HH Sheikha Moza expresses her condolences to families of the fire victims at inauguration of Arabic Language Forum

Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser took a moment to publicly express her condolences to the families of the Villagio mall fire victims at the inauguration of a forum on the advancement of the Arabic language, held under her patronage at the Qatar National Convention Centre in Doha.

Moving on to address the opening session of the forum, Her Highness underlined the challenges currently facing the Arabic language which, she said, requires exerting all efforts to overcome them and advance the language forward. She said that the revival of Arabic language is inseparable from the nation's revival as it is synonymous with the whole Arab world, which should be free in thought, economically strong, and politically independent.

Her Highness noted the limited budgets to fund scientific research programs in Arabic which do not reach 0.2%, in comparison with the 2% minimum in developed countries, pointing out that the expression of political commitment towards supporting the Arab language is insufficient on its own.

She called on the researchers and participants attending the forum to identify ideas and ways to strengthen Arabic into a more lively and relevant language not just the language of books but also the language of laboratories, plants, science, and research which is capable of staying abreast of higher education needs in a knowledge-oriented society. She expressed regret for the current absence of Arabic language from the field of scientific research in the Arab world, which is witnessing a phase of weakness in writing, publishing and translation.

Her Highness said that describing Arabic language as old-fashioned isn’t fair. ‘As if Arabic language functions on its own regardless of our purposes and actions," HH said, adding that it is people don't keep pace and are old-fashioned. She highlighted the need to work on strengthening the Arabic language and bring it back to what it used to be hundreds of years ago; the language of science, literature and culture.

HH stressed the role of educated youth in strengthening the language – they believe in their identity and in improving Arab advancement, which subsequently leads to promoting the language. She pointed to the enthusiasm that everyone shared when young people in capitals around the Arab world used standard Arabic as one of the tools for the Arab Spring.

She added that launching the Forum on the Advancement of Arabic Language stemmed from her own passion for the language and hoped participants at the Forum would use their expertise and knowledge to find approaches to contribute to reviving Arabic language and come up with proposals for strategic projects and long-term plans to achieve this.

Concluding her speech, Her Highness stressed her keenness on achieving the goal of advancing the Arabic language, warning that any negligence towards it would mean neglecting the Arab nation.

The event was attended by a number of Their Excellencies the Sheikhs, ministers, and participants, including heads of Arabic language academies from Arab countries, university professors, in addition to experts in language, media and translation.

Referring to the recent decree issued by the Supreme Education Council (SEC) stating that Arabic should be the official teaching language of Qatar University, HH stressed  the importance of the Arabic language in reinforcing national identity. She encouraged the university to continue to work on advancing the students skills in English by offering various programmes for this purpose, and noted that English proficiency should be mandatory upon graduation rather than upon admission.