Saudi Arabia bans English language

[Federer]

The government in Saudi Arabia has decreed that the English language is to be banned by all government and private agencies. They must now use only Arabic, the language of the Quran.
The Gulf News reported that the use of the English language, widely used in business, has been banned, as has the use of the Gregorian calendar. The Islamic Hijri calendar will replace all use of Gregorian dates which are being used unnecessarily, according to a statement issued by a Saudi Ministry.
The statement went on to explain the reason for the ban as an attempt to preserve the Arabic language and the Islamic calendar. Arabic is the official language of Saudi Arabia but the English language is common in companies and hotels, and is a compulsory second language in schools.
It is unclear how the decree will affect business conducted in the Kingdom. Arab News highlighted the fact "English has necessarily become the language of business" due to the presence of so many foreign workers in Saudi Arabia.

Saudi Arabia bans English language

 

[Mosamania]

Well even though I am against this however in all die fairness Arabic is dying in Saudi Arabia. People even choose to talk English with each other like me and my friends. In fact even when we talk Arabic we throw in English words in the mix.

So we need to try to preserve our language. But banning it from private companies as well is a bit too much if you ask me.

 

[samv]

Their country, their rules I suppose.

 

[forcetrip]

How exactly are they planning on implementing this law? Do they have a time frame? Do they not have to implement conversion steps to come to this conclusion? This just sounds like shouting in the middle of a dream. Shouldn't the "plan" be more important than the actual "goal"?

 

[Rusty]

Why bring Indians into the mix..its not as if Pakistan is free from western influence

Poster was Indian with obvious negative intentions.

yes Pakistan does have western influence, but compare our youth to yours and it is blatantly obvious that Indian youth has fully bought into the McDonald dream.

 

[Kyusuibu Honbu]

Indian certainly are giving sleepless nights to some people here.

so? what's the problem?

Who even mentioned about a problem?

they are trying to preserve their culture and language.

Nice of them

Just because Indians have given up their culture to the west doesn't mean everyone is like you people.

How can we Indians give up our culture to the west? its not something tangible , its the West choice to adopt it.

And we don't expect everyone to be like, afterall, everyone is born unique.

 

[Developereo]

Excellent move!

I wish the colonial slaves in Pakistan would have the guts to promote the national language, but these people are still lost in their colonial inferiority complex. They consider speaking English as a sign of erudition, and speaking Urdu as a mark of plebian unsophistication.

 

[Kyusuibu Honbu]

Poster was Indian with obvious negative intentions.

Spidey sense?

yes Pakistan does have western influence, but compare our youth to yours and it is blatantly obvious that Indian youth has fully bought into the McDonald dream.

Can you back your statement up, cause it seems a heavy judgement here,

 

[Imran Khan]

so no more memos and bla bla in multinational companies?

 

[Kyusuibu Honbu]

Excellent move!

I wish the colonial slaves in Pakistan would have the guts to promote the national language, but these people are still lost in their colonial inferiority complex. They consider speaking English as a sign of erudition, and speaking Urdu as a mark of plebian unsophistication.

I think like India ,Pakistan too has problem of lingual chauvinism, didn't 1971 have an element of lingual nationalism?

 

[samv]

Excellent move!

I wish the colonial slaves in Pakistan would have the guts to promote the national language, but these people are still lost in their colonial inferiority complex. They consider speaking English as a sign of erudition, and speaking Urdu as a mark of plebian unsophistication.

Just a personal reflection - I think Pakistanis have preserved and use Urdu quite well in comparison to many other countries. At least from what I've seen. Even the English educated seem to be very fluent in Urdu despite not being able to read the script.

 

[Developereo]

I think like India ,Pakistan too has problem of lingual chauvinism, didn't 1971 have an element of lingual nationalism?

There was a problem with Urdu in that Bengalis outnumbered West Pakistanis and, by rights, Bengali should have been equal to Urdu -- or more legitimate.

However, for better or for worse, that issue no longer alive and most people in Pakistan from all provinces accept (and speak) Urdu as the national language. The problem is this deeply infested usage of English everywhere in officialdom. The most idiotic thing that drives me nuts is the Pakistani tendency to write English words in Urdu script -- even on official government forms -- and pass it off as Urdu.

For example, the form below is titled "Quotations matloob hein" meaning 'Quotations accepted" for a government tender. The English word 'quotations' is written in Urdu script instead of using an equivalent Urdu word. Same goes for the word 'cantonment'. This crap happens throughout Pak government forms and official titles.

 

[harpoon]

so no more memos and bla bla in multinational companies?

Now the memos will come in Arabic and if you know Arabic you can earn on the side by doing some translation.

 

[Developereo]

In India, in 1950 some 14 languages were recognized as Official languages which increased to 22 languages right now.

Pakistan tried to create Nation on solely Urdu languages official status for any other language other than Urdu was never tolerated. First it started with Bengali language and then with Sindhi language. I only see, Pakistan failed to protect their regional languages.

People can speak their regional language just fine in addition to the national language Urdu.

Anyway, let's bring this topic back to Saudi Arabia.

 

[Kyusuibu Honbu]

For example, the form below is titled "Quotations matloob hein" meaning 'Quotations accepted" for a government tender. The English word 'quotations' is written in Urdu script instead of using an equivalent Urdu word. Same goes for the word 'cantonment'. This crap happens throughout Pak government forms and official titles.

This one serious problem i noticed when attempting to write wiki articles in Hindi, many Hindi words did not have an english equivalent , like for example the word "missile". there are 2 problems with this:

1. Our languages are not catching up and slowing becoming obsolete
2. Our next generation of kids too will learn science in english, in other words they may see english as medium for learning or developing.