulties and understood the importance of the Emirati dialect. “Especially those with Arab or Emirati ancestry who want to be connected to the society in which they live,” he said.
Some foreigners who are fluent in Arabic still come to the institute because they want to learn the dialect. “Some people come to us, for example from South Korea, and they speak impeccable Arabic, but they know that the Emirati dialect is their way of understanding the culture,” he said.
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