[Dr. Jamshid Ibrahim]

Well I understand your concern about the loss of linguistic diversity and I agree that all languages are beautiful and it is part of human nature to build social groups and languages of their own. However, this beautiful linguistic diversity has an ugly side. As I already mentioned it is the source of tragic human conflicts. In addition, linguistic barriers make communication difficult. What I plead for is to go on with present languages but we still need a global language accepted and adopted by all nations. It is important not to link nationality and identity to language. Then we can hopefully say goodbye to patriotism and nationalism.

English is experiencing a shift unprecedented in human history. It doesn’t only mean domination and victory for the people who are speaking it as “a native language” but it also means loss of English identity because it has become world property. There are no native speakers in English any more.

As far as Arabic is concerned we should realize there are different Arabic languages or language groups. Standard Arabic is not better or more valuable than any dialect. After all the present Standard Arabic was itself a dialect in Saudi Arabia, more precisely the dialect of the Prophet’s tribe. It’s a pity that the dialects haven’t been given equal importance so far. But a standard Arabic makes communication easier. Thanks to the media like radio, Satellite TV, the press more and more people can communicate in standard Arabic. As you know Arabic would have suffered and split up like Latin were it not for the role of standard Arabic as a holy language I mean as the official language of Islam. It has become lingua franca in the Middle East after destroying its sister languages like Aramaic. It has become a rich language from a relatively poor language meant only for the desert life. Even now Arabic is borrowing western ideas and concepts by translating them into Arabic. The language of the press, economy and science is highly western in its concepts. Some vocabulary didn’t even exist a short time ago.

Finally, if you interfere with language change you violate the rule of democracy in language. It’s always the dictatorship of the majority and the most powerful. There is nothing wrong or right in language. What was correct some time ago is right today and what is correct today can be wrong tomorrow.

A global Englsih will bring enormous advantages:
Direct and fast communication when linguistic barriers fall.
No room for partiotisma and nationalism based on linguistic differences.
Save time and money which we invest in transaltion and engineering software adapted to different languages
Regards
Jamshid