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Cairo – The young Egyptian man, Khaled Kamal (32 years old), was lucky among his generation’s peers. His father used to count Friday every week as a day to speak classical Arabic, which gave him fluency in using the Arabic language, according to what he told Al Jazeera Net, at a time when the Arabic language faces many challenges in Egypt. , especially among the emerging generations and youth.
Amid a legislative delay to approve a law to protect the Arabic language, senior protectors of the Dhad language are gathering in Egypt in two major celebrations on International Arabic Language Day. The first: today, Monday, December 25, at the Arabic Language Academy known as the “Immortals Academy,” followed by Wednesday, December 27, the Union of Arab Linguistic Academy’s celebration of the same International Day, amid hopes of strengthening the national language, which seems to be a difficult challenge. According to observers who spoke to Al Jazeera Net.
This year’s celebration coincides with the 50th anniversary of the declaration of the Arabic language as an official language in the United Nations on December 18, 1973, which called for international celebration on the same day every year.
School and university exams
The young man, Khaled Kamal, told Al Jazeera Net, “What my father did in our home by teaching us the Arabic language, especially classical Arabic, I cannot do today with my child, because of competition from cell phones for any program I might prepare, even if for two hours, and not a day, as my father used to do.”
He added that colloquial language is prevalent in Egypt, competing with English among young people, which has come to be considered – and modern speech – a sign of youth urbanization by introducing some English words alongside Arabic ones.
Khaled points out that the popular singing concerts “festivals” that use vulgar colloquial language have also affected the Arabic language, but he believes that the presence of Al-Azhar and its youth represents a preservation of Arabic, along with youth interested in history and memorizing the Holy Qur’an.
In the same context, university student Muhammad Hassan said in an interview with Al Jazeera Net that the classical Arabic language is still preserved in school and university exams, but the colloquial language is the most widespread among young people, while he points out that some young people write on chat sites and applications using “Franco.” “Arab” (writing Arabic words with the same pronunciation, but in Latin letters).
Keep an eye out in the complex to protect the language
The expert at the Khalidin Academy and professor of linguistic studies at the Faculty of Arts at Menoufia University, Dr. Khaled Fahmy, believes that it is not appropriate for Egypt not to have a law to protect the Arabic language, while the Egyptian constitutions, from 1882 until the 2014 Constitution, protect the Arabic language because it is “the official, national, or Nationalism” and places it in a prominent position as one of the foundations of the components of the Egyptian state, but legislation has not yet codified this into law.
He invites Dr. Khaled – in his speech to Al Jazeera Net – urged the House of Representatives to issue legislation on the advancement of the Arabic language as soon as possible, noting that since 2020 the community discussions of the law in which he participated had ended, then parliamentary discussions followed with the participation of the leaders of the council, with their promise to pass the law legislatively since 2021, and no It happens despite the urgent need for it.
The expert at the Immortal Academy points out that the Arabic language is declining in Egypt at the official executive levels, internal communications, and the names of streets and shops, with the exception of some long-established administrations. Such as: the House of Representatives, as well as the Mint Authority, which requested experts from the Arabic Language Academy to approve its linguistic decisions, in conjunction with the current lack of popular appreciation for the Arabic language, which is due to several reasons for which the Egyptian people are not responsible, in light of the important job opportunities – for example Example: It now requires great attention to foreign languages.
Parliamentary delay
60 representatives in the Egyptian House of Representatives submitted a draft law to protect the Arabic language in 2021 after coordination with the Arabic Language Academy in Cairo, after individual attempts that were not passed by representatives in 2018, while Parliament did not pass final approval in more than two years, since it only approved it initially.
Article 2 of the Egyptian Constitution stipulates that Arabic is the country’s official language, while the proposed law, consisting of 18 articles, requires all bodies to use the Arabic language in their official activities, and imposes fines on violators.
In an interview with Al Jazeera Net, a member of the House of Representatives and one of the law’s sponsors, Solaf Darwish, expressed her aspiration to pass the law in the coming period due to its importance, and in light of the severe need for it, stressing that she will seek to move the draft law again, in order to place it on the current legislative (agenda) list of the Council of Representatives. Representatives.
In the same context, a source familiar with the Arabic Language Academy – who declined to reveal his name – explained that the draft law for the advancement of the Arabic language submitted by the Academy has reached consensus in the House of Representatives and state institutions, but no one knows when it will be passed, “in light of other legislative pressures linked to state policies.” “, according to him.
The status of the Arabic language is deteriorating
In turn, the prominent academic and literary critic Hilmi Al-Qaoud feels disappointed about the situation of the Arabic language in Egypt, especially among new generations and the literary elite in general, which he described in an interview with Al Jazeera Net as “not good and deteriorating.”
Hilmi Al-Qaoud attributes this to the connection of the language to the general situation governed by “corrupt standards in schools, universities, journalism, propaganda, cultural platforms, and intellectual institutions, in addition to the linguistic shortcomings imposed by the optical network, the promotion of foreign terms and expressions, the pervasion of education in foreign schools, and the decline in interest in books.” According to his opinion.
The academic – and prominent literary critic – blames the realist movement in literature in Egypt for the “ease that occurred in linguistic performance, and the promotion of claims that colloquial language is closer to the average reader, who understands it more than classical, despite the fact that some of them lack knowledge of the language, and believe that the climate of realism legitimizes his mistakes and shortcomings.” Linguist,” he said.
