UNESCO marks 2nd World Arabic language Day

By Ahmed Al-Mezyed (with photos) PARIS, Dec 17 (KUNA) -- The United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) is marking the 2nd World Arabic language Day on December 18, and is organizing ceremonies attended by international specialists and researchers and representatives of UNESCO member states.
This year's events are planned under the topic "Does Arab media strengthen, or weaken, the Arabic language?" The Chairman of the Consultative Committee of UNESCO's Arabia Plan and Ambassador of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to UNESCO Ziad Aldrees told KUNA in remarks on this occasion that marking the occasion at UNESCO headquarters is a strong gesture and testimony to the realization of the importance of the Arabic Language. He added the committee planned the activities so that they peak coinciding with events held across the Arab World by both state and national bodies and by educational and cultural institutions.
On UNESCO's Arabia Plan, the official said that after a very good start, things quieted down in recent years. "The committee is working tirelessly to regain the vigor and vitality of the early days through adoption of ambitious programs to realize its objective in the service of Arabic culture." For his part, Kuwait's UNESCO representative Ambassador Ali Al-Tarrah told KUNA, "Marking December 18 as World Arabic Language Day was fruit of great effort by the Arab Group in 2011 towards incorporating this day on the calendar of recognized international occasions." "Arabic is the language of the Holy Quran, and is a key cultural tool and component, and in addition to being among the world's oldest languages, it is the language of some 422 million people." The ambassador further stressed, "This day is an important occasion and opportunity to stress and encourage cultural interaction, particularly amid currents of cultural globalization that could prove a threat to our language." The official noted that the language is increasingly suffering from distortion linked to use of blends of languages or lexical units that are also being used with more and more frequency. It is vital, accordingly, that Arab countries maintain strong and sound educational curricula that help preserve the language among the rising generations, he remarked.
On 23 October, the Consultative Committee of UNESCO's Arabia Plan, which seeks to increase understanding of Arab culture globally, decided to incorporate World Arabic Language Day as a key activity in its working plan. Celebrated for the first time in 2012, World Arabic Language Day was proclaimed by UNESCO's Executive Board during its 190th session. The initiative seeks to promote multilingualism and cultural diversity, as well as celebrate Arabic language's role in and contribution to the safeguarding and dissemination of human civilization and culture.
The choice of 18 December marks the day on which the UN General Assembly designated Arabic as the sixth official language of United Nations organizations in 1973.
In the following year, 1974, the UNESCO General Conference adopted Arabic as an official working language. Upon request of Kuwait, Algeria, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Tunisia, Egypt, and Lebanon, Arabic was incorporated into the work of the executive council later that same year. Thus adopted by the two main bodies of the organization, UNESCO moved on to translate all documents and memos and transcripts into Arabic and started providing simultaneous Arabic interpreting services at all meetings and events.
The organization further urged Arab countries to exert more effort into translation of documents and works of different genres from Arabic to other languages and vice versa.
The UNESCO continues to consolidate use of the Arabic Language through such efforts as developing its Arabic page on the internet, translating UNESCO terminology into Arabic, and encouraging translation of all works of value to and from the language and publishing such translations.
The Consultative Committee of UNESCO's Arabia Plan was founded in 1999.
According to the international organization's internet page, "The Arabia Plan is intended to increase the knowledge of Arab culture in the world and to encourage greater mutual understanding between Arab culture and the other cultures, by promoting dialogue and exchanges. It also seeks to promote intercultural dialogue, cultural diversity and development.
"The aims of the Plan are to highlight and promote dialogue between Arab civilization and culture and the world's other civilizations and cultures with particular emphasis on respect for the cultural diversity of the peoples; publicize the contribution of Arab culture to universal civilization; help Arab culture to master and develop the new information, communication and computer technologies in the service of modern culture; and contribute to the development of present-day Arab culture by encouraging the creation and flowering of different intellectual, literary, scientific and artistic currents and the free exchange of knowledge." "It is implemented by the UNESCO Secretariat in cooperation with the UNESCO Arab Group, the Arab League Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization (ALECSO), the Islamic Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), and all other concerned organizations." The plan puts particular emphasis on Arabic Language vis-a-vis new developments and technologies.
An important contribution to efforts in this area was that by Saudi Arabia in 2007, the "Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud's contribution to the improvement of the presence of the Arabic language in UNESCO".
Arabic is one of six working languages at UNESCO, and is the language of 22 member states, spoken by 422 million Arabs and over 1.5 billion Muslims around the world.
As part of this year's World Arabic Language Day activities, the UNESCO is organizing seminars on the themes "Is news media in Arabic (ie: Al Jazeera, BBC Arabic, France 24 Arabic, among others) helping to spread the Arabic language outside the Arab world?", "What are the motivations for launching international news channels in Arabic?", and "Does the traditional media affect the usage of language on social media, especially by Arab youth?" (end) amm.wsa KUNA 171109 Dec 13NNNN