5 minutes
Lincoln (2)
Abdullah Al Qamzi
Abdulla.AlQamzi@emaratalyoum.com
25 April 2022
We complain a lot about the “lingo” on the tongues of our children and the new generation, and the weakness of the Arabic language among them, and we are looking for anything to blame but ourselves, we are not wrong, and we do not want to bear any responsibility.
I saw an Emirati woman talking to her children in broken English in the association, and I saw another Arab woman doing the same thing in a mall, which was the scene that provoked me the most.
If you ask any parent of a child, they will often say that the environment we live in dictates the use of the English language.
Yes, that is true, but the environment does not impose the use of English at home, for example, nor does it impose it in the association, but yes, it may impose it in educational institutions.
I do not object to teaching in English, as it has become a necessity at this time, but what is the justification when two Arab parents speak English to their children?
Several years ago, I met a British woman married to an Emirati, and her children are in their thirties today.
She told me that she suffered with her husband's family, because they do not want to speak with her children in Arabic, and she insists that her children master Arabic, because - according to her words - she does not want her children to be less than their peers, and she does not want anyone to claim that she deliberately did not teach her children Arabic.
She lived here, and she knows exactly how the community thinks.
An American woman working in the educational sector, married to an Emirati, also suffers from the same problem with her husband's family. She says when they visit them that it is the only opportunity for the children to practice Arabic outside the home, but she is surprised when they speak to them in English.
She added: I do not want my children to suffer from a psychological contract because of the weakness of Arabic, my husband is an Arab, and I live in an Arab country, so why do they speak to them in English?
If I were married to an Italian, his parents would speak to my children in Italian, even if they lived in America.
There is no justification for speaking with the children of an Arab father in English.
It is clear that the imbalance within our society, due to some individuals who suffer from a lack of confidence in themselves, their identity and their culture, and do not realize that the value of a society is measured by the culture prevailing among its members.
Attitude
The American woman mentioned in the article insisted that her son study in Dubai and marry an Emirati woman, out of her desire to adhere to a local Arab culture.
Compare her with the one who speaks to her children in broken English.
Isn't our reality shameful?!
• I saw an Arab woman doing the same thing in a mall, which is the scene that provoked me the most.
Abdulla.AlQamzi@emaratalyoum.com
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Abdulla.AlQamzi@emaratalyoum.com