The need for a global language

Fathi R. Akkari

Going global means making information accessible and saving it for future generations. This means that the time has come for a global language that will coexist with all our local national languages. This language should be rich, widespread, and written so it will save all advances of science and technology for long time to come. The Arabic language should be the right candidate.

Merits of the Arabic language

Among more than seven thousand languages that exist today the Arabic language stands alone with several merits that no other living language possesses.

·       It is the oldest living language; some sources suggest that it is about 1700 years old. As a matter of fact, Muslims have been reading the same book in their prayers for the last 1450 years, namely The Quran.

·       It is the official or semi-official language for twenty-five countries.

·       It is one of the official languages in the united nations.

·       It is the richest language to date with more than twelve million words.

·       It has twenty-nine letters but using vowels these letters can extend to more than two hundred useful ones.

·       Arabic is a written language therefore it can be read and understood for thousands of years. It maintains the same way of writing and the same meanings.

·       Every written letter  is normally pronounced.

·       It is the fifth most spoken language worldwide.

·        Arabic language is the most used language in religion, about 1.3 billion Muslim use it in their daily prayers all over the world.

·       Arabic is the seventh most used language in business.

·       Arabic was the international language for arts, science, and technology for more than one thousand years before the industrial revolution.

Conclusions

Arabic language can be the right candidate for a global language because it has more advantages compared to any existing language. It is useful for politics, business, religion, arts, and science for the present and for future generations.

How can we make it work?

We can make a change in the future of science and technology for generations to come by adopting the Arabic language as a second language  in our educational systems beside the national official language.  Going global  should recommend this idea if the participants see its benefits.

This proposal was submitted to Going Global conference 2021